Support – does it have to be for everything?
In an off-blog discussion about churchy things and blogs, the following question came up.
Can you support the church, but not support absolutely everything the church believes or does? Can you be critical of the church on a specific issue while still supporting it in general?
This has implications at all levels.
The concept is central to my personal blogging dilemma – can you criticize the local congregation on a blog? Are you being unsupportive by being critical on one issue, or do you have to evaluate the entirety of your reactions/words/writings about the congregation?
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Or are we stuck with absolutes: Never criticize your congregation in public. Never criticize the denomination. If the church or even one member does or says something that you disagree with, you have to either leave or force the member or church to stop.
This reminds me of an old story. A woman was talking about her husband to their children. This man, living in the St. Louis area, was subscribing by mail to the Mountain Mail newspaper of Socorro, New Mexico. When she was asked why, she explained that he used to subscribe to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, but then they printed something he didn’t like in an editorial and he canceled his subscription. He tried the New York Times, the Chicago Times, the Washington Post, but canceled them all when he read something he didn’t like. He was now forced to get his news from this tiny newspaper many states away. And she wasn’t even sure how long this paper would survive with him.
What do you think? Is forbearance required? Do we have to put up with hearing a certain amount of criticism of ourselves and our institutions? Or are we supposed to unquestioningly support our church?
Comments
2 Comments on Support – does it have to be for everything?
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Alan on
Tue, 1st Jul 2008 3:44 pm
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Drew on
Tue, 1st Jul 2008 5:08 pm
When it works and works well, the church is more like a family than most social institutions. I don’t have to agree with my brother on everything for us to continue to be brothers.
The notion that we must all walk in lockstep (or at least appear to do so) is pretty alien to me.
Getting everyone to agree unless by some use of force is not plausible. We have to disagree and feel free to disagree with each other without fear of condemnation or beratement. Any institution where everyone agrees about everything else is something we usually call a cult or a sect. And even then it only seems that everyone is in total agreement, and only then at the beginning until that initial fervor dissipates.
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