As United Methodism divides, an Arizona United Methodist confirmed some of the traditionalists’ worst fears about disregarding biblical authority in their denomination.
In his recent sermons Defusing Christianity’s Most Dangerous Ideas Series 1,2: Original Sin and Hell, Rev. David M. Felten declared: “The notions of biblical inerrancy and the need to be born again create all kinds of discord and conflict in society…[and] keeps the whole church trapped in a quagmire of outdated fantasies.” He surmised: “Not to put too fine a point on it, but original sin has got to go.”
Felten argued that the notion of original sin is not from the Bible, “Unfortunately, though original sin is nowhere in the Bible, nowhere in the whole of Hebrew Scripture or the New Testament,” but from Saint Augustine. “Augustine was a promiscuous guy after all…so he decided to pass the buck and say: hey, my behavior is not my fault. It’s…Adam’s fault.”
The Methodist minister claimed that the concept that sin was passed from Adam’s generation to the next generation is invalid by accepting Darwin’s evolution theory. “The creation stories in the Bible are metaphors, not history…instead of the magical idea that human beings were once perfect and now because someone ate an apple, are damaged goods. How about simply acknowledging that Darwin was right? We were never perfect. We are evolving, emerging as a species and as individuals.”
“Is original sin in the Bible?” Felten asked rhetorically. “No…Is it totally made up? Yes. Has it, and does it continue to do social, psychological, and spiritual harm to people? Yes.” He explained that because Paul and Augustine were unaware of evolution, they tried hard to account for the primal urges and tendencies we inherited with the information they had.
According to Felten, Paul and Augustine “made up a fanciful story about sin and the power of Jesus to redeem us…But science has given us a story that makes more sense for the 21st century.” Felten insisted: “We are evolving creatures striving to emerge from the primal ooze of our past to achieve a more advanced form of life.”
Felten concluded that human tendencies to sin are not because of original sin but because we are all evolving: “We need to leave behind our magical thinking…I hope you’ve outgrown the image of a childish, petulant tyrant, punishing generations of subjects because some ancestors screwed up long ago…We are an evolving species, emerging over countless millennia into something more sophisticated than our reptilian ancestors.”
In his sermon on hell, Felten argued that hell is totally made-up and contradicts the nature of God, causing many believers to leave the church these days. People are agonizing between two choices: “One, [becoming] people who threaten eternal torture from a sadomasochistic God, or Two, [becoming] people who are too afraid to stand up and say no.” Felten believes that this fabricated notion of hell distorts “the very core of what following Jesus is about.”
“Hell is like the crystal meth of theological drugs,” Felten preached. “Once you’re addicted, it’s almost impossible to break away without some very serious intervention.” He said the word “hell” in the Old Testament is mistranslated. The word ‘Sheol( שְׁאוֹל)’ in Hebrew does not mean hell. “This (Sheol) wasn’t a place of punishment–just simply not living, kind of a precursor to limbo, [and] a much better translation of Sheol would simply be the grave,” he insisted.
Then where does the notion of Hell come from? Felten finds the answer in paganism. In the New Testament, Jews called the Hell of fire Gehenna or the Valley of Hinnom. He said, “It (Gehenna) was the stinking city dump where garbage was burned in a continuous smoldering fire before the Jews arrived.” In the same manner as Gehenna, images of lakes of fire from 2 Peter are also affected by paganism.
Felten said: “But these are from Egyptian and other pagan sources…the notion of hell as some sort of underground cavern of torture comes not from the Bible, but from Greek mythology and the idea of the realm of Hades.”
“Too many preachers are guilty of allowing the idea of hell to fester in the minds,” Felten complained. “So, let’s begin by confessing that when it comes to our concepts of hell, for the most part, were misinformed…So let me say it clearly…It’s all made up. The popular notions of hell are total fiction. Not to mention so contradictory to the gospel as to be laughable.”
Felten asked: “Is God really one who with one ear enjoys the music of the angels in heaven and with the other ear enjoys the screams of sinners tormented in hell?” He explained that “to plan for something in the afterlife, either for our own sense of self-aggrandizement or a sense of revenge…[is] not what Jesus had in mind.” Felten concluded: “If God is the manifestation of all things loving, merciful, and forgiving, hell cannot exist…Hell loses, and love wins.”
Comment by Reynolds on June 15, 2022 at 7:03 am
Why is this guy a preacher if he doesn’t believe in the Bible?
