What Are Sunday Specials?
Every Sunday, we take a closer look at a sermon preached in a local church—usually right here in the American South, where religion saturates culture and identity. These aren’t distant hypotheticals or abstract doctrines. They’re real messages, delivered this week, to real people. Our goal isn’t mockery or hostility—it’s clarity.
We apply The God Question’s Core Philosophy: evidence over assumption, logic over tradition, and clarity over emotional manipulation. We listen closely so we can think critically—and help others do the same.
Date Analyzed: April 13, 2025 (Palm Sunday)
Speaker: Pastor Mike Goforth
Church: Sardis Baptist Church, Boaz, Alabama
Series: Sunday Specials – A Critical Lens on Local Sermons
Method Applied: The God Question’s Core Philosophy
🎙 The Sermon in Summary
Pastor Mike Goforth delivered a Palm Sunday sermon titled “The Easter Parade,” drawing from Ephesians 4:17–24. He used the metaphor of “putting on new clothes” to illustrate what it means to become a Christian—contrasting the “old man” (non-believer) with the “new man” (born-again believer). The message celebrated the resurrection of Jesus, emphasized substitutionary atonement, and described the moral failings of those outside the Christian faith. It ended with an altar call, inviting listeners to “put off the old man” and join the family of God.
🧠 What’s the Problem?
While the sermon was passionate, rhetorically smooth, and aligned with traditional evangelical teaching, it raises serious concerns when viewed through the lens of The God Question’s Core Philosophy—a method that values evidence, logic, historical awareness, and emotional integrity over inherited dogma.
🔍 Claim-by-Claim Critique
1. Jesus died for our sins.
This foundational claim assumes a divine economy where sin is a transferable debt and blood is the only acceptable payment. But this view of justice would be ethically outrageous in any secular context. The notion that one person can be punished for another’s wrongdoing isn’t just illogical—it’s morally troubling.
2. Jesus rose from the dead.
The resurrection is framed as historical fact, yet the sermon provides no evidence beyond personal belief. The Gospel accounts of the resurrection are contradictory, and Paul—our earliest source—never mentions an empty tomb. Without independent corroboration, this claim rests on circular reasoning.
3. The tomb is empty.
Again, asserted as fact but supported only by internal Christian texts. An empty tomb, even if verified, wouldn’t prove a resurrection—it would raise more questions than it answers.
4. Salvation requires a combination of intellectual belief and heartfelt trust.
This framing subtly blames nonbelievers: if you don’t accept Christianity, it’s because you either don’t understand it or don’t feel it deeply enough. It’s an immunized argument, closed off from honest challenge.
5. Nonbelievers are blind, hardened, perverted, greedy.
This is not description—it’s demonization. The “old man” is painted in disturbingly dehumanizing terms. Apparently, if you’re not born again, your mind lacks perception, your heart is like stone, your soul is perverse, and your lusts are uncontrollable.
But is that true? Millions of thoughtful, moral, generous people reject Christianity—not because they’re blind or broken, but because they’ve critically evaluated the evidence and found it lacking.
6. Believers are honest, generous, self-controlled, and aware of sin.
These are admirable traits, but they are not exclusive to Christians. Suggesting otherwise creates a moral superiority complex. Plenty of believers fall short, and plenty of nonbelievers live principled, compassionate lives.
7. Eternal separation from God awaits the unsaved.
This is classic fear-based theology. The threat of eternal punishment is held over the listener’s head as the cost of doubt. This is emotional coercion disguised as spiritual invitation.
8. Hearts are harder on Sand Mountain than in foreign countries.
This statement reflects a colonial mindset: locals have rejected the gospel too many times and are now spiritually calloused, but “untouched” people elsewhere are more receptive. It’s the same logic used by missionaries for centuries to justify invading cultures and undermining native worldviews.
🧱 What This Reveals
Pastor Goforth’s sermon isn’t just a celebration of Easter—it’s a well-oiled delivery of evangelical fundamentals, complete with insider language, guilt-based motivations, and fear-driven appeals. When stripped of its emotional packaging, we’re left with a theology that:
- Punishes unbelief more than it rewards reason
- Exalts faith over facts
- Uses metaphor to manipulate (e.g., “old clothes,” “hardened heart”)
- Divides humanity into saved and lost, righteous and reprobate
📣 Final Thoughts
This sermon is a perfect example of why critical thinking about religion is essential—especially in places where it dominates cultural identity. If you heard this message and felt uncomfortable questioning it, that’s no accident. It wasn’t designed to be questioned. It was designed to be believed.
But belief without evidence is not a virtue. And doubt, when paired with reason, is not a weakness. It is the beginning of clarity.
🧭 The God Question’s Invitation
If you’ve grown up hearing messages like this—messages that define you as lost, unworthy, or broken unless you accept a specific belief system—we invite you to pause. Think. Examine. Not just what you’ve been told, but why you were told it.
You are not broken for asking questions. You’re brave.
Let’s keep asking.
God or Delusion? 