Some Bristol preachers

I don’t really like some preachers that much. And I like just about everybody.

As my father used to say, preachers can tend to get prone to develop a really bad case of Know-It-All-Itis. When they climb behind a pulpit, they often claim to know more than you and I do; particularly when it comes to telling us about how you and I should be living our lives. Such otherwise good folk can completely forget that the Gospel is primarily a message - not of judging one another - but of loving one another.

And I honestly don’t even personally blame those preachers among us who suffer from chronic cases of Know-It-All-Itis. It is primarily our fault; those of us who listen to them as if they somehow possess the capability to know more than we do. We are the ones who give them the power to tell us how to live our lives.

Which brings to mind my second favorite word; education. The more educated you and I are (either by formal means or self-education), the more are we able to think for ourselves and discover the truth on our own - and not be “told” the truth by someone else (anyone else). It is the very essence of true individual freedom and responsibility. (Which is, perhaps, one of the primary reasons I identify spiritually as a Quaker - I have complete religious freedom. Regarding spiritual matters, I defer to no ordained authority.

All that being said, I like most of the preachers whom I know personally. I really do.

In fact, I would like to honor here a few local preachers whom I have known to generally be very pleasant real-life exceptions to the religious plague of Know-It-All-Itis. I have known the following people to be more apt to follow the Golden Rule, instead.