Comment by Thomas Brown on June 15, 2022 at 8:51 am
The Grift is strong in this one. If you don’t believe in something, at least have the intellectual honesty to disavow it and distance yourself from it.
Comment by Al on June 15, 2022 at 9:11 am
He’s a wolf. Check him out at ProgressiveChristianity.org.
Comment by Nina on June 15, 2022 at 9:37 am
How close to modern mainstream Methodism is this guy? Is he an outlier, and extremist even among the progressive leadership that seems to have taken over much of the UMC these days? Serious question.
Also, why is he a preacher? Talk about a wolf in shepherd’s clothing!
Comment by Joe on June 15, 2022 at 10:55 am
The question mark on his shole is appropriate.
Comment by John Kenyon on June 15, 2022 at 1:55 pm
It is heart-warming to read these comments. Uplifting to see that some in the UMC can smell bullshit.
Comment by Anthony on June 15, 2022 at 2:09 pm
As this drags on in the absence of a General Conference, more and more of these types are coming out thus exposing the true depth of our unbridgeable schism. But, the real exposure here are the Boards of Ordained Ministries that approve the people in the first place. We have been fed the line that these boards are next to the gates of Heaven as they do their impeccable, holy vetting of candidates, and that it’s next to blasphemy to even ask a question about who they are, what they do, or how they operate.
Comment by Gary on June 15, 2022 at 2:17 pm
Strange career choice that he’s made.
Comment by Rev. Dr. Lee D Cary (ret. UM clergy) on June 15, 2022 at 2:18 pm
David Felten is what happens when a ‘Modern’ Western mindset literally interprets the teachings from an ancient Middle Eastern culture and focus on debunking the literal meaning of ancient narratives instead of focusing on their meaning.
Take, for example, Genesis 32:24-32.
Jacob wrestles with “an angel”. He ends up with a new name/identity and a limp. When he asks the one who prevailed over him, “What’s your name? The answer is:
“Why do you want to know?”
The Western mind wants to literally dissect the story. The Pastor Felten’s of Christendom would be better spent focused on the meaning of the question.
Comment by Palamas on June 15, 2022 at 4:02 pm
What do you get when you cross a Unitarian with a Jehovah’s Witness?
David Felten. (The disregard for Scripture is Unitarian; the ludicrous claims about hell sounds like he reads the Watchtower in his spare time.)
I’m sure he thinks this is all terribly clever and scholarly. In fact, most of what he says betrays an appalling lack of education (what he says about Augustine is laughably ridiculous) combined with a Dunning-Kruger level of certainty regarding things he knows little about. He obviously considers the construction and destruction of straw men to be worth his time. I wonder if his congregation does?
Comment by Kevin Costner on June 15, 2022 at 6:14 pm
This is why the church originally had a trust clause, i.e. to keep heresy from being preached. Now the clause is being used to hold orthodox believers hostage and there’s little to no accountability for harmful teaching like this.
Comment by dan jarrell on June 15, 2022 at 6:31 pm
Anthony – all of your points are very valid. However, to be fair to these boards, we have to consider the problems they are dealing with:
1. The number of candidates is very low.
2. Most ACs do not fund their candidates’ educations.
3. The UMC discourages orthodox believers from applying.
4. Many of the candidates are of low caliber.
5. Pay is low relative to education expenses.
6. The UMC wants the candidates to be provocative, unique, and disruptive.
Comment by Dan W on June 15, 2022 at 7:00 pm
In the last paragraph of this article Felton is quoted saying “If God is the manifestation of all things loving, merciful, and forgiving, hell cannot exist… Hell loses and love wins.”
The Bible tells us we are separated from God by our sin, Isaiah 59:2 for example. If we are eternally separated from all things loving, merciful and forgiving… that is eternal damnation, that is hell.
Comment by Loren J Golden on June 15, 2022 at 8:29 pm
“The notions of biblical inerrancy and the need to be born again create all kinds of discord and conflict in society…(and) keeps the whole church trapped in a quagmire of outdated fantasies. … Not to put too fine a point on it, but original sin has got to go.”
And in place of Biblical theology, Mr. Felten would give us…what? A vacuum?
“Too many preachers are guilty of allowing the idea of hell to fester in the minds. So, let’s begin by confessing that when it comes to our concepts of hell, for the most part, were misinformed. … So let me say it clearly…It’s all made up. The popular notions of hell are total fiction. Not to mention so contradictory to the gospel as to be laughable.”
