Isn't it a bit of a stretch to invoke the passage regarding the conception of John the Baptist to condemn the ailing elderly that aren't able to get to church as often as they used to?
The text implies that God intervened in regards to the withered reproductive tracts of Zacharias and Elizabeth. So unless God intervenes similarly in regards to dimmed eyesight and crippled legs, isn't He the one to be held responsible regarding this attendance issue?
The pastor insisted that, if an elderly individual can make it to the doctors or the supermarket, they can make it to church.
One is reminded of the line from the movie “Dodgeball”, “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.”
But doesn't such a imperative analogy postulate a weak God bordering on the heretical?
The decrepit of advanced chronology are forced to go to the doctor's or the grocery store because such services are often physicalized in a singular location.
But doesn't the God of the Christian go out of His way to make it known that He is not confined by a structure built by the hands of man no matter how ornate or well intended such dedicated edifices might happen to be?
By Frederick Meekins