I don't recall which clue first warned me about the problems with
this church. Books by Jesus Seminar heavyweights Marcus Borg and John
Dominic Crossan rested near the front of the ornate sanctuary, ready to
explain for visitors why Jesus' resurrection was a myth. Rainbow flags
signaled this is an "open and affirming" congregation for practicing
homosexuals. Perhaps it is no coincidence the church baptized only two
children in the last year. Sunday attendance has never topped 100 so far
in 2011, though the facility could seat far more.
Even after observing all these worrisome clues, however, I was still
taken aback by what I saw on the church's basement bookshelf. Not one
but two copies of the New World Translation of the Bible lurked to lure
in unsuspecting readers. Do the church leaders not know the Jehovah's
Witnesses twist God's Word to recruit for their cult? Or do these
leaders just not care? Seeing these blasphemous Bibles in a church took
me back to a painful time when I learned that a United Methodist
seminary had kicked out a young Anglican congregation meeting in their
space and welcomed the Mormons in their place. Apparently it's not
enough for liberal Protestants to reject orthodoxy. Some must also
welcome heterodoxy. Keep Reading...
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