Here's a lament which I wrote many years ago -- but apparently didn't post. I can see why I didn't post it -- but here it is at last, for the enjoyment of connoisseurs.
"A minister has the obligation to present Scriptural principles where they apply, and he or she has the duty to uphold the Church constitution. But for this, he comes under fire, under (sometimes terrifying) threat, and is judged by weird opinions. Not seldom, there is zero support as he seeks to do the obvious. He says that slander is execrable, that marriage is holy, or that bribes are beneath a Christian, yet he receives only blank stares when he does. I sometimes wonder whether people would praise me if I announced that we were abandoning the Scriptures, burned the constitution, and reversed our most basic principles. On the other hand, if I were to take fire at people as they do at me, making (terrifying) threats, advancing weird ideas, or giving them blank stares when they speak of important things, I can't see that this would be acceptable at all."
OBSERVATION: Many people do not realise that ministers contend with such things. They see the minister's calm and benevolent exterior, and may have no idea that this goes on. One minister friend was threatened with death for three years straight, and (almost) nobody knew. A police operation put a stop to it.
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