The late Justice Antonin Scalia said something like, “I don’t attack people … I attack ideas. Some very fine people have had some very bad ideas.” To top that off, one of his best friends was Ruth Bader Ginsberg. There couldn’t be two people on the complete opposite spectrum of ideologies than these two. Yet, they vacationed together, had dinner together, and were very cordial towards one another. I spent my earliest years in the Baptist Church. My wife was raised Roman Catholic. In our family, we have relatives that go to both, as well as charismatic and Mormon relatives. Yet, we are able to get together despite our differences and love one another. Do we have discussions? Sure. But we behave respectfully.
Nearly two decades ago, while I was interviewing with a congregation, the elders asked me an unexpected question. It was something like, “What is your view on the happenings of sister congregations?” I replied, “You would be hiring me for this congregation, and I believe I’ll be busy enough to not have to worry about sister congregations; nor do I see myself as the watchdog of the church.” I’m a big proponent of minding my own business. Yet some preachers in churches of Christ don’t.
Our congregation, like many others, has a Facebook and Instagram accounts. We share news, announcements, baptisms, and other such things. I was recently made aware that preachers in churches of Christ from other countries were essentially trolling some of our posts. Thankfuly, we have a great brother who monitors this stuff. When people comment such things, he deletes their comment and blocks them from our page. In my mind, I’m thinking, “Why do you care? You’re in an entirely different country and have nothing to do with us.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t new. I’ll also add that I’m not blameless in this regard. However, I’ve grown a lot and have changed my views on such behavior. I don’t feel the need to have to have an opinion on everything under the sun. I might look at what some church posts, roll my eyes, and move on with my life. Churches of Christ have a bad habit and hisory of trolling. If not on the internet, then in periodicals of the past. Maybe even some in the present. You can even observe such in some of the earliest publications from Alexander Campbell and other pioneers.
I’m content when asked or even in a discussion to state why I believe what I believe. If the other person has a rebuttal, I’ll listen. Then, we might use the Socratic method to discover our way to the truth as best we can. If someone just doesn’t like it and states that they believe X, Y, or Z, that’s fine. Well, it may not be, but I don’t dwell on it. I also don’t lose sleep on it. I guess I’ve arrived at the stage in life where my peace matters more to me than most things. I don’t feel the need to argue. Sometimes I don’t even feel that I should explain myself.
Maybe this isn’t unique to the Lord’s body. I ask myself, “Are we helping advance the mission that Jesus left us, or are we hindering it.” I would believe that if some folks saw how we comment online, it wouldn’t surprise me that they would be turned off. None of us are perfect. I, for one, know this about myself. I just think we should do better. We proudly say that we have no pope, but some preachers, universities, professors, publications, sure do behave much to the contrary of that statement.
In the New Testament, each congregation was autonomous with her elders to oversee her (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5; 1 Peter 5:1-4). I am under the elders here at Glendale Road. What others do isn’t my business. The flock here is my concern and care. I will rejoice with others who have wonderful things to announce, but like an old bassett hound, I don’t find the need to bark at every squirrel that runs past my porch.
