The church is currently infected, as Hearthie points out, with a heresy. I’m quoting from TradChristianity, which is back from the annual Lenten Break.
The tenets of Niceness (a partial list):
- Everything will work out in the end somehow. (This divides into the Eastern Nice and Western Nice – the Eastern Nice believe that we’ll get another go at life, the Western Nice believe that we all go to a Nice place after we die).
- Everyone who is basically Nice – which is very nearly everyone – should be encouraged to do whatever-it-is they wish to do, so long as it doesn’t physically harm anyone else. (“Anyone” is somewhat fluidly defined. See: denominational differences).
- Those who aren’t Nice probably had a poor upbringing, and should simply be reeducated about Niceness, after which they will surely be more Nice than they were.
- Truth is relative. I have my truth, you have your truth, and as long as our respective truths please us, we should keep them.
- You should be Nice to the Earth and the animals too. (Denominational differences apply).
- People who question Niceness and have been educated about Niceness are Mean. Means should be scolded or shunned until they give up being Mean and learn to be Nice. (Pretending to be Nice is of course Nice – so long as you keep your mouth closed on disagreement, you’re Nice).
Until you recognize that the dominant religion in Western society is Niceness, you will end up in baffling conversations where people tell you that, “your religion seems to work for you, and that’s Nice, but it doesn’t work for me, so you shouldn’t bother me with it”. These people will also get very upset at you if you insist that Truth is objectively verifiable, and by definition, isn’t relative. (Relative truth is what Means call “opinion”).
Members of the Niceness religion will also get terribly upset at you if you say that there are right things and wrong things to do with your time, and that this matters after you’re dead. Remember, one of the central tenets of the Niceness religion is that “it all works out” – disagreeing with this is extremely Mean.
Niceness have never, ever ever ever… been effective. Because it is heretical. Because it is false. What does work is confronting people with what the consequences of their actions are. Peter was not nice. But, filled with the spirit, he was effective.
36“Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” 38Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” 40And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. 42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
The trouble is that we are encouraged (at the fin de ciecle to double down on relativity and being a member of the consensus. We are asked to conform. Not conforming to the ideas of the mass of people is seen as hateful, and mean.
Now, I’m a fairly misanthropic male. Being told I am mean does not make me feel shame, but is happy making. For those cross grained, testosterone poisoned outliers from the current matriarchy, our spineless legislators have now codified not niceness as hate speech.
There is another error in the heresy of niceness. Niceness is tribal. BF comments here wisely.
This was a response I received from an American Christian blogger:
In 21st Century America, that incentive can only be being true to what God wants. Being a Christian […] in the 21st Century West involves a personal walk of soft martyrdom because it requires being very counter-cultural and in a way that the culture *will* jeer at you for being. I agree that not many people are “up for that”, but it is what it is.
It’s not about pleasing the people at Church or what they think, it’s about pleasing God. Yes, the Church is full of sin (always has been) and has lost the nerve to enforce what it teaches (newer problem in many areas, old problem in others), but what God wants is a universal constant.
I agree with his comment. However if I cannot please the people at Church, if they do not think highly of my adherence to [Japanese] values, than what does that say of Christ?
The examples of “Good Christians” that are foisted upon me, the well-respected Christians I am advised to emulate, are almost always unkind, sanctimonious hypocrites. If I follow their advice or emulate their behavior, I’d disappoint Amaterasu.
BF spends half her time in Japan, and the other half somewhere on the East Coast. THe churchian ideas — the feminizing of the church in to herd of mindless niceness — is a tribal reflection of current American values, as their republic ends.
(And do not beat her up for mentioing Ameratasu, American woman, when you revere the Founders of the Nation and your constitution. That is equally syncrestic, and equally tribal).
We need to say the truth. Beginning with the errors of this age. We will be called hateful. But letting a child touch a hotplate is not loving, Neither is feeding an addict crystal meth. Niceness is not love. And truth is not relative.
And until we stop being nice, we will be ineffective.
Thanks for the linklove.
I will say that I’m writing about this because I’m a nice squishy woman who likes to be liked, so this is hard for me to deal with. I keep banging up against the wall of “your religion is nice for you (think “hobby”) but it’s not for me, so don’t bug me with it”. Eternity is no longer relevant.
Yeah.
I’m aware that I’m not that nice. I normally need a full loading dose of coffee to slow me down enough or bring the self censorship circuit up before I get to work. Otherwise I will start saying what is wrong, precisely, coldly, accurately, and with a total disregard for feelings. However, it causes people to burst into tears, and that causes me to feel shame and try to fix it. It is better to get loading dose of coffee into me and then choose my words.
The trouble is that we need to be gracious but still accurate, and precise in our criticism of this culture and our churches. We supposed to be continually reforming ourselves and our churches, you know.
I think sometimes people forget that niceness isn’t the same as kindness.
“Means should be scolded or shunned”
Well, I don’t see anything wrong with avoiding mean people. I avoid people who treat me poorly, and that includes some devout Christians. If someone is rude/a snob/a loner who push others away, hanging out with them is a massive energy drain.
@Chris: I hope you and your family had a wonderful Easter!
Thanks. Back to work tomorrow (the 3rd)
I apologize, I never fully replied to your post – I was too busy enjoying the spring heatwave that recently swept across the Northeast.
My blogpost that you quoted, was about my difficulty viewing Christ as a powerful deity. Compared to Amaterasu (which you correctly note, is an animistic personification of Japan) Christ seems to take lackadaisical approach when it comes to the behavior and values of his followers. Why should I respect a God who considers my Japanese values (honesty, responsibility, abstinence-until-marriage, etc.) irrelevant?
Of course, (as Brendan’s quote eloquently stated) that is not true. Traditional Christian values and Traditional Japanese values are compatible. However, the majority of Christians do not possess an inkling of Traditional Christian values.
The book “Almost a Christian” by Kenda Dean explains the situation I [and most young American Christians] experienced, rather well:
“[...] Almost Christian, investigates why American teenagers are at once so positive about Christianity and at the same time so apathetic about genuine religious practice.
[...]American teenagers have embraced a “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism”–a hodgepodge of banal, self-serving, feel-good beliefs that bears little resemblance to traditional Christianity. But far from faulting teens, Dean places the blame for this theological watering down squarely on the churches themselves. Instead of proclaiming a God who calls believers to lives of love, service and sacrifice, churches offer instead a bargain religion, easy to use, easy to forget, offering little and demanding less.”
Christians were always telling me my values didn’t matter. Their behavior and belief’s weren’t any different from your average non-believer. Even self-professed “Traditionalist” Christians judged me for getting engaged young, made fun of me and my husband for remaining virgins until marriage. I began to view Christianity as a sort-of cargo cult. I thought Christ only cared about appearance.
I think my faith is getting stronger. But only because I ignore the “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” that is ubiquitous in American culture. Also, my husband and I found a good, strong, reformed church. Non-of that feel-good “Jesus is your boyfriend” Evangelical nonsense.