Criticism That Builds
Many critics today only want to tear down other’s ideas. This makes sense as it is quite easy to destroy something. It’s building something that takes real work and creativity.
The best criticism will always present an alternative to an opposing idea, and chart a way forward. Since I offered a critique of criticism in my last post (read it here) I ought to practice what I preach and also propose some possible ways to better criticize.
First, give an honest evaluation of all the information. Listen to whole speech or sermon, read the entire book, or research the legislation. Do the hard work; this way, when you do speak, you are informed. We cannot let the opinions of others serve as our sole means of being informed. Learning yourself will allow you to learn more about the issue at hand, and can strengthen your understanding of the argument.
Second, present your argument fairly and allow the listener the opportunity to decide if he agrees with you. If a critic believes herself to be 100% right about something, then all that is needed is for her to present the argument in a clear and compelling way. The closer one can stay to the argument, the more people are invited to listen. Once insults, slander, and accusation begin to enter the picture people are instantly alienated and begin to choose sides. We don’t need the character assassinations - after all, the truth is what will win out in the end, right?
Third, do not offer a criticism until you are willing to accept criticism. Some of the harshest critics are those who hate being criticized. When we are willing listen to our critics we open ourselves to growth. Through them that we can see our blind spots and gain a clearer picture of the issue at hand. Good critics act like a mirror for our thinking, and when they hold it up it will do us good to take a long hard look. The best thinkers I know are those who listen to their critics and learn from them.
None of these ideas can happen, however, unless criticism is rooted in a humble heart. It is the humble that can offer a critique knowing all the while, it’s just an opinion of one person. In the end, their opinion could be wrong. The truth is, all of us are wrong about something - admitting this just may be the first step to becoming a better critic.
What are some ways you would improve criticism? Share your ideas. Together, we will be better and build something that lasts.
A Critique of Criticism
In our world today the masses seem to have lost the ability to offer fair, well reasoned, and well-informed criticism. Worse than this is the reality that the most people lap up the thoughts, ideas, and ideologies of a few critics. Rather than scrutinize what they hear and read, they accept the information put forth as fact.
As this blind acceptance increases, the ability to form one’s own opinion decreases. The masses become tape recordings playing back the thoughts and opinions of others. I have heard many say, “I think for myself.” After listening to those people, however, I have come to believe otherwise.
What is needed is not more arguments for one way of thinking over another. What we need is a criticism of criticism. So, if you will, allow me.
First, Criticism does not offer all the needed information. Book critics will use one quote by an author that can be easily dismantled. In attacking political legislation critics share a small piece of a larger whole. Their audiences take the incomplete information presented and trumpet the criticism, thereby spreading an abbreviated reality. What they are saying is true, but without the full picture it can be horribly misleading. If a critic insists on using a few sound bites, it may do us good to ask why they are unwilling to display the full picture.
Second, criticism does not stick to the issues. In our world of opinion and spin what often bears the brunt of the harshest criticism is not an idea, but the person or group sharing the idea. It’s the whole “discredit the witness” gig. If we can make someone out to be a moron, then we do not need to listen to him. It has become commonplace (to a sickening degree) to mock, parody, name call, and spread false information about a person. This kind of behavior tells us little about the person being criticized, but can tell us a great deal about the emotional maturity of the critic.
Third, critics are often unwilling (even when given the chance) to speak directly to a person or group they criticize. It is rather easy to say what we want about a person when we believe we will never encounter that person. There are few who have to conviction and courage to criticize a person face to face. Critics who deserve attention are the ones who are willing to sit with the very people they criticize.
We need criticism, but we need more scrutiny than ever when it comes to listening to critics. We ought never be quick to jump to conclusions, but should always be quick to listen doing our best to understand what the other is saying. Perhaps if we are more critical of our criticism we may actually stumble into healthy conversation that will provide needed solutions to problems that are far more serious than our lack of good criticism.
