View Single Post
  #5  
Old 07-12-2009, 01:43 AM
tonybones2112's Avatar
tonybones2112 tonybones2112 is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 754
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Schwenke View Post
I would like to discuss this idea.

THis was from Diligent in the I Cor. 3:16-17 thread:


I am not interested in responding to the attack made in the first paragraph, although Diligent misunderstood my point made via illustration.

Is it unscriptural to "shepherd" the flock of God?
What is a pastor?
Jer 23:1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
Jer 23:2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.

It looks to me that a Pastor IS a shepherd by definition. consider Webster's 1828:
Pastor - noun
1. A shepherd; one that has the care of flocks and herds
2. A minister of the gospel who has the charge of the church and congregation, whose duty it is to watch over the people of his charge, and instruct them in the sacred doctrines of the Christian religion.


Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

So we ARE pastors...

I Peter 5:1 ¶ The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3 Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
5 ¶ Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

It appears to me from this passage that the elders are to feed and lead the flock (sheep!) just as a shepherd would. The appeal is that we are to treat the flock as the Great Shepherd would; in other words, we are shepherds underneath the chief shepherd.
We are not cattle-drivers; we are shepherds.

I am curious to hear from others on this subject.
Steve, I think the point Brandon tried to make that was seen as an "attack", which was not an "attack", is that this whole website is not a "church" in the traditional sense. It's an "ecclesia", a gathering, of believers in Jesus Christ, yes, it is a "church" in a way, but Brandon Stagg's is the "pastor" of this group. His daily bread, all or part, is earned by his authorship of the SWORDSEARCHER KJV Bible program, which this forum is one part of the website for. This website and it's moderation method is entirely within Scripture and within the laws of capitalism: We do not contribute financially to the upkeep of this site, we are all guests by Brandon's grace. This whole website is a private venture and not subject to a rule by a "deacon's board". I have no problems with Brandon's moderation of this forum, he has made a widely diverse group of people welcome to a forum, but when he has to rule with an iron hand he's on it like white on rice. There are some Christians on this forum who are new Christians or not fully grounded in God's word, and Brandon does not allow Lawkeepers, Unitarians, Universalists, cults, and most of all, those who criticize and "correct" the word of God, to impair or cast doubt in these young Christian's growth, and for that I think I am most grateful to him for in moderation. We have as forum members Matthew from Austrailia(Bibleprotector), Will Kenney, and George Andersen, three of the top sources for information on defense of the KJV.

My point is that this forum is not a Baptist church, it's private property. many on the forum are users of the SWORDSWEARCHER program. The free ONLINE BIBLE program has a neat, almost instantaneous word search feature, the free E-SWORD program has multiple corrupt version feature, but for pure KJV Bible study there is no finer computer program, free or commercial,, than SWORDSEARCHER. Another feature of this website is that it provides links and much study material for the defense of the KJV as inspired Scripture.

This forum does not need multiple moderation. Brandon has done, is now, and will continue to do a good job, so I see no need for multiple moderation. He has his standards of rule, many I agree with, and most of all he protects his members and stands up for them, particularly, as mentioned before, the new Christians and those not fully grounded yet.

Grace and peace brother

Tony