Idolatry of Individualism
This was from the church sermon today. It was as if God was shouting in my ears directly.
There's a saying that goes: "If you can't say Amen, you gotta say ouch."
Some of us hesitate to commit ourselves to developing an intentional plan of growth for our members because we believe spiritual growth is a personal and private matter. Rather than interfere, we choose to allow each person to develop in his own way at his own rate.
This is an American aberration from the truth. The idolatry of individualism in our culture has influenced even the way we think about spiritual growth. So much of the teaching on spiritual formation is self-centered and self-focused without any reference to our relationship to other Christians. This is completely unbiblical and ignores much of the New Testament.
-Rick WarrenThere's a saying that goes: "If you can't say Amen, you gotta say ouch."
3 Comments:
Hey Pat,
Haven't seen you since the Christmas party at my place. You know I've been thinking about this issue lately. It's something that we should be quite alarmed about. The mentality I see in some circles really is every person for themselves when it comes to spiritual growth. There's very little emphasis on helping each other grow in Christ. We fellowship together, worship together, learn in sunday school together, but how often do we really look at each other's journey and say " yeah let's walk this road together, keep each other accountable, bear each others burdens, be open to each other and talk about issues and concerns" Granted, this can only really happen with a friend whom one can trust and feel close enough to open up and share with. That's what fellowships and cell groups are supposed to be for. Forge friendships. The unfortunate reality is that groups can easily fall into a social group setting. We follow a structured series or programs planned for the year. What happens most of the time? Someone leads a topic, there's teaching, activity, and prayer time - which is the only activity where we share with each other about our lives. Then it's going for a meal together etc. Great, learned a few things, maybe not, prayed for someine, then socialized, grabbed a bite. Ok see you next week. Repeat 52 times each year and on and on it goes. Ok this is really generalized but I think you understand what I mean. It becomes just going through the motions. When does the interaction reallyb see greater depth than the surface?
There's also the thing of interpretation of the word. Everyone's got their own brand of theology. No one really wants to challenge each other's views. Are we too nice to say anything? Are we too tolerant on certain things? Often times I see when people don't agree with others, they just separate. Don't associate with one another. Just leave each other alone and that's that. Sometimes it's understandable for reasons of personality conflicts and what not. Other times, it's stems from indifference, holding grudges or pride.
Pride is another problem. It can be where people put on a false sense of wellness. A mask, portraying themselves to be doing the right things, acting the right way, acting the faith, when there are deep-seated issues they really need to deal with concerning their faith.
We all as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ on one level or another need to learn to be more vulnerable with each other. We all have issues. We all have secret sins and things we need to work on. Everyone needs to take responsibility for the spiritual growth of everyone else! First we need to create an open and non-judgemental environment. People need to feel safe to share. People need to be compassionate not finger-pointers.
I can quote verses if you want. But I've lost all my energy writing such a long comment. Sorry for the length.
First off, I must apologize for asking, I'm not too sure who this is off the top of my head.
I definitely appreciate the lengthy comment!
It's Jon. =) Bonnies friend from Scarborough. You came as her guest at my fellowships Christmas party.
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