Impractical Advice (Part Two)
This summer my family and I went on vacation. When I returned my friend Jenny asked me how it was. I replied, “It was great. I unplugged from everything. Turned my phone off, my computer off – I had no idea what was happening in the world.”
She admittedly looked a little perplexed and asked, “Wow, that must have been hard to turn all that stuff off. How did you do it?”
I said, “I pushed the power button.”
We have fooled ourselves into believing that unplugging, turning off media, and shutting down the noise is impossible. Therefore, we tell ourselves, it must be for someone else. This is a lie that we have chosen to believe. Busy is our normal, which ought to concern us for busyness is an addictive drug.
I have learned that if I am not on Facebook, tweeting on Twitter, or if I cannot return an email or phone call the sun will go on rising and setting and everyone will be okay. As for me, I will not be just okay; I will be better.
Rest may be one of the most underrated aspects of one’s spiritual and emotional health. It’s no surprise then that it has also proven to be one of the most challenging. The most valuable things are often the most difficult to grasp.
Rest has not (and still is not) always easy for me. It is difficult at times to slow down and even harder to stop. I have found that this is often connected to what we discover when we do. When there is no phone, computer, television, music, iPad, or other distractions we are left with our very own self – our heart, our thoughts, our soul, our fears. There is no escape. Sounds terrifying, doesn’t it?
If you responded "yes" to that last question, your answer might help you understand why you don’t slow down. We may not want to believe this is true; so we create any number of reasons as to why we can’t rest.
We fool ourselves into thinking that we just can’t, or we are too busy, or we don’t have enough time, or we have to get this or that done. Perhaps we tell ourselves these things in an attempt to stay away from our own hearts and souls.
If this is true, then we must ask, “What am I afraid of finding in my own soul?” Answering it may help us to see the very thing(s) that scare us out of slowing down. The catch is, you have to slow down to answer the question. Which naturally leads us to another question, “When will you slow down to ask and answer the question?”
Impractical Advice (Part One)
Research suggests most people will not wait more than eight seconds for a web page to download. Why? We just don’t have the time anymore.
Our world is moving at a blistering pace. Thankfully technology has given us more ways than ever to save time, but strangley we now have less time than ever (another blog for another day).
Since our time is precious, I will make this quick and get to the point. This is what we want more and more these days - the point, the bottom line, the answer, we want someone to "give it to us straight." As a result our curiosity is diminishing at an alarming rate. We care little about why or how something might work; we just want to know if it does. We want things to be practical.
People long to know the three things they can do to eat better, the seven behaviors they can employ to ensure a healthy marriage, or learn the top secrets of the successful. The problem is that this does not work, which is why new books are always being written about new behaviors that are bound to work. But they don’t work either. If you have a moment, perhaps you might consider why.
When we shape our life around a few practical behaviors we remain a good distance from our own souls. We focus our energies on not doing this and starting to do that. It is simply a matter of mental discipline.
Give me enough time and focus and I can act in any way you ask, but that may have nothing to do with my heart or my soul – it’s only behavior modification. This does not change anything; true change comes from within.
Religion can teach us a thing or two about this. It cares more about our behavior than our hearts. When I was growing up there was a long list of rules, and there were plenty of people who kept these rules perfectly. They had very practical instruction and stuck to it.
The problem was that some of these people were quite mean spirited, bigoted, unkind, and indifferent toward those who were not like them. This ought to have raised all sorts of questions about their hearts, but it rarely did because their ability to follow rules was perfect. Our world today is very religious, isn’t it?
We tend to care less about what’s inside when compared with what others can see outside. From the world of business, to the Church, to the family – we just want it practical. After all, who has the time to dig into their heart, and move beyond behavior? If only there was an app for that …
When our chief concern is “practical advice” we can easily gloss over what lies beneath the surface. Jesus never seemed to concerned about practicality, he was always upsetting people back then and still upsets us today. He goes there and invites us to do the same. If only we had the time to journey within ... but that’s so impractical.
