80th Live Stream with Carlton Pearson - Re-think, Re-consider and Think Again

About this sermon

According to the New Testament narratives of the Gospels, both Jesus and John the Baptist, his forerunner, came preaching repentance which means to re-think, re-consider, or after you've thought, think again. For the last 15 years, my objective has been the same, to encourage us all to ask what we believe, why we believe it and how those beliefs add to or subtract from the quality of our lives and the lives of those around us? Many of us have the feeling that Christianity, at its core, has something good to offer the human race. At the same time, we have the sense that the version of Christianity we see on TV, hear about in political and social debates, or see in most fundamentalist churches, is not the kind of Christianity we can call home anymore. This is the type of Christianity that makes us feel ashamed to call ourselves Christians. This is the Christianity that has divided people into the "chosen" and "un-chosen." This is the type of Christianity (or religion) that embraces the ugly image of God as written about in Bishop John Shelby Spong's book "Jesus for the Non-Religious." Note a quote from it: "Christianity has (through the "inerrant Bible ") given us a God who caused the death of his son, the damnation of disbelievers, the subordination of women, the bloody massacres of the crusades, the terror of judgment, the wrath toward homosexuals and the justification of slavery. The Father God embodied in the creeds is a deity who chooses some of the world's children while rejecting others. He is the father of wrath, the father of male domination and female submission, the father of literal and spiritual slavery!" Is this your experience in any way? Carlton Pearson After college at the Oral Roberts University in Tulsa Oklahoma he served for 15 years on its Board of Regents, and two years as Associate Evangelist of The Oral Roberts Association, (ORA). In 1977, Pearson founded Higher Dimensions Ministries (now New Dimensions ), in Tulsa, which grew to over 5,000. Bishop Pearson was consecrated to the office of Bishop in 1996 thru a College of Bishops headed by Bishop Charles E Blake, presently the Presiding Bishop of the Churches of God In Christ, the denomination he was raised in and through whom he was ordained in 1971. In 1993, Carlton married the former Gina Marie Gauthier who is a professional Life Coach and Yoga teacher. More recently, he has felt a passion to proclaim the "Gospel Of Inclusion" and has written a widely acclaimed book by that name, published by Simon and Schuster. It confronts the Christian church's exclusivism as being inconsistent, in spirit with the teachings of Jesus. Pearson's frank and often controversial take on a number of different subjects has earned him appearances on television programs such as NBC and MSNBC's Dateline, ABC's Nightline, 20/20, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley, The Edge with Paula Zahn and Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, The Monique Show on BET, and a number of other television, radio and print media outlets. Bishop Pearson was recognized as one of America's 10 Most Influential Black Ministers by Gospel Today and Belief.net. He has received several honorary doctoral degrees. Bishop Pearson recently served as the Interim Senior Minister at Christ Universal Temple in Chicago. He and Gina now host New Dimensions of Chicago, building a local multi-cultural and radically Inclusive spiritual community that emphasizes expanded consciousness and Self Actualization. His newest book, God Is Not A Christian, Nor A Jew, Muslim, Hindu...God Dwells With Us, In Us, Around Us, As Us was published by Simon and Schuster and released in the spring of 2010. Visit our Youtube Channel for more video! Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/bishoppearson Website: http://www.bishoppearson.com Join Email List: http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?llr=cqgwpvn6&p=oi&m=1011112155650