Well, I don’t know about all that, but Jesus sure talked about it an awful lot (Mt. 5.22,29,30, 10.28, 18.9, 23.15,33, 9.43,45,47, Lk.12.5; in fact, all but one of the γέεννα references in the New Testament were spoken by Him). He seemed to think that real people were going to end up there, and I’m pretty sure that he wasn’t talking about people just being thrown into the Jerusalem “city dump”.
“The creation stories in the Bible are metaphors, not history…instead of the magical idea that human beings were once perfect and now because someone ate an apple, are damaged goods. How about simply acknowledging that Darwin was right? We were never perfect. We are evolving, emerging as a species and as individuals.”
So, in place of the Bible’s Creation account, which Mr. Felden regards as a myth, he would replace it with…another myth—albeit one of much more recent vintage. I recall a few years ago, looking at Time Magazine’s special edition on the theory of evolution, where there was a string of skulls from Australopithecus all the way up to Modern Man, and with the sole exception of the Homo Erectus skull, every single intermediate form put forth as evidence that mankind evolved from Australopithecus was a clay model extrapolated from a solitary bone fragment. I don’t know that much about paleontology, but in engineering school, I was taught that extrapolations are seldom reliable. Indeed, when designing equations to fit data in gas tables in the end of my Thermodynamics textbook, I found that the interpolated results (i.e., within the limits of the data set for which the equation was designed) matched the tabulated data quite well, whereas extrapolated results (i.e., beyond the limits of the data set for which the equation was designed) varied significantly. While I have a great deal of trust in genuine science, I don’t have a lot of trust in extrapolated clay models that are all too conveniently made to fit an unproven theory.
If the Bible is not reliable in what it teaches, especially in “Christianity’s most dangerous ideas” that Mr. Felden would feign to “defuse”, then there is no point to Christianity. If there is no hope beyond this life, there is no point in getting up and going to church on a Sunday morning, let alone drop a little change in the offering plate. And honestly, what does Mr. Felden hope to gain by preaching this tripe? Truly, only a witless provocateur would try to argue his way into the unemployment line.
Comment by Steve on June 15, 2022 at 9:34 pm
Dan Jarrell,
I agree. My AC had 36 retirees this year and only 3 candidates. BOMs are getting desperate to fill the churches. That’s part of the problem.
Comment by Mark on June 15, 2022 at 11:47 pm
Before my grandmother passed, she said if no one planned to maintain her house (that my grandfather built) then she wanted us to raze it. She could not abide the thought of it being abandoned to rot in plain sight.
The UMC needs to be buried asap. Its corpse really stinks.
Comment by Jim on June 16, 2022 at 10:00 am
He’s a very bad scientist. Ignorant. There is NO evidence that mankind as evolved from “our reptilian” ancestors. None. Not in the fossil record. Not in DNA. I’m talking the best science, not theology. And Darwin’s theory of evolution does not advance the selfless, those who would die for others, who are not greedy, not rapacious and ravenous, not self-assertive and not driven to overcome others to promote their own goals. Genghis Khan is a model for Darwinian evolution, both in terms of conquest and sowing his seed among captive women. Hitler thought he was morally advanced. Because…Darwinian evolution. Scholarship reminds us that modern racism is rooted in Darwinian theory. I have found that most “progressive” talkers like him are very poorly educated and intellectually shallow. This guy would collapse in an honest debate.
Comment by David on June 16, 2022 at 11:36 am
The usual problem with “Bible believers” is that they accept some parts while rejecting the problematic ones. The Gospels tell us that traditionist Jews at the time of Jesus rejected the notion of an afterlife. This was presumably because they found no basis for it in scripture. However, the fortunate pagans had a more comforting future. The late historian Eugen Weber declared that the chief characteristics of the Roman era mystery cults were “life after death for members only and a ceremonial meal.”
The Bible has multiple accounts of various events that conflict at times. People usually ignore Genesis 2 which has man created first and animals afterward. Obviously, one of the two chapters has to be incorrect.
The US has a long history of anti-intellectualism and this includes a rejection of science. Of course, science has nearly doubled the human lifespan in the past century or so, but never mind.
Evolution is a well-established fact and the basis of modern biology. No reasonable evidence has been put forth to refute it. Its greatest proofs lie in molecular biology, the study of DNA, that became possible in the late 1980s. Small changes in a genetic sequence can have profound changes in outcome thus confirming mutation as a driving force of evolution. I say this after having spent 40 years in genetics.
