Can someone tell me if I went overboard in the comments at Christian Music Fan? I’ll confess to coming off a little snarky; the topic is a bit of lemon juice in an open wound for me. But I’m wondering: Did I just over-react? Or am I completely off-base?
Am I Going Overboard?
8 Comments to “Am I Going Overboard?”
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Well, I for one think your comments are right on target. Not in the least bit off-base. At least, in terms of the “Christian” label thing. You may have been a bit paranoid on the other comments’ attributions, but that’s minor.
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Wow! Nothing like instant feedback. Thanks, Dwayne.
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RSS readers are wonderful things.
I use one I wrote myself: http://blogwatcher.thebaileys.name -
I really don’t think that you are off base on what you are saying. I do think you started with a tone that might be read as harsh, but we do that sometimes when we are passionate. Heck, I think my tone throws all kinds of people off all the time. I’m half surprised you still let me comment here with some of the things I’ve said.
I find what you say about Christians being “in” and not “of” to be so wonderful. I have that same feeling with today’s society on so many things: religion, gender, race… I have been having a similar conversation on another site mynameismommy.com (or at least I’ve been trying to say this in that other thread). Really, in any way that we can seperate ourselves from each other we have. Do you remember the old high school prep vs hood (sock vs greaser) or whatever it was called in your school. There were and still are certain stores where preppies go. Skaters would never go to Aeropostal, at least and still be considered cool. We have created so many ways to define ourselves and pigeonhole ourselves and it is becoming harder and harder to get out of them. It is my belief that we need to stop thinking of ourselves as Christians or Athiests or black or white or whatever because as soon as we say we are one of those things we are closing our minds (usually subconsiously although not always) to things. Most shrinks will start off by asking new patients to define themselves. That says volumes about the person not only by what they use in their definition (job title, personality trait, religion, race, ect.) but also in what order they place those things. It also says things by reference: If you claim Christian first that means you are most likely (though not always) going to have not so happy thoughts about non-Christians and certain things are more than likely right out, or you would like others to think so. Etc.
How do you define yourself? What does that say about you? What are you trying to hide behind when you use one term or another? What are you trying to say when you use those terms? Who do you exclude by using those terms? The questions are endless. This will make a good blog in itself I think. I hope you don’t mind the crosspost.
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Dwayne,
If Bloglines doesn’t straighten out soon, I may well be checking out your reader.Rantz,
You might not be familiar with this, so let me work through the “in” and “of” language. The expression meant to guide Christian living is this: “Be in the world but not of it.” It alludes to a life, a presence and interaction, spent in society, but guided by Kingdom of God values and goals.I was turning the expression on it’s head: “Of the world but not in it.” In other words: Same values and goals; but lived out in a seperate, parallel society. It’s ass-backwards, and that’s my rant in a nutshell.
I can’t go all the way with you on the elimination of labels. People are different from one another, but that’s not the problem. Diversity is a gift. Naming the differences isn’t the problem either. Communicating clearly with those names can be difficult, but I think it’s worthwhile. The problem is how we respond to those differences. Do we build bridges or walls?
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Ok, I’m not 100% certain that I’m reading this correct. I woke a little fuzzy this morning and I can’t seem to shake it (and I have no exciting excuse for it either).
As far as the whole “in” “of” thing you speak about, I have to say I don’t agree with it. Again, by seperating yourselves, making your own seperate cultures, you are losing the world. Communes have tried that for ages. I think they have always learned that no matter how deep you bury your head in the sand, others can still see your tailfeathers. In all honesty, I don’t see how we can become a world society until we all lift our heads up and acknowledge the world around us.
I agree with you that we can’t ignore the fact that there are differences (See ostrich comment above), but I don’t think we need to stress them or define ourselves by them. While you have somewhat defined yourself as bald online the only time one should, in polite conversation offline, mention it is maybe to say, “Yeah, the bald guy over there is my friend.” (And this only when you are the only bald guy among a group of others).
This is truly a tough arguement both ways. It just really frustrates me when someone uses a label as a crutch or leverage or rallying factor. Whitey isn’t trying to keep the black man down. Muslams are not out to kill everyone else in the world. I don’t dislike Tiger because he’s asian. Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful… Mexicans are not trying to steal all our jobs, nor are they lazy (I do love those two statements because they are so opposite, but often stated by the same people).
Then again some sterotypes are usually true. When in groups, black woman are commonly unusually loud. Soccer players from certain parts of Mexico (Juarez?) are often very agressive. NASCAR fans usually like redneck jokes. White people are more fans of dry BBQ and black people like wet BBQ. New Born Again Christians will almost always try and convert a boulder if it will sit still long enough and isn’t so rock headed. Is there anything wrong with that? Is that what you mean when you say we need a stepping off point to make the association? What are going to be the allowed differences? Who will be allowed to make notice of them? Will I be allowed to acknowledge that a maculane homosexual female as butch? Will I be able to call a black person negro? Will a black person be able to use that term? Does it bother you that when I hear people defining themselves as Christian my first thought is of the Bush conservative “We are the best, we’ll convert the rest and those who don’t convert we don’t need. Make sure to take care of yourself because Jesus didn’t believe in free handouts. etc.” Is this the embracing you want?
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Whoa… dug out from work, and trying to catch up.
OK, so we disagree on the first bit, but knowing a little about you and a little about me that’s not surprising. We’ve got a fundamental difference of belief as to what the root problem in society is and what the ultimate solution will be.
Onto labels. The difficult part is communication. When I say, “I’m a [fill-in-the-blank]” do you and I get the same picture in our minds’ eyes? Sometimes yes; sometimes no. But it is impractical to pull out an extended biography every time you describe someone… including yourself. We must use labels as short-cuts, bearing in mind that they are short-cuts that may miscommunicate.
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May this be the one and only time that we disagree on anything. I would hate to have to cut off your hand or something. *wink*
Overall though, I don’t really think that our fundamental differences are so different. I think it is just more how we get there that is different.
I see what you are saying about labels. I realize that they won’t go away. Just a shame they mean so much to so many people.
