Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
At this point aron I'm not sure what you are trying to say...
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Well, I could also be held up as a sloppy and disjointed thinker and writer. Maybe I am just jealous of those who have also done so, and made such a good living at it! Mea culpa if I have not been clear.
What I was getting at (possibly unrelated to discussions of Jonathan Cahn!) was people like Hank Hanegraaf introducing Gretchen Passantino as a "world-renowned expert" in her CRI write-up on the Local Churches. Number one, world-renowned experts usually don't need to be introduced as such. They simply let their credentials do the talking. Number two, Hanegraaf, her co-worker, is not a good source for such an assessment. But unfortunately there are a lot of gullible rubes out there, and Hanegraaf is handsomely rewarded for making confident assertions to them.
Another example is the Living Stream Ministry-affiliated Local Churches touting the "rich ministry of Witness Lee". Number one, that is not very christian to puff yourself up thusly. If it's true, let your work do the talking. Number two, again we have a clear financial conflict of interest here. A group stands to profit if they can convince potential consumers how good the product/output of the "ministry" of Witness Lee is.
I think that good scholarship says: Here is an idea, a thought, an hypothesis: "X" causes "Y"; or "A" is equivalent to "B". One humbly enters this idea into the discussion not as if it were the final word. One admits that POSSIBLY others have valid ideas as well, perhaps somewhat different from this idea. One offers alternatives, and admits possible flaws. One looks for evidence.
My point was that a lot of Christian shepherds and teachers make a lot of money leading a lot of gullible sheep astray, by presenting them with and oversimplified, distorted gospel. Like cotton-candy sellers at the fair, they don't really care about your health, they just want sales. But to get sales they have to pretend they care about you.
Where Jonathan Cahn falls into this mercantilization of the Gospel I don't know. He seems to point to bothersome questions to a vague publisher: "Don't look at me; I'm only the author. I didn't market this book."
http://standupforthetruth.com/2012/0...ers-questions/
The only thing I really know is OBW wasn't impressed and I kind of think like OBW (I think) so I jumped in. Perhaps my input didn't help this thread and/or discussion. Again, mea culpa.