the eternal student

At 3am you should be sleeping!

oh cindy, I'm thinking the blog timestamp is in Eastern time. :-)

And he's been pulling PhD hours again lately. . .

I'll be glad when the PhD is official and Andy can rest. After all Andy, you will be 30 next month......

I suspect that the people who drew the long haired Jesus' are the same ones who started the "cute chubby baby angel" craze. I am always baffled by the images of angels we find around the world. It's amazing how much Biblical inaccuracy we have in our Biblical iconography. I suspect a lot of it has to do with the fact that for so long, our (the human race) understanding of Biblical concepts was handed to us by the church and tradition, rather than from reading the Bible for ourselves, combined with an ever tempting desire to make the Bible more "marketable".

I was thinking, I wonder if the long hair thing came from the idea of the Nazarites. . .Samson being the best known, of course. The idea of not cutting their hair being associated with being set apart by God.

I've accepted that Jesus had long hair, blue eyes, and wore a white toga with a blue sash a long time ago.

I think pastors bother me more. The central "office" of the church is a pastor? Show me that from Scripture. Good luck, the word is only in the Bible 4 times.

However, this year my new pet peeve is Christmas, and Easter for that matter. There are several Biblical holidays/celebrations/feasts that are totally ignored by the church. We instead decide to party on totally made up holidays that have roots in paganism.

Yes, I took this opportunity to rant, and thank you I feel better now.

What are you talking about Joel? Jesus is our Prophet/Priest/King and Pastor, right?.

I'd be interested in learning more about the Jewish holidays and celebrating them. As anticipation of Christ coming again, just like the Jews anticipated Christ coming the first time.

Willa, I believe the article in the link talks about the Nazarene vow. I glanced over it but did not read it in detail. I am a hypocritical link poster: I'll put a link to it it, but didn't read it fully. I expect you to do that ;]

And, I have a little over a month to finish my dissertation. Thus, the candle burns till 1 or 2am.

andy: I find that I don't post links much at all anymore. It's harder to do on the Mac, as moveabletype seems to cater more to PCs (as does the rest of the world)

joel & andy: In all honesty, I've never before pondered the issue of the validity of pastors. I definitely see Biblical instruction regarding the church being led by it's elders, and I see a strong practicality in the traditional role of pastor. At this point, I don't disagree with you, but I would like to throw out my initial thoughts: The term pastor really means, "shepherd". There is countless Biblical precedence for Jesus as our shepherd. I am inclined to think that the role of pastor in the church grows out of that precedence, and in my mind, should be the defining illustration of a pastor's responsibilities. To shepherd the flock.
On the other hand, the Bible clearly instructs the church to be led by a group of elders and deacons, sharing the responsibilities of shepherding the flock; however, I don't think that the Bible excludes the opportunity for one man to be appointed to take primary responsibility for some of the activities which, practically speaking, allow us greater flexibility with our time and resources. The time spent attending seminary, studying, preparing sermons, etc, is time that is done on behalf of the Body, and requires a schedule which would not be practical for the entire body to attempt. Therefore, we select an individual (or several individuals) who set aside that time and then share the fruits of their labor with the whole body, a concept Biblically supported (1cor12).
All this to say, while I don't think the role of pastor is Biblically required, I also do not think it contradicts Scripture either, and fills a valuable role in the body of believers.

Thoughts?

Disclaimer:
I should add that my above comments were made within the context of a PCA mindset. The PCA gets a lot of things wrong, but I truly think that we are closest to the mark in regard to Biblical church leadership. I realize that there are many denoms out there which have a pastor as their sole leadership, and I don't even begin to support that concept as Biblical. I believe a pastor is only Biblically acceptable as an office of the church within the context of his submission and operating out of the guidance of a session, meaning a group of elders. I believe a pastor is one element of church leadership (a "specialty" focused elder, if you will), NOT *the* leader of the church. I also do not believe the session/elders should be viewed as the pastor's "back up choir". . .The elders are the leaders of the church, the pastor is carrying out certain specific duties which they have delegated to him.

No disagreements here Willa.

the Bible my kids got from their Lutheran great grandma in MN has a Jesus with SHORT hair! It's a Crossway publication.

Disclaimer: I have not defense for any of Joel's rantings. He's on his own!