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TV, Devil Horns, Teddy Roosevelt, and Our Real Community Witness By Kent d Curry
Most of you probably missed it, but 90&9 hit a record that ended last week. A single blog post reached 170 comments before we closed it down. If you pay attention to blogs, you know you have to be legitimately famous and/or a bestselling author before any post generates that many comments.
Unfortunately, there’s an ugly side to this record.
The post was a straightforward report on the UPCI ministers passing Resolution IV, which allows UPCI churches to advertise and broadcast on television, that was published moments after the results were announced in Tampa, Florida on Friday, September 28, 2007. The first comment was posted 12 minutes later. They never slowed after that.
TV and the UPC It appears most of the comments were from non-ministers who wanted their voice heard on this important issue. Excepting the inevitable voices on each end of the spectrum (“It’s the end of days!’ ‘It’s the beginning of a brand-new future!”), the first 80-85 comments were mostly reasonable, often long, messages from readers stating their thoughts and speculating about the (positive or negative) ramifications of this decision.
After that, the comments devolved into the worst aspects of a message board, where accusations started flying (‘Your side has a rancid attitude!’), protests made (‘No, your side does!’), goading remarks, and ex-Apostolics, who are always welcome here, suddenly including their negative thoughts on the UPCI and this issue.
Of course, few people identified themselves, preferring the ‘anonymous” feature, which allows people to be incendiary without responsibility. So we closed it down on Thursday, October 25, 2007 with a short thank you to everyone who participated.
It Gets Worse Last weekend we learned of the Tampa pastor who’d posted a web page savaging the UPC’s general superintendent. The headline sums up his thoughts rather succinctly—“Kenneth Haney took the UPCI to Hell in Tampa, Florida.” He then goes on to savage his elected spiritual leader, declaring that Bro. Haney should repent because “If you do not, surely you will experience the same eternal fate as Judas Iscariot. You sir are a traitor to the Apostolic Faith.”
An addendum mentions the scalding response to his proclamation on an Apostolic minister’s message board and an ally calculating the time spent (wasted?) on these responses. He seems to take glee in the vitriol of his opponents as justification for his actions being correct.
I need to mention the picture he included. It’s a headshot of Bro. Haney with red devil’s horns Photoshopped on it. There are little square TV sets over his eyes saying, “UPC;” the phrase, “I Got It In Boys!” glitters in red at the bottom of the picture. You don’t have to approve of Resolution IV to taste the venom.
Just because you believe you’re right doesn’t mean you’re supposed to stop acting like a Christian. Indeed, being correct should force you into even kinder behavior. Paul was physically attacked and responded with a righteous rebuke to the corrupt man who ordered the pounding; yet when those around him gasped that Paul had censured the high priest, Paul apologized for his own words (Acts 23:1-5).
An Historic Aside “My father always wanted to be the corpse at every funeral, the bride at every wedding, and the baby at every christening,” said Alice Roosevelt Longworth. Theodore Roosevelet was the quintessential rambunctious American who didn’t allow leading the United States to stop him from playing sports, hunting bears, and making grand pronouncements for himself, the Republican Party, and his country. Most scholars rank him as one of our Top 5 presidents,
Yet, for all this impulsive energy, as a statesman, he was always careful to make sure countries could save face in a conflict. He wasn’t afraid of applying indirect force—indeed, when Germany and Briton decided to send warships to blockade Venezuela into repaying its loans, the larger U.S. Navy suddenly began “training exercises” in the Caribbean—but he and his staff worked assiduously to resolve tense situations and even the Russian-Japanese war, to the point of not making official documents so that they would not be archived and embarrass the parties involved.
It’s one reason why he won the Nobel Peace Prize while still president. It’s yet another reason why he’s on Mount Rushmore.
Everyone Else is Wrong One of the common features in our 170 comments was one side of the issue claiming the other side had a nasty attitude in their posts. This is best summed up by my single favorite comment: “God is the judge and will judge us all so don't be surprised when alot of you end up in a HOT place.” I plan on keeping that one forever.
Amid all this debate, I have to ask—where is the humility and love instead of the self righteousness?
Recently, I heard Doug Klinedinst say, “Humility is to true spirituality what prayer and fasting is to spiritual power. You can be powerful and not very spiritual. You can be dynamic and carnal as a bed bug” it brought me up short because, as Pentecostals, we’re enamored with spiritual power but not so much with humility.
Indeed, judging by the response at General Conference, in our comments, the aforementioned web page, and the Apostolic minister’s message boards, we’re better at emulating the braying hounds of the American press than Christians, more like the divisive, uncompromising Democrats and Republicans in Congress today than believers in a divine Christ. As Holy Ghost-filled believers we’re supposed to be offering a better, more enlightened path of actions, not imitating the worst excesses in contemporary America.
That’s why Paul warned us against becoming sounding brass and tinkling cymbals (I Corinthians 13:1-2) when we become enamored with spiritual power instead of love.
I understand why emotions are high on this issue. I’m all for disagreement without divisiveness. ninetyandnine.com was founded on the belief that believers could disagree about serious non-doctrinal issues. (That’s why we have articles for and against praise choruses, Harry Potter, and Bible schools, among many others.) There’s nothing wrong with publishing those disagreements. Yet when the other side is always wrong, when there’s no possibility of compromise on a non-doctrinal issue, when our rancid tone is always justified because we’re correct and they’re not, then we’re suffering from a self-righteousness the Pharisees might envy.
Like Roosevelt, who was not known for his Christian beliefs, we can stand firm in our principles while avoiding the demonization of our opponents, because, ultimately, history and our community will respond to the spirit we convey, not the fine points of argument we make.
ninetyandnine.com
© 2007, Kent d Curry
---------- Kent d Curry is an executive editor of ninetyandnine.com, a college and career speaker, and now, a part-time literary blogger.
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