Posted by jason on March 27, 2001 at 16:52:17:
In Reply to: Re: Letting off steam (kinda longish) posted by John on March 27, 2001 at 13:32:04:
John, you have made some very excellent points! I hadn't even thought of this "situation" from a church point of view.
I have a thought about cliques...
I don't think cliques are necessarily bad as long as they allow room for other schools of thought. That's not to say that one clique has to agree with another -- I guess this is referring to acceptance (a hard concept to wrap my mind around). I remember a favorite pastor (and good friend) once said that silence about a particular point does not specifically mean agreement. This choice of silence and understanding goes a long way in pointing me to better grasp "acceptance."
I can think of another music example to demonstrate my point.
The band I play in falls under the "modern, agressive rock" category. I listen to some "modern, aggressive rock," but I also have many other tastes. There is a circle of acquantinces of mine that have strong affections for indie music. I like many indie bands, as a matter of fact, lately I've been listening to more indie stuff than anything else.
Well, just recently, I was spending time with a group of these friends and we were at a place where a "modern, agressive rock" band was playing. Many negative statements were made about the quality of music of this band. Part of me agreed wholeheartedly, but a larger part was a bit hurt. I told one of my friends that I could almost feel like it could've been my band playing that music, receiving the brunt of his scrutiny... not a pleasant feeling. His response was that it would be different because he knows me. We ended up talking about something else. Although I don't agree with his rationale, I am still glad he is my friend.
Jason
P.S. Lester falls into a whole different category...
: I know how you feel...at least to an extent. There are certain people who despite my genuine efforts to be nice and friendly consistently rub me the wrong way in a very short period of time. It is a case much like you described where the individuals are very forward and inconsiderate and tend to invite themselves into anything (for those who see me regularly please don't assume it's you because it isn't). These tendencies have been noticed by others, although some aren't bothered by them.
: Anyway, this is my opinion on the matter. While we do have to respect our brothers in Christ and the whole unity thing, I don't think that means we necessarily have to LIKE them all. Everyone has personality quirks that mean they may not like or be liked by everyone. While this doesn't make it any easier to deal with the problem, at least it lightens the load. I think that if we are open to it then God can change us if he sees fit, so that is how i leave it, "God I know you love them but I don't like them, I will avoid them, but if you want me to get over this then you will have to do it because it is beyond my control." and He has chosen to bring me beyond it, as some current friendships are a testament, but never has he forced me to endure what only makes me bitter and leads to hurt feelings or worse.
: The same could be said of churches in general. Many people have differnt tastes and styles of worship. In an ideal world they would all merge, and it would be a non-issue, but as things are these people tend to split into groups that follow their tastes and there is nothing wrong with this. Of course this does not mean that the groups should be exclusive cliques, or think of one as better than the other, nor is it excuse to avoid coming togehter for certain things, but there is nothing wrong with people who like loud music to be in that environment and people who like to sit reverently to be in that environment. I'll probably get blasted for this as someone will read it that i am a clique-mongering divisionist, but that's nothing new.