Comment by Roger on June 16, 2022 at 4:57 pm
Rev. Felten, must Ignore Paul’s writings. Romans 5 : 12 Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sins and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Old Adam, passed the sin nature on down to all men. In Colossians 2: 13 And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcism of your flesh – – – – Paul is indicating you are born spiritually dead from old Adam. The sin nature has been passed on down by these scriptures. Paul preaches the Body of Christ and the Cross and Resurrection for Salvation. Darwin is not credible.
Comment by Loren J Golden on June 16, 2022 at 7:46 pm
It isn’t that Mr. Felten ignores Paul’s writings; he discounts them. “He explained that because Paul and Augustine were unaware of evolution, they tried hard to account for the primal urges and tendencies we inherited with the information they had. According to Felten, Paul and August ‘made up a fanciful story about sin and the power of Jesus to redeem us.’”
I find Paul to be a very reliable arbiter of divine truth. Mr. Felten? Not so much.
Comment by jim on June 17, 2022 at 12:33 am
Dave: Evolution is not a well established “fact.” Darwin’s theory remains a theory. The kind of evolution that produces entirely new species has not been proved. There is nothing in the fossil record. Only micro-evolution, when a preexisting species changing to adapt to its environment but remaining the same species, has been observed. Darwinism and neo-Darwinism are on the ropes. See Meyer’s “Darwin’s Doubt,” The Third Way of Evolution website, and Niall Thomas’s “Taking Leave of Darwin,” for starters.
“Bible believers” don’t pick and choose what parts of the Bible to believe as God’s inspired word. They work at it, pray over it, study and discuss it in depth and honestly and humbly and take it all as God’s word.
Comment by David on June 17, 2022 at 7:17 am
I am always amused when people try to demean evolution by calling it “Darwinism” as though it is some sort of religious cult. Do we call relativity “Einsteinism”? Darwin did his work prior to the Civil War and science had moved on since that time. There are things known today of which he was unaware as is the case for every scientist of his era.
Science rejectors now often admit that a degree of evolution exists, but refuse to accept it generally. The study of DNA has shown the relation that various species have with each other. The fact that people have not moved beyond the Monkey Trial of a century ago is disheartening.
“Like every other science, there is scientific debate about some aspects of evolution, but none of these debates appear likely to shake the foundations of this field. There exists no other scientific explanation that can account for all the patterns in nature, only non-scientific explanations that require a miraculous force, like a creator. Such supernatural explanations lie outside of science, which can neither prove nor disprove miracles. Science provides us with a compelling account and explanation of the changing life on Earth. It should also remind us of our good fortune to have come into being and our great responsibility to ensure the continuity of life.”
https://ncse.ngo/evolution-fact-and-theory
Comment by Jim on June 17, 2022 at 1:21 pm
Darwinism is in fact the name that has been applied to his theory and the school of thought that followed. Neo-Darwinists self-identified with that term. Now that Darwinism is being shown to be an unproven, indeed, disproven theory when genetical statistics is applied against the parameters of the available time of earth for a new folded protein emerge, Darwinists want to run around with their theory under a different banner. Educate yourself on the latest developments in microbiology, Try reading Dr. Michael Behe, or Dr. Douglas Axe who are doing real anbd hard science, not the narrative speculation Darwin used.
Comment by Bob on June 17, 2022 at 5:37 pm
He has pastored his church since 2006, located in the 8th fastest-growing city in the state. Population now is 24,000, church attendance now 141 or .006% of the population, though basically flatlined during his tenure (defined as declining less than 15% over a decade). For that region of Methodism, he actually is a stellar performer. What he can’t argue is any personal example of how shedding core traditional Christian beliefs reaches more people, brings more into active church life, or lowers the median age of Western Methodists…currently bumping into the lower 60’s.
Comment by Wayne Worsham on June 19, 2022 at 9:14 am
Hell is not mentioned in the Old Testament. Correct. But every other explanation of his is wrong.
Jesus is the ONLY person in the entire Bible to talk about hell. God could not trust anyone else in the entire Bible except for Jesus to talk about hell. So hell does exist.
Except for two instances when talking to the Pharisees, every other time Jesus talked about hell was to believers. This in itself is revealing. Why was Jesus talking to believers about hell? Because we can still end up there if we are not careful. Hell is the weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 24:36 – 25. Four stories told to the disciples, i.e. Believers. In each story Christ is the central figure. And each story can be ended and they lived unhappily ever after. This is very revealing. There is a hell.
