A Pharisee in Me! (and other topics forthcoming)

I was really surprised, some years back, to discover that I was like the Pharisees in some ways. I was a pastor at the time, and very committed to my Christian faith (I still am, but I dropped the pat answers and some of my other baggage along the way). So I was shocked to find that I might be like those guys! After all, the Pharisees were the notorious bad guys of the New Testament. Every time you turn around, Jesus was confronting them on one thing or another. They were guilty of hypocrisy, judgmentalism, and self-righteous pride. But did you know:

(1) The Pharisees were guilty of at least a dozen other, more subtle errors that I've pinpointed so far, and that are common among Christians today (in all denominations). I know, because I've fallen into most of them myself at one time or another!

(2) Most of the Pharisees were passionate about following God faithfully, and they thought they were serving him well. In fact, they developed out of a great revival movement a few centuries before Christ. How did they go so far downhill in just a few generations? And how can we avoid taking the same trip?

I am currently finishing up a book on this subject, for which I hope to find a publisher soon. Meanwhile, I will post some of my findings here over the next few weeks and months.

We'll cover some other topics that interest me too (and of course, whatever topics it triggers in your minds along the way, too). For example, I am intrigued with the "tough questions of faith," like:

• How do we handle what appear to be discrepancies in the Bible? And can we really trust the Bible?
• How do we reconcile the differences between what the Bible teaches and the deep-seated values of our culture?
• How do we understand the Bible and Christian theology in the light of the developments in thought from modernism to postmodernism?
• How do we worship God today in fresh and meaningful ways while also having a sense of continuity with the past (yet without just copying tradition)?
• How can we reconcile some of the differences between Roman Catholicism and Protestant beliefs?
• A special focus on support for those (spiritual outsiders, members, and even pastors) who have been hurt by churches. Help given here from one formerly hurting pastor!
• And in another vein, what about death and dying, and other items of interest in hospice (since I am also a hospice chaplain). Hospice, where we take another look at what matters most in the last chapter of our earthly life!

For these and other topics, stay tuned. And give me your feedback! Let's make this a dialogue. And until I get more topics posted, you can learn more by checking out my web site at http://www.waynehobbes.com/. I will soon be revising the web site and making it more user friendly (right now it's sort of a resume website for publishers) over the next few weeks. So stay tuned for that update, and you can also find a contact email address for me there.

Until then, let's be
Taking Another Look at Matters of Faith!

Always thinking,
Wayne Hobbes
Pittsburgh, Pa.

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