Back in the day, Jim Palmer was a pastor at the largest church in North America. Eventually I walked away from my ministerial career and Christian religion because I no longer had faith in the beliefs and doctrines I learned in seminary. No person taught evangelical theology with the devotion and passion that I did, but one day I realized this did not produce true and lasting change in the lives of others or my own.
Looking back with hindsight, I made at least these mistakes as a pastor:
Putting theology over God.
Putting Christianity over Jesus.
Putting church over community
Putting orthodoxy over love.
Putting certainty over wonder.
Putting sermons over conversations.
Putting polished over real.
Putting explanations over empathy.
Putting answers over questions.
Putting membership over friendship.
Putting preaching over listening.
Putting prayer over action.
Putting services over self-care.
Putting style over substance.
Putting appearance over authenticity.
Putting discipleship over therapy.
Putting religiosity over spirituality.
Putting numbers over faces.
Putting holiness over humanity.
Putting accountability over acceptance.
Putting heaven over earth.
Putting meetings over relationships.
Putting reputation over risk.
Putting ego over humility.
Putting charisma over compassion.
Putting the afterlife over the herelife.
Putting doctrine over reason.
Putting patriarchy over equality.
Of course I didn’t realize I was doing these at the time. But there were consequences. I have since confessed my sins and made peace with my religious past. A twist in fate led me to offer help and healing to those who have been hurt by religion, which includes ex-clergy like myself who walked away.
Organized Christianity has done more to corrupt the message of Jesus than any other agency in the world. As part of my own healing journey I published a book (‘Inner Anarchy’) about a non-religious Jesus that the Christian religion seemed to miss.
Inner Anarchy -> https://tinyurl.com/muk74r7k
Jim Palmer
