Silver amulet is the oldest evidence of Christianity north of the Alps

Re:Silver amulet is the oldest evidence of Christianity nort... by batch12 on Wednesday December 18, 2024 @08:32PM (#42457426)

The pastors and priests I know do much more than 30 minutes of work a week. In addition to the sermon, they provide counseling, perform weddings, funerals, attend each if not leading, visit the sick and homebound, attend to church business, help coordinate activities, help solve conflicts, represent the church, do Bible studies during the week, help with children's programs and so on.

I don't think I would have the stomach to deal with the types of things they deal with. The amount of suffering and grief alone would be hard.

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Re:Silver amulet is the oldest evidence of Christianity nort... by dmonitor on Wednesday December 18, 2024 @09:05PM (#42457626)

There are definitely sects that take the job much more seriously than others. I personally have known too many that basically end up coordinating a group of volunteer assistant pastors and deacons to nearly all of the work. Frequent month-long vacations as well (they're called "sabbaticles" because it sounds biblical).

They also frequently run into some moral scandal (plagiarism, adultery, theft), plead for forgiveness (because reporting them to the denomination heads would leave them jobless), and then move states to repeat the playbook elsewhere.

Some of the kindest, most thoughtful people I've met were pastors too, though, so I won't say that the entire profession is evil. The monetary and social status incentives that the position grants also attracts some of the worst people, though.

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Re:Silver amulet is the oldest evidence of Christianity nort... by batch12 on Wednesday December 18, 2024 @09:29PM (#42457790)

Yeah, that is sad. The biggest mistake I think is made in modern Christianity is forgetting that all fall short and that somehow Christians are somehow better humans than others.

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