Yesterday I mentioned that I.C.E. people seem to over-emphasise Bible knowledge. This naturally leads them to elevate the status of the Bible teacher. This comes out in several articles I found written by Richard O'Leary, available on his Beacon website.
For example, in speaking of disciplining children, he concludes that, The only certain solution is exposure to a prepared Pastor who teaches doctrine from the original languages. For that matter, this is the only solution to all our problems.
O'Leary argues in favour of abortion by saying, As for abortion; we are dealing with a technical subject here that, unless you know the original Greek and Hebrew, you will just have to take the word of an accomplished exegete, and I refer to my pastor, not myself.
There you have it! He's talked to someone who knows. The Pastor is lord and high-priest, and his word goes. The common people are not qualified to interpret the Scriptures for themselves...
Finally, the ICE movement promotes a "chain of command" theory that sounds very similar to that followed by the Independent Fundamentalist Baptists from Secret Radio. So, in discussing prayer, O'Leary asserts that prayer should not be made to Jesus (he conveniently fails to consider Stephen's prayer) on the basis that there is a "chain of command" in the Holy Trinity. This carries over into the church, (called by some the royal chain of command), with the Pastor-Teacher at the top.
Hence, the ICE Movement over-estimates the office of Pastor-Teacher.
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