Can we attack ideas without attacking people?

Filed in Thoughts on May 15, 2009



I was reading some bloggers yesterday who were viciously attacking a former pastor of mine who while preaching a sermon, said some uncomplimentary things about Calvinism.  I came away with a nasty taste in my mouth.

I do not claim to be a theologian and I am not qualified to jump into the Calvinism/Arminian debate.  From my perspective, except for the extremists on both sides, it seems like we should all be able to get along.  Anyone with an ounce of humilty has to admit that the issues are complicated and there is room for disagreement.  In fact, there is a mix of Calvinists and Arminians in numerous churches across America.

Of course, I know many Calvinists and Arminians.  I know great Christians in both camps.  Unfortunately, I also know very arrogant Christians in both camps and I know uncivil Christians in both camps. 

We live in interesting times where every word you say publicly can be recorded and spread across the world within minutes.  Within a few more minutes, people can be parsing what you said, checking your sources and pointing out all of your problems.  And that is what is happening in Christianity.

Pastors are not always aware of this and some of them are getting burned badly.  I feel sorry for my former pastor who never dreamed that his every word would get parsed and torn apart.  There is a very wide gulf between the viciousness of the blogosphere and speaking in his church where he is respected even by people that disagree with him.

And he is right on his main point.  Passion for Christ has been very much replaced by a passion for debating nuances of theology.  People are wasting hours a day debating things they know little about with people they barely know at all.  In some cases, their employers are paying for that waste.  In other cases, their families or their churches suffer.

That is not to say that there is no value in the debate.  There is also value in holding public speakers accountable to truth.  There is no doubt that in the past, preachers were often not held accountable for what they said.  They abused truth and advanced their own agendas.  As a result, we find ourselves in a dangerous place where younger people are cynical and ready to bail out of everything they were taught.

But if we young guys expect people not to bail on us, we had better clean up our act too.  The generation below us is not going to accept the vicious, rude attacks that today's young leaders feel they have a righteous mandate to make.  What goes around comes around.  They are overplaying their hand and the result is going to be catastrophic unless they wise up in a hurry.

They are wise to attack bad theology but they are unwise to attack respected leaders in the way they do it.  On this blog, I like to strongly advance my views on music and that means attacking some of the bad theology of music that exists out there.  Church music speakers have often abused the truth and as a result, we have a generation of young people that have completely rejected what they said and at the same time, rejected traditional music. 

But though some of my views are very different from others, I don't think I have ever named names on this blog or personally attacked people.  I admit I often have specifc people in mind when I say certain things but there is no reason to publicly attack them. 

Today's technology is so good in many ways.  Blogging could be a great thing.  It is just too bad that it can not be done without people...



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Philip MacIntyre
5/15/2009 9:27:46 PM

I know what you are talking about and the pastor deserves what he is getting. He made outrageous ignorant statements that were offensive to many of us in the Calvinistic persuasion. I do not agree with your assertion that leaders are somehow off-limits.

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