Taking An Offense

We must all be on our guard. We must be vigilant as the enemy is going to want to squish out the life from any fellowship that is being used by God to look for, and try to walk out the old paths. We must partner with our elders to keep the little foxes from spoiling the grapes.

Peace and Purity
Douglas Wilson

The problem of pettiness is not itself petty. Unchecked, it can destroy congregations, and the minister and elders need to be constantly on the alert for signs that "smallness of mind" is threatening the peace and purity of the church...

The armor that protects these alien definitions of peace and purity is often the armor of subjectivism. What matters is not what the minister said from the pulpit, for example, but rather how the disgruntled parishioner said he was made to feel. And when the refs stop making the calls accurately, the defending basketball player can pretend to take the charge and flop however it suits him. Of course he was offended. He's on his back, isn't he?

The myth of neutrality plagues us here as well. We often assume that people in community are not leaning one way or the other, but rather just gathering facts objectively. Then, when they get to a certain critical mass of facts, they make up their minds. But neutrality is impossible, especially in the community of the local church. People either love people or they don't. If they love them, then they will interpret whatever happens through that grid. If they do not love them, then they will bide their time, gathering evidence or, to use the scriptural term, a record of wrongs...

And many Christians have learned the jargon of pained vagueness. "Oh, I don't know. It is just that the sermons don't speak to my heart anymore. I am not feeling fed." Of course the reason he doesn't feel fed is that he is not eating, but that would be taken as an unloving thing to say...
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