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{"id":127,"date":"2006-08-26T17:59:11","date_gmt":"2006-08-26T21:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidhayward.ca\/blog\/?p=127"},"modified":"2006-08-26T17:59:11","modified_gmt":"2006-08-26T21:59:11","slug":"conspiracy-theories-abound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/nakedpastor\/2006\/08\/conspiracy-theories-abound\/","title":{"rendered":"conspiracy theories abound!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Another conspiracy theory to whet your appetites! Listen on all you evil pastors and stupid lay people!:
\n\u201cChurch officials assume that lay people who are illiterate in scriptural matters will continue (as long as they reamin in the church at all) to be placid, and that they will be satisfied with the often shallow interpretations of preselected scriptures they hear each Sunday\u2026 I sense that somewhere, hidden perhaps in the subconscious of church officials, is a fear that lay persons who are truly knowledgeable about the scripture and the history of their tradition will be less dependent upon the ordained leadership of the church. A laity that is well-informed might challenge entrenched bureaucratic priorities and denominational dogma<\/em>\u201d (Jack Good, The Dishonest Church<\/a> p. 33).<\/p>\n

Okay, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m for critique, as some of you are painfully aware. And I am aware that with power comes abuse. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m aware that with ignorance comes bondage. I am fully aware of that. But can I put a couple of cents in here:
\n 1.<\/strong> Of all the pastors I know (and I know many), almost all of them are genuine servants of the church and not even \u00e2\u20ac\u0153subconsciously\u00e2\u20ac\u009d hungry for power. They truly love and desire to serve their congregations. Even if they were subconsciously power-hungry, who is going to accuse them of that? And how, if they were so accused, do they defend themselves against such an accusation? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m power-hungry!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ah-hah! But you are, you just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realize it!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n 2.<\/strong> I know many lay people too. Most of the ones of my congregation, as well as many others in many other congregations, are genuine seekers after truth. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t consider them, nor would they consider themselves, spoon-fed.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not finished the book yet. But when I got to the above paragraph in his book, I again felt like I was in the middle of The DaVinci Code all over again!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"