"Does the Tooth Fairy believe in Atheists?" Joe Carter takes a look at the four varieties of atheism. My view is that every believer is part atheist, and that faith waxes and wanes. Perfect faith was even elusive, for a moment, for Christ on the cross.
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Is that the demand which got Jesus killed? It Takes a Church
Pastors have human flaws, are rarely Christ-like, and are frequently sinful in their actions. (h/t, Smart Christian). One commenter to that piece at An Authentic Life makes this excellent observation:
I think a lot of it is the fault of the evolved church community to place the responsibility, and thus the blame, for the spiritual health of the church community solely on the "pastor." I spent too long in a mainline beaurocracy where we put all the responsibility for leadership, worship, shepherding, and administration of a 1200 member "church" onto one man. Sure, we had a board of directors and elders, but realistically, we willingly abdicate all responsibility onto him (unless we don't like the color of the carpet).
Now, I attend a church community where the building takes second-place to the people, and the pastor refuses to be call "pastor" because he places the responsibility for "being Christ" on all of us equally. We all have a responsibility to sharing the gospel, reaching out to our neighbors, and ministering to the sick and lonely. I no longer get the easy "out", but my life has been richer for the experience.
