People and issues

You may have missed the controversy taking place this week between Centeri0n and Internet Monk, with others (like Pyromaniac) also participating. At issue is a confessional essay written by Internet Monk. It’s now been taken down, but is available upon request. In reaction, centuri0n has written about some of his concerns. Others have joined in as well. Fair enough. When you write something, it’s fair game for criticism. I really don’t have any problem with critics taking issue with something like the IM’s essay. What’s harder to take are comments like this: “iMonk: You are a fraud.” Or this: “I pray God saves his soul.” The hardest thing to do is to argue about issues but, in the process, to show kindness to people. This is especially the case when the person is closely related to the issue. We are all built differently, and some of us have more than an appetite for conflict than others. I just don’t know that it’s a bad thing to try to show the fruit of the Spirit in our reaction to issues, as far as it relates to people. Somehow this is seen as weakness or postmodernism by some people. So take issue with what Internet Monk has written. But think pretty carefully before you call somebody a fraud or judge their spiritual condition just because you disagree with them. As Anne Lamott has said, “You know that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people that you do.” Or to paraphrase Paul: “I plead with Centeri0n and I plead with iMonk to be of the same mind in the Lord.”