Saturday, March 27, 2010

Blessed are the rude for you can shut them up!

What does Hank Hanegraaft and Jay Sekulow have in common?  I'll give you a few hints:  It doesn't have to do with the fact that they both have big radio audiences in the Christian Community.  Nor does it have to do with the large amounts of money they take in through donations.  The common thread that I have noticed with both of those men is the fact that if caller disagrees with either men in what they say or believe then both of those men will cut the caller short before the caller finishes their sentence and then assert what they say in a authoritarian way. In a word, they are plain rude to the dissident caller(s). I have heard both men engage in such interupptions personally and I end up turning the radio off.  There is absolutely nothing in the Bible that justifies such behavior towards anyone.  The common retort is usually 'we have to keep calls short because the lines get full'.   Really?  Where is the love of God in such displays of rudeness?  I have tried contacting the Christian Research Institute in the past hoping to "call them to the carpet" for past actions.  (It had to do with the poor treatment of the Walter Martin family and questionable finances that involved Hanegraafts wife Kathy.).  I got nowhere fast!  In fact it has been my experience that if their is a Christian organization that you love and want to support but they are doing things that unbiblical, wrong, or questionable and you want to draw their attention to the problem; well don't expect a response!  In other words they sheild out anything that they pereceived as critical or negative.   I'll give you a real example of they sheild out criticism:  Focus on the Family often promotes and sells contemplative material.  I tried to call them in at their Colorado office and tell them that such material is occultic.  (think of the DVD "Be Still").  They were friendly, but they were only interested in my call if I needed counseling or wanted to buy something.  So there you have it:  Christian organizations that are structured in such a way that they become impervious even to constructive criticism!  And when you have any organization that is not open to correction or rebuke than it cannot grow.  Tell me, if a husband or wife did not make themselves open to correction to their spouses how long do you thing such a marriage would last? 

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