More Thoughts About Leaving the Church
Occasionally pastors who are called to move onto broader ministry leave their role within their local congregations (See my previous post). This is no doubt a difficult decision for them, but this does not stop some pastors who have left their congregations from being critical of them. This has cause me confusion.
A good part of the reasoning behind the criticism lies within what one critic called “validity.” The thought is that if a pastor is no longer connected to a local congregation then he or she somehow loses credibility. They no longer speak with the same rootedness and connection they once had to congregational life.
I can understand this kind of reasoning, but I disagree with their sentiment. I am also confused by this reasoning, because I'm not sure the critics agree with their own sentiment either. Many Christians (and thousands of pastors) spend a great deal of time listening and learning from non-pastors.
The two leading Christian Leadership conferences in the world the feature speakers who possess strong insights, invaluable experience, and tremendous depth. However, the majority of them are not, nor have they ever been, a pastor of a local congregation. They are business leaders, authors, entrepreneurs, and even an occasional rock star.
None of these people bear the validity that pastors turned authors or speakers supposedly lose. Nor have they ever had the rootedness of time spent "in the pulpit" as a pastor of a local congregation. Are they less valid? I would think not, and apparently so would many of the critics.
I listen to and learn from all sorts of people in all kinds of contexts from all different ages. Augustine, Peter Rollins, Seth Godin, John Piper, Chuck Palahniuk, Homer (not the one from Springfield - but him too), Dominic Crossan, Socrates, Robert McKee, Abraham Heschel, Jay-Z (he's not a businessman he's a business, man), Leo Tolstoy, and Keith Green have all taught me and challenged my thinking along the way. Many of those who express concern about pastors leaving their congregation would probably say the same thing, which leads to my confusion.
If I may ask just one clarifying question to help me overcome my confusion: “Why criticize a pastor who leaves his or her local congregation to speak to a larger audience, but pay money to attend a conference so that you can sit under the teaching of a person who has never been a pastor?”
The former pastors invite concern and criticism, but the business professional receive our acclaim and applause. From where I stand these two things seem contradictory. What do you think?
Some Thoughts About Leaving the Church
In the last few days there has, once again, been criticism of pastors who follow a call outside that requires them to leave their congregation. This has been the case with pastors like Brian McLaren, Francis Chan, Jim Belcher, N.T. Wright and, most recently, Rob Bell.
Critics have claimed that in leaving their churches they have less accountability and validity. This would be true if they were abandoning the Church, but they’re not. Perhaps this attitude comes from a narrow understanding of the church, which informs our attitudes about pastors and preachers.
Leaving a position within the church has little to do with accountability – that has to do with one’s heart. Consider the many pastors who sadly experience burnout, a moral failure or the exposure of scandal. They are still a part of a local congregation, but seemingly avail themselves to little accountability.
In contrast, I just spoke with a fellow who travels, speaks, writes and consults who is not a pastor, though he used to be. He has several faithful friends around him and his family who hold him highly accountable. He engages the church frequently through the love and care that he and his family receive from their community.
When the definition of “the Church” is limited to a local congregation or parish then the criticism makes a little more sense. But how we understand the Church should not be confined to our cultural understanding. My friend Fernando, who is from Cuba, once said to me, “In Cuba we have churches but few buildings. In America, we have buildings but few churches.”
He knew that the Church, as the people of God, is a reflection of the Kingdom of Heaven here on this earth. It is far bigger than the tiny institutional box we tend to place it in, and when we attempt to define one’s role according to that - we fall short. People like Brian McLaren, Francis Chan, and Rob Bell have gifts that serve the Kingdom our hurting, broken world.
Rather than criticize them for leaving the Church we should seek learn from their example. Their courage to hear God’s call can teach all of us how large the Church of Jesus really is. Let’s pray not only for them, but for their families and fellow sojourners, that God will sustain them as they labor for the Kingdom.
To my many brothers and sisters who have stepped away from their roles within a local congregation to obediently follow the path to which Jesus has called you, thank you for teaching me so much. “May God bless you and keep you, may he make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, and may he turn his face toward you and give you peace.”