Escaping the Velvet Glove

[noeticknight]

Originally Posted by HaShaliach

noeticknight -

Loved your intro post!

Now, the interesting questions is: What is the motivation (reason, purpose, goal) for so many 'church leaders' arguing in support of such positions?

What's the payoff?

Thanks HaShaliach, big fan of your posts here!

I wish I could nail it down to one insidious reason, or trace it all back to one dark lord sitting on a throne somewhere. Unfortunately, the issue is complex beyond my limited understanding, but I do believe that human relationships are the drivers that create these sorts of scenarios. We could make a list of reasons that motivate certain “church leaders,” but that would be generalizing and quite frankly, unproductive. Your point is a valid one though, and particularly important because it cuts to the core of the matter. The entire religious system as we know it is fundamentally flawed.

Somebody asked if certain church leaders are motivated by money? You bet your bottom dollar they are! In the "system" of American religion, many churches are really just a business and a social club. Of course, there are the extreme stories too. Just down the road there is a church that does (mandatory) direct deposit for tithes on all of their members. They take up offerings several times during one service. Then, on your way out, women ushers (wearing velvet gloves!) stand by the doors holding out buckets for those who got loosened up during the service to dig a little deeper. The leaders live the life of luxury, while some of their saints struggle to pay the bills. If this is just one church in my little area, what other horrors abound elsewhere?

Yes, I really do struggle with folks who believe and teach mandatory tithing or Hell. You and JasonB are far more eloquent than I on this subject, but I suspect that if money grew on trees, many church goers would discover less coercion, and maybe less personal attention from some of their leaders.

I think a majority of the motivation comes from people hungry for an identity. They want to believe that their culture/religion/community is special and unique, closest to God, and superior to others. This is perfectly normal. And since people make up communities, it stands to reason that they will not be a perfect group. I have no problem looking past human failure or mistakes; after all that’s my lot too. What I do take umbrage to is unhealthy patterns of behavior that continue in a group, which eventually becomes the culture, and ultimately their most lasting identifiers.

Getting back to your question, I would say that a majority of leaders and those who’ve the power surrendered to them argue for that overarching reason. They want to keep their identity alive. And in a lot of cases, certainly in my experience, these leaders will compromise truth to preserve their tradition. They will talk out of both sides of their mouth, inject a mixture of truth and falsity, love, hate, iron fist, velvet glove, whatever, and then justify it all in the name of our Lord because their loyalty is to their religion first, and their relationship with the Creator...second (...maybe). Thankfully though, there are still honest folks who don’t put all of their stock in men, but rather keep their gaze fixed heavenward.