July 25, 2007
Critique
You don’t have to be a professional movie critic in order to evaluate a movie. When our family enjoys a movie we start discussing it while leaving the theater. It’s not unusual for good quips of dialogue to become part of our vocabulary. The better the movie, the more we critique, but that’s not to say we don’t also discuss movies that are a bust. I find somewhat of a similar situation when leaving church Sunday mornings. I like to talk about thought provoking, convicting and insightful teaching, but I also have opinions about sermons and classes which fall short of the Truth. I think it’s too bad that people feel they can’t comment on a sermon or lesson that’s a bust. Speaking from experience, it doesn’t take much to squelch a Christian’s critique. All you’ve got to do is substitute the word criticize for critique you’ll stop us in our tracks every time.
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Gail;
-----It will stop most of us anyway. Some of us are too rude and disobedient to the Word to not criticize when criticism is improper. Others of us are to bold in faith to be stopped from criticizing when it is. I once sat in church and listened to a woman preach. She delivered a great sermon, and I listened more intently to it than I usually do. Regardless of how well she did, it remains true that Paul wrote, “As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak…For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. What? Did the Word of God originate with you, or are you the only ones it has reached? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that what I am writing to .you is a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.” (I Cor 14:33-38)
-----However erroneous this preaching by a woman seemed to me, I had to recognize that numerous other errors and contradictions to the Bible can be pointed out about any church. And this additional error did not seem to effect any disturbance of the people who attended the church. Although that does not align it with the Word, or make it defensible, the strength of these people’s obedience was in other areas. The same areas in which other churches that would not even dare think of a woman delivering the sermon might be weak.
-----We are all a mix of obedience and disobedience. In that realization, what benefit would come from raising criticism in a group of people who seemed to unanimously receive her message with thanksgiving? If half the congregation were giving thanks for what deeply offended the other half, I believe criticism would be in order. Criticism is the same as everything else we do as Christians - it is to be done in service to the Lord for the benefit of all the brothers and sisters. Speaking the truth may eventually require criticism, but love will always dictate when, how, and to whom.
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