tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1802896743878321184.post3254547897071033833..comments2023-08-19T01:00:21.479-07:00Comments on Love. Learning. Liberty.: Peer pressureshadowspringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15172112981244682382noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1802896743878321184.post-37968708474519690682010-06-03T17:10:46.133-07:002010-06-03T17:10:46.133-07:00Me too!
My son belongs to a wonderful eclectic ho...Me too!<br /><br />My son belongs to a wonderful eclectic home school group that is NOT religious in nature. But alas, it also is invitation only. <br /><br />I don't know if it is invitation only because of the problems that zealots bring (whether they are unschooling zealots, religious zealots, etc.) or simply because it gets harder to manage if it gets too big. Also exclusive groups have a mystique about them that makes them seem more special?<br /><br />I was just thrilled he was invited. When we decided we could no longer hang out with the sheltering religious home schoolers (too many cold shoulders, it wasn't working any way) for awhile he didn't have any home school friends. <br /><br />But he had neighborhood friends galore, so it wasn't like he was isolated. Still, this group of kids who accept one another are really good kids. I'm glad they are in his life. See my post about Christianity, home schooling and a funeral from the January archives. =)shadowspringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15172112981244682382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1802896743878321184.post-31253351607874207952010-06-03T12:23:37.519-07:002010-06-03T12:23:37.519-07:00This is so true! I remember learning that the Pilg...This is so true! I remember learning that the Pilgrims went to Holland first, but came here to get away from the worldly Dutch. (I wonder if the prevalent theme of American colonists righteously running away from Old World vice is as prominent in school curricula as it was in our home school books!)<br /><br />Education is my priority so I'm in favor of home schooling as an option. But college was such a healing experience for me after growing up in that divisive environment. I hope that things are getting better than they were in the eighties and nineties!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1802896743878321184.post-72909383215513569842010-05-28T06:33:29.094-07:002010-05-28T06:33:29.094-07:00Ezekiel 34:17-30
This passage tells me a) it'...Ezekiel 34:17-30<br /><br />This passage tells me a) it's been happening for a long time now b) God is well aware c) Jesus himself communes in a special, close way with those who are pushed out of Christian community.<br /><br />It also tells me to watch out that I don't neglect and reject the weak and the wounded, because God will judge between the sheep. <br /><br />Roman 12-14 are great reads to help me relate to my bullying brothers and sisters in a right way. As much as it depends on me, live in peace. Don't start arguments. Remember they are accountable to God, not me. And pray.<br /><br />I'm working on it, I would not claim to always practice these ways of relating to bullies, but I'm working on it.shadowspringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15172112981244682382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1802896743878321184.post-36930255883060902542010-05-27T21:35:21.631-07:002010-05-27T21:35:21.631-07:00Thanks for this post. It explains so much. Homes...Thanks for this post. It explains so much. Homeschooling was not an option for us due to things outside of my control. But various siblings do homeschool, and I see their families becoming more and more rigid and exclusive. One of my sisters is so changed, I have basically lost a sister. We see less and less of her and her children, and have less and less in common with them as well. While they are still friendly, because we know of others who are much closer to their way of thinking than we are, who they ostracized, criticized, and threatened to excommunicate, we also know they are thinking similar thoughts of us.<br /><br />Oddly, I've seen the same phenomenon in church groups, especially if most of them went to a church school, but we did not. You just didn't fit if you didn't conform to the way they did things. In another church group most of the women were into cooking and homemaking. A novelist who had an artist daughter just didn't fit in very well. <br /><br />What I'm seeing in almost every church group is a pulling away from people who don't think exactly like they do. <br /><br />Yet, I find I'm just as guilty. In my need to find a safe place to heal, I have little tolerance for those who throw out verbal jabs or just gave "the look" because I left my husband even though he wasn't "abusive enough" to their way of thinking. <br /><br />Are others experiencing similar disrespect from "outsiders?" It sounds to me like the church is spending much more time wounding its own than offering balm and healing to its hurting ones. Perhaps we need more teaching on offering compassion and mercy, with a thimbleful of truth, instead of offering a truckload of truth and a cold shoulder.Waneta Dawnhttp://submissiontyranny.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1802896743878321184.post-68224087185104471342010-05-11T14:50:38.790-07:002010-05-11T14:50:38.790-07:00Yes, it is much more desirable, if group acceptanc...Yes, it is much more desirable, if group acceptance is needed (and we do need to belong to a circle of friends somewhere) to be the whisperer or an ally of the whisperer than to become the target of the whispers.<br /><br />Erika describes how her sister used this truth to her advantage in this post from No Longer Qivering:<br /><br />http://nolongerquivering.com/2010/05/10/our-lonely-little-legalistic-world/shadowspringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15172112981244682382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1802896743878321184.post-32550875350902140302010-05-11T09:02:17.822-07:002010-05-11T09:02:17.822-07:00I know that we (the Church) has, to some degree or...I know that we (the Church) has, to some degree or another, always been divided. But I feel these days like we're absolutely splintered, and it makes me sad and anxious. There seem to be so many more reasons to "exclude" than ever before, or at least that's my perception. There are more lines drawn in the sand than ever before, it seems:<br /><br />-denominationally<br />-patriarchal vs. complementarian vs. egalitarian<br />-homeschooler vs. private schooler vs. public schooler<br />-SAHM vs. work-outside-the-home mom<br />-republican vs. independent vs. democrat<br />-all kinds of minutia, such as dresses vs. pants, head coverings, dating vs. courtship, you name it - the list is endless<br /><br />You named several others in your insightful post, but nearly all involve the setting apart of others from us based on our judgments of them. Rarely are these judgments clarified with the judg-ee. Conclusions are leapt to and the whispering begins ("Oh, her child has a secular piano teacher, she must not care about adhering to a Biblical worldview" or "they're liberals [dreaded insult] because they don't see everything the same way 'we' do"). No longer do we have the freedom to come to different conclusions about non-essential matters - it's either this way or that way or you're out.<br /><br />Spiritual "bullies" get to push everyone else around by simply raising "concerns" about their salvation, or calling into question their adherence to issues like inerrancy, often for simply just raising questions, as any curious, truth-seeking Berean should. But rather than being viewed in that legitimate way through a hermeneutic of generosity and grace, their questions are seen as "dangerous" and "dark". <br /><br />These bullies are encouraged in this because everyone else is afraid of becoming their target, so little or nothing is said. It is easier to side with the bully(ies) than to deal with coming into their crosshairs.<br /><br />So instead of having liberty in Christ, we find bondage, and continue to choose to live under the weight of law instead of grace. The discouragement and utter joylessness of it is oppressive and soul-draining, and ultimately so hurtful to so many.<br /><br />This ought not be so!Savannahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02402475486393948574noreply@blogger.com