Also this preacher is wrong about scaring those to conversion. Read your Bible carefully. Jesus nor the disciples ever threatened non-believers with hell or the nawing and gnashing of teeth. Even all of Revelation is directed to believers to overcome.
Comment by Loren J Golden on June 19, 2022 at 11:33 am
“Jesus is the ONLY person in the entire Bible to talk about hell.”
That is not entirely accurate. The Lord Jesus mentioned hell more often than any of the writers of Scripture, but He was not the only one to talk about it.
“And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell (Gk. γέεννα).” (Jas. 3.6)
“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell (Gk. ταρταρόω).” (II Pet. 2.4)
“And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in his presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur (Gk. ἡ λίμνη τοῦ πυρὸς τῆς καιομένης ἐν θείῳ).” (Rev. 19.20)
“And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur (Gk. ἡ λίμνη τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ θείου) where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Rev. 20.10)
“Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire (Gk. ἡ λίμνη τοῦ πυρὸς). This is the second death, the lake of fire (Gk. ἡ λίμνη τοῦ πυρὸς). And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (Gk. ἡ λίμνη τοῦ πυρὸς).” (Rev. 20.14-15)
“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur (Gk. ἡ λίμνη τῇ καιομένῃ πυρὶ καὶ θείῳ), which is the second death.” (Rev. 21.8)
Comment by Joan Sibbald.. on June 19, 2022 at 2:39 pm
Not only is David Felten holding Satan’s hand, he’s sitting on his lap and letting him kiss him!
Comment by Joe Renta on June 19, 2022 at 6:04 pm
As a 35 year UMC member I say it is time to dissolve. This is not compatible with biblical Christianity. Given his District Superintendent and Bishop have not severely reprimanded this person, one can only assume they agree with his statements. Close the doors, turn out the lights, Methodism is over.
Comment by April User on June 19, 2022 at 6:12 pm
He’s probably loving all the attention and gasp response his ludicrous claims are making. Can we ignore him and he’ll go away?
Comment by Search4Truth on June 19, 2022 at 6:37 pm
Interesting. And it was only a hundred years ago that G.K. Chesterton acknowledged “Origin Sin’ as the only empirically provable tenant of Christianity.
Comment by Lance on June 19, 2022 at 6:53 pm
This is simple. Follow the BOD & fire him immediately. Fire the board that allowed him to be a Methodist preacher. Fire the Bishop & DS that allows him to stay. Fire the seminary that accepted him. failed to teach him and/ or taught him this heresy. Done.
Comment by Wayne Worsham on June 20, 2022 at 5:30 am
Loren, fair enough. But Revelations was given to John by Yeshua.
Comment by E Rhodes on June 20, 2022 at 10:40 am
He’s preaching another gospel. The book of Galatians warns us about such a gospel.
Comment by Rev. Stephen P. Gutridge on June 20, 2022 at 11:33 am
A number of very sincere well-meaning Christians today are arguing that there is no such thing as Hell. They insist that God is Love and as a result, He would not send anyone to eternal punishment. Many would argue that one religion is as good as another if the adherents are genuine and sincere in their beliefs. This kind of understanding is known as “Universalism.” It is not a new theology. People have been making similar arguments for centuries. It is a belief system that creates a god in the believer’s own image.
This is not unlike the human sexuality and ordination issue that has the Presbyterian Church (USA) totally consumed. The same issue is being wrestled with in most mainline denominations. The other issue is; how do we deal with other religions? Are Mormons, Muslims, Hindus, etc. on a path to the same God as Christians?
Here is the real issue. We look around at our experience and find that many people are very good yet not Christian, would a loving God send them to Hell? The gracious human conclusion, “certainly not!” Look at all the wonderfully talented people around us that just happen to be Muslim, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, etc. would God give them extraordinary gifts, the capacity for deep faith, and then deny them? Again, gracious loving well-intentioned church people say, “Certainly not!”
