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Pastor Tries Inauthenticity
For years pastor Terry Bradley of New Life Community tried to be entirely real with everyone. That experiment is now over. “Authenticity is bogus,” he says. “It’s never real. Nobody knows himself well enough to be fully authentic, and trying to self-divulge all the time breeds shallow relationships because it denies the complexity and mystery of human personalities.”
The Bible is on his side, he contends. Jesus wasn’t “constantly open and frank” and didn’t even speak plainly to his disciples until the Last Supper, Bradley says, pointing to John 16:29. Jesus also spoke in parables and obscured his messianic identity for three years.
“If Jesus didn’t try to be authentic, why am I trying so hard?” he says.
Bradley also cites John 2:24-25, “But Jesus would not entrust himself to them ... for he knew what was in a man.”
“I don’t see much benefit in everybody knowing everything about me,” says Bradley. “Jesus’ example is to be guarded and realistic about human nature. I feel good about reserving some of myself for me.” •
SOURCE: Lark News
http://www.larknews.com/december_2006/secondary.php?page=3
Find more great stories here at LarkNews.com
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This post has been viewed 674 times and was added on December 08, 2006 by Todd Rhoades. Filed under: Miscellaneous Church Leadership Humor Share this post with a friend right now! View reactions to this post at other blogs... You can really help us out by subscribing to our free RSS feed with your favorite feed reader, or here at Bloglines. Also, you can add us to your favorites at Technorati.
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I'm Todd Rhoades... the MMI guy. I'm also on the team at Leadership Network (although that doesn't mean that they endorse everything I write here). In my past life, I was the founder and developer of a website named ChurchStaffing.com.
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Posted by Leonard
Friday, December 08, 2006 at 10:20 AM
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Posted by
Friday, December 08, 2006 at 10:43 AM
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Posted by Leonard
Friday, December 08, 2006 at 11:00 AM
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Posted by Michael Kowalson
Saturday, December 09, 2006 at 6:56 AM
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Posted by
Sunday, December 10, 2006 at 5:58 PM
Post Your Comments:I know I have been faking my sincerity for years.
Leonard -
Does that mean you’re not REALLY superman?
I feel hurt :(
sshhh, no one must know
I have the opposite issue! I am too quthentic and need to learn to reserve soem of myself more often!
I’ve been faking my sincerity, too… but I’m so sincere about it that it cancels itself out…
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