The tensions are running high across the ‘pond’; but they are always high when we venture upon the landscape of any social media. Anger breaks out when the other person just doesn’t share our opinion, and we let them have it, with both barrels, figuratively speaking.
Media interviews
In this week’s Gospel reading (Mark 12:28-34, really short), Jesus is doing the media round of interviews. He’s just had a difficult time with the Sadducees, but now he is onto the Scribes. Neither are going to give him any leeway, just looking to find a way to trap him. Ask a sneaky question which could be answered in a multiple of ways, the odd unusual phrase which could be interpreted with a different perspective, and he’d be toast. Both Sadducees and Scribes would have loved the way you can clip bits of film together these days to say what you want.
The Scribes have been watching the Sadducees with their attempt, and possibly think they have an alternative way to attack Jesus. Let’s start with a nice cushty opener: “what’s the first commandment?”, what’s the most important thing to remember?
(I am not saying I agree)
Jesus responds with an improvised line from Deut 6:4-5; but he’s added to what they were expecting. ‘You are to love your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength‘. Oh, and by the way, the second part is ‘Love your neighbour as yourself‘. Ouch, two linked responses when they were expecting only one. The Scribe responds by saying ‘to love God with all the heart, with all of your understanding, and with all of your strength, and to love one’s neighbour as oneself‘. Cool, but that’s different as well.
Whereas Jesus uses mind, the Scribe mentions understanding, or in the Greek, intelligence. Yes, we are also allowed to use our intelligence. We don’t have to blindly follow what an English translation of the Bible says, but we can ask around, dig further ourselves, and ask questions. Find a deeper answer.
Jesus says that the Scribe is near to the kin_dom of God
Near? so, not quite there? Do we have to wait until we die until we are actually seeing, feeling, experiencing the kin_dom of God? No, we can be there, here on Earth.
The texts thatJesus has been lifting those answers from have the answers. From Leviticus 19:9-15, we read that the kin_dom of God is when we:
- feel compassion for those who are hungry;
- don’t spread misinformation or lie;
- don’t discriminate and oppress others for our own gain; and
- don’t slander others.
Is that something that we might see in an election?
So, when your fingers start to tap upon those keys, think what we could be doing.
Sitting with the people on this social media platform, listening to their story. We could respond to comments and posts with kindness, seeking to find out the underlying perspective, even if we might disagree. We can try to understand the other person, and ultimately, love them.
What do we call preachers across the world?
A “Church Minister”, “Pastor” (in Methodist/ Anglican/ Non-Mainstream churches in the East). They have just started to recognize women as ministers, although I haven’t met anyone yet.
A “Father”, “Priest” (in mainstream churches in the East). Women, being sinners, are not allowed to minister or ask questions as per Paul, according to them. So they follow this practice even today. By the way, the majority of “respectful” Christians go here. (I would jokingly say they got visa to heaven :-))
The point is, perhaps it is based on whatever we call them, other than their names, that perhaps enables them to maintain distance with people, which according to the church is “respect”. And hence no one really want to argue with them if they say for instance that there is a link between sin and suffering.
Well, if we start discussing with people whom we do not know, through social media, it’s hard to predict the outcome as we do not know their level of understanding and how they would respond.
80% of all Methodist deacons are women.
Ministers (whatever we deem to call them) are not elevated nor separated from the congregation.
Perhaps we might be willing to engage with those folk online, asking to clarify their understanding so we can respond accordingly. I have been called fake, a bot on occasions but after some protracted conversations we have concluded that we might have differed in our opinions, we have learnt something of each other in that process. Isn’t that progress?
When you say 80% of all Methodist deacons are women, you consider only the western Methodist churches as you were on this side of the world. And when I tell you the hopeless conditions of women all the time, I consider the other side of the world. Probably, this is an example of how people can be opinionated based on their experience 🙂
Methodist churches have just started to form in India. I was lucky to have worked in Bangalore, where we have like 4 or 5 Methodist churches. I have not met a single ordained woman minister in any of those churches, though. However, there is at least a sign of hope in these churches. We used to have some excellent sessions on Saturdays. One such session I attended and liked was “Lead like Jesus”
https://www.globalsistersreport.org/ministry/status-and-contribution-women-indian-church. Notice that there is not only the head covering for women, but also men sit on one side and women on the other side in most mainstream churches.
I think I was just 12 years of age, when I was concerned about all these issues, and would often argue with people, even close ones. I did try a lot to convince people, including relatives, but that’s a place where elders do not listen to younger people anyway. After I realized that convincing people is not possible, I totally gave up on that and fully focussed on my work and found my mental peace 🙂
In my previous comment, I was saying about how we address the church ministers – “not by their name”.
The mainstream churches have a special uniform for priests, bishop etc. No one is allowed entry to the sanctuary in these churches. I think some churches do allow men, but not women, in the sanctuary. In one of these churches in my parents’ hometown, I saw that all men were given the holy communion first, followed by the women.
Whenever people argue online through social media channel, they argue with people whom they do not know. They are total strangers, and so they are not bothered about how they talk to each other because they do not have a dependency on each other or mostly never going to meet personally. On the other hand, if we have to live in a society where we do not agree with some social or religious practice, then we may have to probably reconsider whether it is worth arguing.
Agreed I meant in the GB Methodist Church. Fortunately in the UK the rules, to my knowledge, for women are the same as for men.
Thank you for highlighting the different cultural issues you’ve faced.