Why Do Christians Like Controversy?
Hey Friends,
I have to tell you that I was dragged into the world of social media kicking and screaming. I’m not kidding! The staff at FPC is half young adults so I am surrounded by techies and geeks. I was assured that if I became “tech-savvy” I could reach more people, impact more lives, and stay more connected to the church I pastor and help lead. To this point they were correct.
I have made a discovery in this e-world: people love controversy. My question is, “Why?” Just watch the news. Negative controversy sells and sells big! Our culture wants conflict. But the saints wanting to watch a scrap??? I watch the blog posts and twitters and the ones that go through the roof are usually a fight. People pile comments on like a free-for-all and keep the fire blazing. It reminds me of “live wrestling” I watched as a kid.
I confess, I don’t get it. Years ago a pastor of one of the largest churches in America said the key to church growth was to stay in a fight. I missed that message from the Master. Could someone give me a chapter and verse for that? I thought the mark of Jesus’ disciples was that we would love each other. Guess I’m just slow.
These blogs and tweets are to sharpen your leadership skills and to help you get closer to Christ. I will concede the conflict and with it the higher numbers on the StatPress or Google Analytics that go with the barracks brawl. Remember the world is watching us and we are the only Bible they will ever read. By watching us as Christ-followers, what do they think of our God?
Love to hear your thoughts on why we love the fight.
Love you a lot,
Pastor
15 Comments
Recently, I’ve been studying what it means to be a Christian man. I’m reading my second book on it… or sorta my third. There are lots of reasons we love to fight. I could have diarrhea of the mouth and spew a lot of half-baked ideas. Here’s one that means something to me recently:
Christians were made for a fight (particularly, men), but we don’t know how exactly we are to fight as Christians. What’s the war? Christians are not intended solely to pray nice prayers, to be nice guys, and to talk to people about Jesus occasionally. Christianity is not solely a lifelong “self-improvement” seminar. When you think about the stakes, you know that Christianity must not be a purely passive endeavor.
Christians can fight the wrong fight or fight it in the wrong way. Boldly twack someone in the head with scripture. Boldly get into someone’s face who is sinning. Boldly speak up against someone else’s church traditions. Boldly and loudly oppose a direction of their church. Boldly and brashly shoot your mouth off on a blog. These aren’t the right fights and/or the godly way to approach them, but there’s a Christian ache to do something bold. Quietly focus on your own self-improvement or boldly do something half-cocked… those seem to be the common extremes. Many of us just don’t know how to wait, listen, and do the bold things that God wants us to do.
Yeah. I struggle with this.
Andy Kercher.
Couldn’t agree more!
Pastor, what a poignant reminder. Here a few of my thoughts…
As a recent college graduate (a year ago), I can attest to what the academic/political/media arenas do to the fervent Christian. In college, I was surrounded (as I’m sure you’re aware) by a vast array of viewpoints about religion and life in general. A debate was to be expected in a room where the atheist, Buddhist, and Christian meet. A Christian’s word meant nothing in this setting if he could not effectively debate his faith and prove its substance and validity.
From my perspective, this has somewhat conditioned me to “like” controversy and this is a big contributor across the board. Outside of the church, whether it be in the media, in the political world or academia, the world is watching us and we don’t have any breathing room. We must defend our faith as if going into battle each day. The world around us denies absolute truth and we have work to do to convince them that absolute truth exists. The world claims our faith is nothing if it cannot be put under the microscope and satisfy every human doubt. The world does not submit to the idea of a sovereign God, nor does it submit to the idea of deliberate faith in this God over the exaltation of the human mind and what it can figure out.
Pastor, you have done well to wake us up about this. However, I struggle myself with how to break out of it when the world around us demands so much to credit anything to our faith. Would love to hear your feedback.
Pastor, I know its a shock to hear a woman say she hates drama, but I do
However, there are a couple of topics I am very passionate about in discussion (religion and politics). The two previous posts are very correct in basically saying that people are so intent on disbelieving Jesus’s life as fact, that it can really drive believers into a tailspin. We get it, know they don’t, and we don’t get that. We cannot imagine believing that someone can die and come back as a dog, but find it so difficult to believe that Christ’s life was real and heaven and hell are both real. I have had and do have friends or family members who are either athiest, buddhist, or “scientists” – those are fun discussions – not reallly.
I have had to really reflect on how I extend God’s message. It used to be that every time a discussion ensued, it just turned ugly. No one is attracted to Christ when they see you get frustrated and feel THEIR belief is disrespected. The internet is difficult for many, because emotions are assumed. I have had the very blessed experience to lead a friend to Christ via facebook, but also had the unfortunate experience of turning someone off, because they assumed my emotions.
In the end, it is our duty to plant the seed and pray for its growth. I believe that FP is able to reach more poeple than they realize by taking advantage of these resources.
Thanks Pastor!!
@ Andy, Wow great insight thanks bro. love ya
@ Pete, thanks bro love ya and 2010 will rock for the Rock.
@ Katie, Yes the Scripture says “content earnestly for the faith.” We are to be armed and ready to stand and with anointing share the Truth. This blog is about us fight each other and enjoying endless debates the Scripture says not to engage in. Love your heart keep defending the faith and winning the lost.
Somehow we (christians) have decided that we can convince people to see Truth through “right words”.
Romans 3:11 says “There is…no one who seeks God” and John 6:44 says “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…”.
Who do you know that was ever convinced of another opinion in an argument. We can’t fight as the world fights – you know the verse “our struggle is not against flesh and blood…” – Ephesians 6:12. So why do we fight with the same tools as the world does (harsh words).
This is where we should stand as christians “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” – 1 John 3:14
Our pride is usually what causes the verbal battles. We always think we are right. This is a selfish motivation and love has nothing to do with us being right.
