Jun

11

Don’t post angry.

June 11, 2008 |

Posted by ben hind · Filed Under Problems in the Church, Christian Life, Personal 

I’m a little upset after my trip to Greece. Not upset with Greece, but just in coming back to the West. We fight too much with each-other. And I’m not talking about politics; I mean Christians fighting each-other. It seems we like to pick theological fights over non-essential issues and throw around the term ‘heretic’ and ‘false teacher’ way too much. Coming back to my local church, the first thing I found out that happened whilst I was away were the complaints of people who didn’t like where the leadership was taking the church. Lighten up.

I was going to post a rant, but then I had to stop myself. I would be no better than any of these other people. I would just be picking another fight. I don’t want to post angry.

James’ letter hasn’t got good things to say about the tongue:

James 3:8-9 (Listen)

8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. (ESV)

It seems this is exactly the kind of thing we are very much a part of in Christianity. I say ‘we’ because we all become guilty of it from time to time, ‘we’ all make mistakes. I can often think back on times when I ‘cursed’ people for disagreeing with me on something. Often about things that don’t really matter. I would ‘curse’ people as being ‘false teachers’ simply because they didn’t believe my version of the end times, or agree with me about a particular interpretation on a passage. I have posted angry responses on forums, and it never helps.

Shouldn’t our speech be ’seasoned with salt’, as Paul says? Shouldn’t we be looking to give a positive witness through our speech, however angry we are about something?

I didn’t fancy posting a rant today, and I think this one has been a bit of self-help therapy for me. I hope it helps you too.

Don’t post angry.

See also: Michael Patton’s post on ‘Blogging to the glory (shame) of God’


Comments

2 Comments so far

  1. britphil on June 13, 2008 8:29 am

    Ben

    “seems we like to pick theological fights over non-essential issues and throw around the term ‘heretic’ and ‘false teacher’ way too much.”

    I couldn’t agree with you more. I love going on holiday and exploring new parts, and dare I say it, partly because it enables me to “escape” from organised church for a while and not have to deal with stuff like you describe on a regular basis.

    Can I REALLY drop a bombshell and ask am I the only one who, on occasions enjoys the company of non-Christians more than some Christians because of the “normality” Of the conversation and because it does not constantly focus on the latest church leader (normally of an emerging stance) to be denounced as an irredeemable heretic!.

    I shall now stand back, put on a hard hat and retreat to a safe distance!!

  2. ben hind on June 13, 2008 9:59 am

    Britphil,

    You don’t have to wear any hats around me (except for fashionable reasons), I would agree with you. I generally take the principle that ‘people are people’, whether Christian or not. We do have a common interest with other Christians, but sometimes our non-Christian friends do seem a lot more… down to earth?

    - Ben

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