April 27, 2006
It's All About Perception
Recently on a TV news program one of the talking heads commented, “Everyone knows politics is all about perception.” Well…not everyone, because I’d never thought of politics in those terms. However, now that I have thought about it, I can see it’s not about the truth, but about the spin. I tire of the political spin shouting matches, but at least the media attempts to hear both sides of an issue. I believe the biggest drawback in church politics is the monopoly on communication. When I hear something in church which paints only half of the picture, I’d like to raise my hand and say, ‘Wait a minute, there’s another side to the issue.’ One of our past ministers desperately wanted our worship attendance to increase, and it did…on paper. Being the final editor, his statistics reported his goal. I will admit that for Sunday evening Bible study we occassionaly do a ‘preacher’s count’ where 68 rounds up to 70, just in case we miscounted. If we're going to over count, I think the dust bunnies under the pews should count for something!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Gail;
One of those ancient Greek philosophers, Plato, or Aristotle, or whoever, wrote of the relationship of man and the truth as if it were that man was in a dark cave and could only observe the shadow of truth cast upon the wall. He said man could not perceive truth directly. These guys evidently were able to reason themselves close to some truths, because the truth given to us through Paul says that we now see dimmly as through a mirror. (In Paul's day mirrors were highly polished silver or brass, and the image reflected was by far dimmer than those of our crystal clear mirrors today.)
In this twisted world we can only directly sense the physical objects around us by sight, sound, smell, etc. Even our minds do not make clear understanding of those senses. For example, on my way to work yesterday my mind noticed an oncomming vehicle on a straight-way just beyond an upcoming 45 degree curve to the right in the road. "Gee," I thought, "that vehicle is REALLY speeding!" I gave it closer attention, only noticing that it was white and speeding tremendously, until it rose up into the sky in a sweeping turn. It was a bird that had coincidentally been flying in a path that placed it right on the line of the road in my visual field. My mind totally mishandled the information.
Our minds' inability to perfectly handle intellectual information is far greater. The biggest cause of polarization within any group of people is the dispairity between the truth and the predominantly communicated perception of that truth, whether it be by deceit or mere carelessness. The greater the disparity, the greater the polarization.
So Paul cautions us intently to avoid following men, to be sure of your own theology, and to allow your neighbors to be sure of theirs. The intention is to provide an environment where unity does not depend upon logistics, but upon the clear elements of taking interest in each other, weeping with each other, rejoicing with each other, helping each other, feeding each other, pleasing each other, and laying our selves down. In other words - love.
Yet the children (relatively speaking, see Gail's 04-26 post) who are out in the lead are not leading the church into the practise of this attention to others. We are continually being pressed by these young leaders towards this logistic of how to reach the lost, or that logistic of who won't come to the church if we don't engage in certain styles of celebration.
Therefore, the polarizing fog has not lifted because the warmth of genuine, scriptural love has found little publicity or practise from the stage in the auditorium. And too many in the auditorium thoughtlessly follow.
Post a Comment