I believe that a lot of controversy is fueled by jealousy,pride, and fear all of which Gods word speaks against.I believe that it is these behaviors that build walls and barriors between Gods people and His church!Gods people behaving this way doesn’t give lost people much incentive to be like us,thus the reason hell is going to be over crowded.God is love and he demands that we love one another.We are suppoesed to be one body,I know that if one part of my human body dissagrees with the rest of my body it just causes pain.Can’t we sometimes just agree to dissagree in Christ name!
Pastor,
I agree with your point but I would argue (LOL!) that the very point you make in your blog is in fact “controversial”. You are expressing your disagreement with the ideals and views of others which by default creates controversy. I don’t know if we as believers should run TO controversy but I also don’t think we should run FROM it either. As long as humans are free to form their own opinions and views, there will be controversy. Should we seek the approval of all men? If we are seeking the approval of our God by our lives and words, will not some men be highly offended by that in itself? I would also submit that Jesus, his disciples, the apostle Paul, and the early church members were some of the most controversial figures in human history.
Just some thoughts…
clay
Pastor,
To me this is a two-fold issue. We are so affected by culture and media that it is so tempting to duplicate what we see. Entire news programs are built around argument, and the loudest and most persistent often win. Politics is all about who yells the longest and the loudest.
By bringing this into the church, Christians attempt to justify their ranking in God’s eyes, and we continue the attempt to prove our worth to God. Perhaps if we yell long enough, or spew off about how much more we know or understand than the next person does, we think God might be more willing to overlook the weaknesses in our own life that we just don’t want to separate ourselves from yet. It’s the ultimate spiritual red herring.
Wow, wht great comments, Clay you could be right! a great thought. I appreciate all who have weighed in so far. We are better than me!
Controversy polarizes. It forms tribes of its own nature. People want to belong and want to be heard. Yes, much of the time it’s driven from a selfish motive. But controversy in and of itself isn’t a negative thing. It can be a powerful tool for promotion of new ideas. It’s a stagnation buster.
Much of the church is stagnant or dying. A little controversy might be just the very thing to spark a revival, opening people’s eyes to their need for GOD. I remember a “suckerfish” comment from a great pastor friend of mine that I guarantee motivated several people to action. Controversial? Sure. Motivational? Absolutely. It was a true statement that caused people to think and act in ways that were positive for the Kingdom.
I submit that there are two kinds of controversy. Religious and Spiritual.
I believe Past is referring to “Religious” controversy when Christians (or non) try to push, impose, enforce personal beliefs be they good or bad on others USUALL WITH WORDS! Why do we do this? It is easier and and fruit of the flesh. Why do we like it. It is our flesh. It brings more attention to us that than Jesus.
Spiritual controversy is when Christians are leading from ahead with their biblical values USUALL WITH ACTIONS (not pushing from behind with words) and setting an example that causes others to feel controversy (conviction)from within themselves. This is the drawing of the Holy Spirit. Why don’t we do this more or like it more? It is lonely out front leading, cutting the trail with little recognition or appreciation.
Therefore, BAD controversy is usually Christians trying to do the Holy Spirit’s job with words instead of just setting the proper example with actions.
It is much more effective to pull a wet noodle than push one and alot less controversial!
A few more thoughts: Righteous indignation is a godly trait. My man Jesus got real raw in the temple one time flippin over some tables and poppin a whip at some folks he disagreed with. That’s definitely not the “pluralist tolerant” Christianity that is so prevalent in the body of Christ today….
clay
An interesting topic. I must say that I like what Clay had to say as it brought some degree of balance, especially when he said that we not always run to controversy, but we should not always run from it either. The bible does make room for debate as it supports the concept of apologetics. Jude wrote, “That we should EARNESTLY CONTEND for the faith once delivered to the saints.” Jude was compelled to say that we should earnestly contend for the faith. The Spirit drove Jude to make this a peculiar point. Why? There were those who were trying to pervert the faith, the gospel of Jesus Christ. This cannot be tolerated, and must be confronted. Why? To dilute and water down the gospel message emasculates the message of its saving power. So, when the Spirit compels Jude here to contend for the purity of the faith, He is saying to us, that there is a time to stand and contend. The purity of the gospel must be protected or else it loses its power to convert the lost.
Peter tells us that we must be ready to give an answer for the hope of glory within. In studying Paul you have a debater par excellence. Paul engaged the intelligencia of his day at Mars Hill. Paul met them on common ground, via the inscription to the ‘unknown god’. Then took them further to show the folly of thier position and the genius of his position. When dealing with intellectual skeptics you are dealing in concepts. A concept can be demonstrated and shown to be true or false. Paul did this with excellence. We don’t often think of Jesus as a debater, but His responses were awesome and irrefutable. When it comes to debating one key thing is to know when to debate, and when not to debate. Spiritual discernment needs to be engaged here. But when it comes to the essentials, they are non-negotiable and must be contended for. On the other hand the non-essentials should not be debated and contentious, and this is what the scriptures tells not to engage in, i.e. debates over non-essential matters.
Mickey
Good word pastor Chris. I totally agree. I used to be that way — always being critical of churches and ministries that were not like me. God convicted me and showed me it was over jealousy and pride.
I know that we as disciples should stand for the faith. This is so crucial BUT what many christians label as “heretic hunting” is usually just “bride bashing.” If someone is compromising the “essentials” then we should stand for truth but the problem is many times we make divisions and fights over the non-essentials. I heard a preacher a while back being critical of other pastors for trying to be “creative” with their sermons. This type of thing just causes fights on both sides and it is a non-essential. And sadly this happens all the time.
I’ve never met a critic that changed the world. Leaders of the pack change the world. Which is why i love your blog so much because it is so focused on leadership and not “bride bashing.” Thank you so much.