Jonathan at Ekklesia has just accepted a news item from me about one group of Christians criticising another group of Christians over the issue of support for Israel.
This has got me thinking about criticism between Christians. I’m fine with the idea that we should be able to criticise each other and hold each other accountable (1 Corinthians 5:12) but should this just be for those you have a close relationship with and the context to crticise constructively with a positive outcome? Or should we be able to criticise more widely – perhaps a bit like Old Testament prophets or Jesus destroying the market stalls in the temple – within the church?
Any thoughts?
Criticism is aways something i would suggest within our humanness we are not always going to get away from. I have had people criticise me about my heart for young people who have never seen me work. I also, confession time, have also criticised churches and christians, withut visiting them. The thing which I am starting to try and put into practice in my own life is if i see something that i struggle with or have a problem with then, try and talk to the people concerened, and if criticise, trya nd offer altrnatives. not always possible, and I don’t always do it, but i guess it comes down to heart. what is the heart behidn the citicism? do we criticise to help, improve, encourage, or do we jsut criticise because we are good at criticsing? to me criticism is fine in whatever regard if the aim and the heart is to help what we see. We should always reemember the plank in our own eyes as well, and remember that thereshould also be humbleness and humility in our relationships.
I believe criticism, in the constructive, positive sense of the word, is a necessary tool for growth and development. Unless we challenge each other I don’t know that we can ever become the church Jesus intended. The whole iron sharpens iron kinda thing.
Unfortunately, our (the Church) collective history is filled with division and infighting. At this point, it is only the most gracefully and thoughtfully presented criticism that will be perceived by the world as any thing other than, “Oh no here they go again.”