“It is better for me to give my kid cigarettes than to have her go steal them from a store because she wants them and can’t afford them. “

Said to me by the parent of a youth group member after I ASKED (not ordered) that smoking not be allowed at youth events.

“The most OUTRAGEOUS?” TIE! -

1) “As a pastor’s wife and women’s minister you should not associate with those type of girls/women.”
2) “They should not be allowed in our church.”
3) “What would the president of the seminary say?”

Each said to me by more than one person. More than one person has since apologized. They now are a part of the prayer team for my class. Part of the assignment: Praying for themselves too and others who are still thinking it but not saying it with words.

And YES....... You should have at least 2 votes now..... lol

During an altar call a young woman who had been struggling with drugs and alcohol came forward to publicly profess faith in Christ.  She was wearing black jeans, black tennis shoes, and a t-shirt advertising some band...I want to say AC/DC.  She had just started working so she had no money.  She looked rough to say the least.  This is what I heard a lady behind me say during this moment:

“Oh good.  Now she can go out buy some decent clothes.”

I think the topper though was nothing that was said to me but to a girl who had a baby at age 17 and decided to give it up for adoption:

“I don’t know why you come here (meaning church).  There is no way God will forgive you.”

Honest engine...that’s what he said.

The stupidest thing that a Christian ever said to me was spoken by a pastor.  It was 25 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday.

I was a brand new convert and I drug a reluctant family member to a large revival-style rally.  The pastor presiding over the meeting said, “Is there anyone here who brought an “unsaved” friend or family member here.  If so please stand up and raise your hand.” I jumped to my feet and my hand shot up. 

My relative looked up at me, turned blood red, stood up and walked out of the service.  We have never spoken of it since.

I can think of two that will probably never leave me or keep me from thinking how dumb people can be at times.

When we were considering some changes in our ministry during my second church someone said, “but we need to have a mid-week prayer meeting, it’s biblical.”

The other was after our 7 yr old daughter suddenly passed away.  Someone said, “God must have needed another angel to sing in the choir in heaven.” Another person said, “well, it’ll all come out in the wash.” HUH?  What is that suppose to mean?  Maybe we should do a post on MMI about dumb things people say when someone dies.  I’ve got about a dozen more of those.

How about this one:
“It wouldn’t be a bad thing to go without a pastor for a year or two, after all, we wouldn’t be paying a salary so we could build up the bank account.”

Regarding the church giving the house away…

I guess “the devil is in the details.” Apparently it was not clear UP FRONT that the contest was for a down payment instead of the house.  If the story is correct, then the church should have spelled it out nineteen different ways so people would see the whole story and not become confused.

It was very sad to see that this lady not only left her church, but has given up on all others as well.

Unfortunately, she’s not the only one that has been burned by a church (if that indeed happened) and gave up on the whole deal.

Wow.  I’ve heard so much stupid in church, it’s hard to pick a top one.

Off the top of my head, I’ll choose the time a lay speaker at church (thank heaven, not my pastor) took note that my then-unsaved husband was in church with me and decided to give his testimony.  This guy had indeed had a rough background, and had figuratively crawled across broken glass to the Lord.  But then, at the end, he looked straight at my husband and said, “...and the Lord saved me and so I immediately took out my earring, cut my hair, threw out all that demonic rock and roll music from my house, and bought a King James Bible.” I nearly crawled under the pew.  My husband was a musician, long haired, wore an earring.  He didn’t drink or use drugs, and was a loving, faithful husband and father.  He was also investigating Christianity using an NIV study Bible.

To his credit, the pastor came to our house and apologized to my husband.  My husband was saved in that little IBBF mission church in Utah, led to the Lord by an ultra fundamentalist, KJV only pastor.  No, he didn’t cut his hair, take out his earring, or throw away his NIV Bible.  He was put in the rotation to pray and testify in church, and the only thing really asked of him was that when he read or quoted scripture aloud in the congregation he do some from the King James Bible.  We could respect the pastor’s pulpit in that way without feeling that we were compromising our convictions.  The pastor and my husband were an odd pair, to be certain.  But the mutual respect and love transcended cultural issues.  They had a love of the Lord and fishing in common, but little else from outward appearance.

Wow!  These are some winners here.  My number one is:

While going through a tough time, there were some in the church who were gosipping.  Both a deacon’s wife and even the pastor’s wife were known for sharing more of the truth than necessary.  During one message, the pastor said that gossip “just happens” in the church.  I guess “it” happens just like the other stuff we find out in the barn!

During discussions concerning the budget for the coming year, the chairman of the elders told me that, if I didn’t give so much to the offering, the church wouldn’t have to give me a raise.