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A “Favorite” Pet Peeve: “Asking Oprah (or Dear Abby)…”

I read this article and thought YES! I too am baffled by Christians who will take the thinnly sliced balogna offered in pop-culture as some deep insight into follow Christ. We live in a society were we think everyones 2 sense is just as good or equal to anothers 2 sense. Yet we walk away with no sense whatsoever of what is real and true.


A “Favorite” Pet Peeve: “Asking Oprah (or Dear Abby)…”

In a recent column a Christian woman asked “Dear Abby” (Pauline Phillips) about God and homosexuality. Her son came out to her and she was afraid to ask her pastor about God’s attitude toward gay people because she was afraid of what he would say. So she wrote to “Abby” asking her how God views homosexuality. Abby’s response was predictable–that science had shown the Bible to be unreliable on this subject and that entrance to heaven depends on a person’s character only.
This illustrates a pattern I see among Americans including many American Christians. The Christian band “Casting Crowns” has a phrase in one song urging Christians to “stop asking Oprah what to do.” Amen to that! And I add (for Christians, at least) ”stop asking Dear Abby or any other advice columnist or TV talk show host (etc.) what to do!”
Why do people, including some Christians, think that a person can give competent theological advice just because he or she writes a nationally syndicated column or hosts a television talk show? That simply baffles me. It baffles me so much it leaves me bewildered. Read more . . .

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