When I was about ten years old I joined in a lighthearted corncob fight with a number of other boys in the area. As you might imagine, our lighthearted play soon took on a near vicious tone as each of us was determined to destroy the other. Near the end, my enthusiasm was nearly out of control and I struck a much younger boy with a corncob (dry corn still attached) squarely in the back. It was a great throw and I was very proud of myself. The younger boy was really hurt and went running home crying. His father soon appeared and took me to task. I insolently defended my actions as part of the game and boldly stated that “if his son couldn’t take the heat he should stay out of the kitchen.” The grown man slapped me across the face. I was stunned. Child abuse! I went straight home to tell my Dad, knowing that he would come and beat this man up. My Dad did no such thing. In fact, he scolded me for getting involved in a serious game with unpleasant consequences. I was so disappointed and hurt. I wanted my Dad to stand up for me. He did not, he saw that the situation had gotten far out of control and he did not need to pour any more fuel on the fire.
Was my Dad right or wrong? Now, speaking from an adult perspective, I would say, yes he was right. Yet, the little boy inside of me still winces. The problem was that I began with my perspective; struck by an adult while being a participant in a game where it was every boy for himself. Why was I singled out and not everyone else? Particularly since his older son was a vicious player. Beginning with my perspective I projected onto my own Dad my conclusions and what course of action I felt was appropriate for him to take. It never occurred to me that he would have a different perspective than mine. After all, I was there and I was right! I made every attempt to impose my view of what a dad should do on my own Dad. I was doing my “Dadology” upside-down. I did not make every effort to know my Dad and then know what he would do based on my knowledge of him.
We make the same mistake when doing Theology. We begin with the human perspective and then impose it upon God. It never occurs to us that He might think differently. After all, we are in the situation, we know the facts, and we know He is a God of love. He must respond the way we want. I didn’t know my Dad so well when I was ten. I knew he loved me and that I was always safe with him. That was not the whole picture. My Dad was a prudent thoughtful man and he acted correctly. A ten-year-old does not know his Dad so well, but we do know God very well. Or at the very least we can know Him through His Word.
I would argue that many well-meaning church people are doing their Theology upside-down. They are beginning with the human perspective and then impose it upon God and His Word. The same problem exists in the human sexuality debate, the equality of religions debate, and the like. I believe that the proper and time-tested way of doing theology is from God down. Let’s make every effort to understand who God is and how He deals with human issues through His written Word. Let Him speak to us from His perspective. Let’s do our theology from the top-down and not from the bottom-up.
Comment by Stan Jefferson on June 20, 2022 at 1:34 pm
I love guys like David Felten. They provide a refutation target so big you’d have to be facing 180 degrees backwards with a slingshot to miss it. And they always follow a common theme: “Everything’s OK, don’t worry about it.”
Lets start with his quote, “We are evolving creatures striving to emerge from the primal ooze of our past to achieve a more advanced form of life.” I don’t think we’re doing too well with that, simply because we haven’t made any progress.
The truth is, we’re not getting better, nor are we getting worse. But we are the same sinful creatures as we were 20 generations ago, excusing our evil behavior with “we’re good enough.”
Comment by BG on June 21, 2022 at 3:47 pm
There it is again at the end of the article: L O V E justifies sin, (in their minds)
Comment by D. Larson on June 27, 2022 at 10:47 pm
I bet Rev. Felten could hold his own in a debate with anyone.
Comment by Terry Lowe on July 2, 2022 at 2:13 pm
If the preacher is correct in saying that man is only a product of evolution, then sin is a non-issue; salvation is a non-issue; sanctification is not necessary; and heaven and hell are non-issues. The sounds like the entire Gospel is irrelevant, and when you get down to it, God is irrelevant, and so is His Son Jesus. It looks as if humanity has no ultimate purpose except to “love” everyone and everything which never seems to work out over the long haul.
For some reason this “profound” truth has not been practiced by the rest of the world (as Rev. Felten screams, “IF THEY WOULD ONLY LISTEN TO ME!”)
Sorry Rev. Felten, but, if your “gospel” is true, then we should just blow our brains out because life doesn’t have an ultimate purpose anyway except to exist and be satisfied with meaninglessness.
One of these days, Rev. Felten, I hope you will become fed up with your la-la-land and come to know the true God and His Son as revealed in Holy Scripture. When you get into the mind of God through Scripture, instead of trying to force God to think in your extremely limited way of thinking, you will “know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.” Until then, you are to be most pitied, regardless of your pretty clerical robe.
Comment by Bob on October 16, 2022 at 4:29 pm
I see at the heart of Rev. Felten’s sermons an important choice: Will we take scripture seriously or to take it literally (which is not to take it seriously at all)? I will opt for taking scripture seriously, for it has a richness and depth and a revelation of Divine Love that is lost when we think our literal interpretations hold all the answers.
Preach on, Rev. Felten!