#4 - Is This Criticism Personal Or Shared By Others?
Pastors…here is the truth. We can receive hundreds of e-mails telling us how wonderful the sermon was…and one telling us that we are horrible preachers…and we will ignore the one hundred and focus on the one that was negative!We all do it–I am the world’s worse!!!
OR–we will fall for the line, “I’ve been talking to a lot of people…and everyone is saying…” And then they will unload their personal agenda on us and say that everyone is saying the exact same thing. Which in most cases is not true. In fact, what I have discovered is that a person who usually says things like this don’t really have a lot of people who will talk to them anyway. Seriously! And…if it is always the same person saying that “everyone is saying,” but they are the only person who is saying anything…then ask them who “everyone” is–this will usually shut them up!
#5 - Is This Worth My Time?
I used to try and fight every single ounce of criticism that came my way…and I just can’t do it anymore, and neither can you.
Now, there are some things that are worth my time…and I do address issues on the blog from time to time that I feel are necessary.
BUT…what I have discovered is that the majority of the criticism I get simply isn’t worth my time. I am NOT going to change the person’s mind…and “friendly debate” is out of the question…so I just move on.
6# - Will I cause dissension among the brothers by doing this?
According to Proverbs 6:16-19 God HATES it when someone does this!
One night I heard of a church that was growing in popularity…but had some very different biblical views. I went to their website and listened to a message and, by the end of it, I was SO ANGRY. The speaker had basically butchered Scripture to affirm a very unbiblical behavior! I started to blog about this guy until…I thought, “I don’t even know this dude…and by doing this I am going to release a firestorm against him…is that right?”
Don’t get me wrong–I was still mad…but I did not want to participate in something that I knew God was going to hate–that would pretty much be considered sin!!!
The world is watching…and when Christians cause Christians to get mad at other Christians…somehow I just don’t believe God is pleased.
September 21, 2007
Dealing With Critics - Six Questions That I Ask Part 2
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Very interesting article in general - I just have one point about the fourth point that I disagree with a little. Yes there are definitely those who use the line 'everyone is saying' or 'I've had quite a few people agree with me that...' but I think when we confront such lines that we clarify whether the person won't name names due to confidentiality or just due to there actually being no specifics.
See thing is I will use the line 'Iv'e had quite a few people say that..' or something similar and the thing is I have people come to me in confidence saying such things who are NOT going to talk to head leadership and see me as a middleperson whyo can pass on their thoughts without 'repercussions' and I think this too needs to be acknowledged. Unfortunatley not everyone is willing to criticise or even congratulate those they perceive as their superiors despite the relevance of their thoughts. If necessary I will encourage and support them in addressing people personally but I think that at times it is necessary for one person to speak on behalf of a group or majority in a confidential manner.
Post a Comment