Wednesday, May 20, 2009
respect your elders, but be your own man
Many people know that I'm a big proponent of a unified life. I try as much as possible to be the same person at work, with my family, at church, when rock climbing, and everywhere. This applies to deeper things like how I treat other people. It also applies to smaller things like how I dress or the type of language I use.
Another idea I'm a big proponent of is not mixing up societal taboos with religious faith. I think this mixing weakens faith and is one of the greatest threats to the modern church. When we choose to allow to make these trivialities equal to the foundations of our faith we do ourselves a great disservice. That's why I get so upset over stupidly trivial things, I'm not upset at those things, I'm upset that those trivial things are invading something holy. As a side note, there is a great song about this.
Sometimes people who both live a divided life and who mix societal taboos with religious faith use respecting their elders as an excuse. I would just like to state for the record that respecting your elders isn't agreeing with them 100% of the time or doing what they want you to 100% of the time. And it certainly isn't doing what they want only when they are around and then doing the opposite when they aren't there. Doing those things is not respect, it's just temporarily throwing away your own beliefs to avoid conflict. It's not being strong, it's cowardly.
So I want to solicit some feedback. Post your examples of how to live a unified life, how people don't live a unified life, how societal taboos mix with faith, how to avoid that mixing, and how to reconcile your independence with respecting your elders. Comment via blogger, email, facebook, or twitter. I'll then make another blog post incorporating some of the better answers, with a shout out to those who submitted them.
Another idea I'm a big proponent of is not mixing up societal taboos with religious faith. I think this mixing weakens faith and is one of the greatest threats to the modern church. When we choose to allow to make these trivialities equal to the foundations of our faith we do ourselves a great disservice. That's why I get so upset over stupidly trivial things, I'm not upset at those things, I'm upset that those trivial things are invading something holy. As a side note, there is a great song about this.
Sometimes people who both live a divided life and who mix societal taboos with religious faith use respecting their elders as an excuse. I would just like to state for the record that respecting your elders isn't agreeing with them 100% of the time or doing what they want you to 100% of the time. And it certainly isn't doing what they want only when they are around and then doing the opposite when they aren't there. Doing those things is not respect, it's just temporarily throwing away your own beliefs to avoid conflict. It's not being strong, it's cowardly.
So I want to solicit some feedback. Post your examples of how to live a unified life, how people don't live a unified life, how societal taboos mix with faith, how to avoid that mixing, and how to reconcile your independence with respecting your elders. Comment via blogger, email, facebook, or twitter. I'll then make another blog post incorporating some of the better answers, with a shout out to those who submitted them.
