From the conclusion:
My point in all this is that contemporary Christianity has lost its way. Christians don't wake up every morning thinking about how to become a more decent human being. Instead, they wake up trying to "work on their relationship with God" which very often has nothing to do with treating people better. How could such a confusion have occurred? How did we end up going so wrong?I'd be interested in hearing thoughts/answers to this question.
A few thoughts on the post...
- In broad terms, Beck is criticizing devaluing relational growth in favor of personal spirituality (which I think most would agree with). What he contributes that's new, however, are observations of common ways in which Christians live contrary to this idea.
- Beck critiques one POV; the opposite view can be just as problematic (with different consequences) if taken to the extreme. Most of the time, I think that Beck is simply criticizing extreme/unbalanced views.
- Even when relationships are emphasized, they can be emphasized in a way that devalues the relationship (i.e. "make friends outside of church...*because* you can share the gospel"), which is exactly what Beck's critiquing.
- I'm reminded again of my own Pharisaical behavior - a tendency to get comfortable in my own little group, neglecting others around me.
- In broadest terms, I think Beck is criticizing our tendency as Christians to live at the expense of others, both willfully and unconsciously/out of ignorance.
On a slightly unrelated note, I've noticed this piece is very easy to read, but makes a big impact. My own writing doesn't seem to; any thoughts on why/tips on how to improve?
3 comments:
It's because he has the benefit of being a good writer... he's older, for one, lol. i've been writing for a long time and i've gotten better but i still have trouble compressing what i want to say so that i can be both concise and precise.
We'll if you're so engulfed in reading scripture or other things you might be blinding yourself to the present and things around you, hence the way we may act to people we don't know.
I think it's just easy to get caught up in the process of something and forget the point of it all. Part of the point of working on our relationship with God is that it's supposed to overflow into our relationship with others. This doesn't happen as automatically and as uni-directionally as we might think.
As for Beck's writing in this post -- he's writing very conversationally; it would come off naturally in spoken word. I think that's the quality that makes it so readily digestible.
Speaking for myself, I tend to get caught up in wording and phrasing my sentences just so -- such that the strain often shows and my language comes across as self-conscious and unnatural.
What I like about writers like Orson Scott Card and Thomas Friedman and Roger Ebert (regardless of whether or not I agree with them) is that while they can tackle some pretty high-minded stuff, they generally keep their language simple and clear. They're not putting on a literary show: they're just trying to get their message across.
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