Shaming in the name of Christianity

[baronesslucy]

When it comes to shaming someone in a church, a lot of it depends on who it is. A lot of fundamentalist churches do this and I've heard of cases where the church goes overboard on this (telling everyone who will listen the sin or sins that someone committed). Usually it's not the wealthy members of the church who are shamed in this way. This is rare.

It's usually someone that if they leave, they really aren't going to be missed. Someone who has no status or standing in the church.

Someone who contributes a large sum of money to a church isn't going to be shamed for cheating on their wife in the same way a person who doesn't have money might be. The pastor or priest would have a lot to lose if they condemned this wealthy person in public, because this person could take their money to another church. Usually people who have money are given a free pass on this or they have been forgiven their sins.

I saw in one case where someone exposed another's person's sin and they were considered to be the sinner or not being a Christian. The mental attack on this person was so bad, that they had to leave the church as people turned on this person. Without going into detail about this, it surprised me that the pastor of this church who normally would have judged the exposed behavior as immoral or sinful accepted it even though he preached against such behavior.

[inavalan]

Exaggerated and unjustified shaming, intolerance, abuse happens all over the spectrum of society. Pointing only to one side is just personal bias, even when one honestly believes that one side is worse than the other.

With the widespread of the social media, social lynching is out of control.

This thread shames the church for shaming those that they disagree with ... :)))

[Spirited]

Yeah, as said above, wrong church! Would Jesus have conformed to the ways of the church had he been there? Definitely not. The equivalent of such a church is in his time the Pharisees. More caught up and pre-occupied of material ways and rituals they've made up for themselves and following it to actually just displaying the love, kindness and acceptance that Jesus came to show us.

You will know the Godly from the UnGodly by their LOVE. Not by their works or rituals. A tree that is rooted in God will bare good fruit and the outcomes of good fruit will never do you harm. The fact you went into what should have been the presence of God and his Love and came away feeling rejected and cold is proof that they are far from what God requires of them. But don't worry, the Pharisees rejected Jesus too :)

God bless.

[linen53]

Yesterday we had a crisis when a wind storm blew through and knocked down a tree snagging our power line down with it.

Neighbors were in the street watching the fire dept and power company working. My mennonite neighbor was out with them. She was saying a power line snapped in her back yard. I asked her if she had power. She looked at me and turned and ignored me.

I am so glad I am not in the social environment anymore where you are either in the in-crowd or not. The Christian churches are famous for that. Makes me want to go in and take a shower to get that icky feeling off of me.

[davidmartin]

This happens when minds are not free to think for themselves
Many Christian churches have a cult-like mentality where faith depends on holding the same beliefs and standards. Rules are bent when the authority structure itself is threatened, which is central to the whole thing - since it upholds and promotes the beliefs/standards. It's control that is king
I'm not saying all churches are cults, but cult-like tendancies are common

In the circles I move in, are way outside of this. Many Christian friends don't attend church regularly, or at all. I'm more comfortable with them

It's easy to think that the opportunity to have great control over others will tempt some people. But I think that Christianity itself has a definite requirement to conformity, its how they go about it that's wrong

[baronesslucy]

Shaming someone for whatever reason doesn't usually work. It usually drives the person away or makes them despise those who are shaming them. I've found that those who shame the most whether it be at work, church or whatever sometimes are worse sinners than those who have sinned. They when they are exposed, they want you to forgive and forget what they did.

Sometimes in churches it's a power trip. They can shame people in ways that your employer or the courts or others couldn't, especially in a small town.

[Aethera]

I think they shame other's, by projecting there own guilt onto other's to hide there own. By trying to use it make other's feel guilty, for whatever reason(s) they use.

Originally Posted by Aethera

I think they shame other's, by projecting there own guilt onto other's to hide there own. By trying to use it make other's feel guilty, for whatever reason(s) they use.

I seriously doubt that is truth. What is truth--God requires one to serve him in spirit and truth.( John 4:22-24) So if a religion is claiming to serve God, yet teach untruths--they need help. Afterall ones eternal lives are at stake.

[Aethera]

Originally Posted by kjw47

I seriously doubt that is truth. What is truth--God requires one to serve him in spirit and truth.( John 4:22-24) So if a religion is claiming to serve God, yet teach untruths--they need help. Afterall ones eternal lives are at stake.

There is truth in it, just like there is truth in what you doubt. Just as there is more then one way of seeing truth.

[blackraven]

I'd like to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread thus far. There have been comments in support of the church and there have been comments in support of those being shamed by the church. I've held back commenting on any given post because I'm taking it all in still and don't want to react out of defensiveness in some circumstances. Reading this entire thread, however, has been insightful! I respect everyone's opinion and comments.