Observations: Mixing Messages

So I've been neglecting this blog while posting over at SpecFaith. (If you aren't seeing it pull on Facebook, then just click the link on my sidebar and go to the site. If you click my name under the last post by me, you'll pull all posts.) At any rate, posting every other week there eats my time.

To the subject matter, I'm over at Roots again. I've been thinking off and on about how people approach a subject, as opposed to what they actually say. Over the years I've run into one or two people that, regardless of what they say, I'm never, ever going to allow myself any association with them, because the nature of their presentation is so offensive to me. (The half-joke was that if they'd said "Jesus is Lord" I'd just have to keep my mouth shut, but I realize that may be a bit far.) That was on a forum, so it doesn't particularly matter.

Forums, though, do many things to you. Social media has this uncanny ability to bring our character flaws out of the shadows and into the sunlight. A few decades from now, instead of "character is what you are when people aren't looking" we might wind up with the saying "character is how you behaved respond - whether you actually post it or not - online." At any rate, it'll jade you.

I mention it only to add I read alot (I really need another word) of online material - most of it writing or theology related - and I'll be perfectly honest: The stepmother in Ever After was right. How you say it is more important than what you said.

So I say all of that, not to beat the dead horse, but to make note of the conflicting messages we send people.


-You can't complain about legalists without sounding like your own brand of legalism. (Society of the Non-Conformists, anyone?)

-You can't promote 'tolerance' while lambasting everyone who disagrees with you.

-You can't declare someone else's theology irrational while in the midst of a breathless, red-faced rant.

-You can't complain about a "Me Church" society while at the same time declaring how you think the church should be run.

-You can't complain about how sinful the world and/or the church is while yourself praying "Thank God I'm not like them." (Think about it, my fellow church brats.)



I'm just saying, it happens. And I've been seeing it far too frequently. Truth be told, I know the world has problems. And I know the Church hasn't exactly walked away unmarred by it.

Maybe it's me. I just truly believe there's a fine, fine line between complaining and arguing needlessly and voicing legitimate concerns and probable solutions. And I openly confess I don't always know where that line is. Sometimes it blurs. Sometimes I think I take flying leaps over it and careen off a cliff.

It's Christmas. Watch the Christmas movies/specials, even if they're not your favorites. Eat an ungodly amount of Christmas favorites. Spend too much money on people you love. We're supposed to hold things loosely in our hands, anyway. Be generous and gracious. Don't worry about how far off-is the Dawn Treader movie is, or how materialistic the holiday season's gotten, or whether or not CBA has a conspiracy going on and why. Or why grown men and women behave like children a third their age. If it bothers you, solve the problem.

Christianity, culture, and Christmas are only as much about us as we choose to make them. Most things are.

You know, I started this post with the full intention of telling you every single thing I'm tired of hearing lately. Pot 'n kettle, I reckon.


"He rules the world with truth and grace,
and makes the nations prove
the glories of his righteousness."



and wonders of his love.