most of the time, i have a pretty good “tact-filter” up.
today is not one of those days. so with that in mind, please excuse any abrasiveness that may emerge.
flowerdust doesn’t get too many negative comments. i don’t mind when people disagree with me at all, so discussion is good. but a couple days ago we had one of our first “critical” comments.
not a big deal. i was actually a little excited. i’ve learned to take criticism and keep the source in mind when accepting it.
however, bloggy-curiosity had me click and click and click and follow links and read blogs with believers criticizing (in unloving and very prideful ways) other believers. the the people who disagreed would respond in kind. then everyone would just blah-blah-blah and before you know it, you have almost 14,000 words (the average non-fiction book is about 50-60,000 words).
one recently eruption of discouragement i read had 60-something comments and 14,000 WORDS!!
14,000 words on ONE post!
and what good is going to come out of it?
um….probably nothing!
so, as the title says, i think we could use a good dose of shut yo mouth! i’m all for edifying discussion. but seriously. i think we all can agree that most of what happens in situations like that is just a big fat waste of time.
Wow…pretty tough post! But a good reminder. When are we going to learn that we’re all on the same team? We’re far more effective together than we will ever be alone.
Brad Ruggles
http://www.bradruggles.com
agreed
Thank you for posting this.
My wife and I are in the midst of leaving our church of 10+ years, and although we’ve been very up front with our leaders and friends within the church… there have been a few people that are convinced that there’s some hidden conspiracy or fight within us. It’s so frustrating to endure and incredibly pointless to respond.
But it is nice to know that other people can empathize, whether through blogs or in person. :)
I agree Anne! It takes me to Happy Gilmore when his grandma keeps asking for warm milk and the “nurse” says “how bout I get you a glass of shut the hell up?” LOL Sorry, I realize your post is serious, but that’s what came to mind:)
amen, friend!
no coincidence that there are plenty of tips from God about how we use our words…
we just gotta choose to abide in them.
preach it girl!
did i miss something? must have.
haha, well I just about wrote this blog last night, a wee bit different approach, but same content.
Awesome.
Hope your move and everything went well!
You go, girl! I’m with you 100%. Scripture tell us to go to the person one-on-one. Nothing good comes of all the bickering, and those who are not following Christ just look on and say, “If that is what following Jesus is about, I don’t want any of that.”
Hey, if we could just package dosages of “Shut-Up,” and sell it, I bet we could make a bundle!
“And today, for your love gift of $100 or more, we’ll send you three packages of our anointed “shut-up” ointment. Tell those nay-sayers to shut their pie-hole and speak only what is positive and edifying! And if you call in the next ten minutes, we’ll also send you our new Projectile Shut-Up! Make them be quiet from across the room. Just take aim and BAM! Instant peace and edification…”
Well, I guess that approach would raise a whole new set of issues wouldn’t it?
Anne, you are a blessing. If you weren’t being criticized every now and then, it would mean you weren’t charting any new territory. Stay focused – God has great things in store for you!
yep! agreed!
ryan-that’s what my husband says when i have non-tact days.
yeah…. you’re right.
Amen. I’ve given up on some fora/blogs because of the senseless arguing. (Fora=plural of forum-Latin).
so true! i like to read a lot of blogs and check in to see how my “friends” are doing on a regular basis. i just can’t stand it though when people have to attack someone else because they aren’t doing “it” right.
i just say that we should follow Christ and what he leads us to do. we can take comfort that even Jesus was attacked by the “religous” of the day.
thanks for letting me ramble…
Anne, I ask my congregation to list 50 good things about our church. The next step is for them to tell at least one person per day at least one of those good things.
I’ve come to understand that if I consistently find good or bad in others, it says a lot more about me than it does about them.
Most people have no idea the damage they can do with their words. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do… and in the mean time could you ask them to shut up!?”
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Eph 4:29
Don’t “any” and “only” mean just that? Including telling people to shut up?
Just a thought…
Anne, it’s the strong wings felt after reading your blog, helping us to celebrate the journey set before us and travel it, knowing we are here to serve God….Thanks so much!
When we have a few minutes to sit down and talk on the trip, remind me to tell you about a crazy freako negative blogger experience I had–it had a remarkable, even happy-ish ending.
And it’s just not very edifying for the non-believers who are reading… something I’ve realized a lot lately.
marci – i apologize if you were offended by my choice of words. know my intent is to build up by the content of the post :)
Is it okay to disagree with a post about disagreement? I love debate and taking the opposite of an argument. What i love about disagreement, is the insight that one needs to look in themselves to figure out what they believe in order to disagree. Once people stop questioning things, we can dangerously find ourselves in the middle of the herd moving in a direction we may not understand.
Tim – not about disagreement….about being stupid and sinful in the way we communicate. :)
disagree away!!
I agree with you Ann, mostly because I’m a fan of yours. :) Your post made me think of the line from “Napoleon Dynamite,” when Uncle Rico was bugging Napoleon: “Why don’t you just get out of my life and shutup?” hee hee :)
Anne- I’m sorry for being so critical!
Just kidding; I don’t want to get beat up by all the flowerdusters.
Anne – Been there. I couldn’t agree more. In a similar experience a few years back, I had to make the personal rule of thinking twice before using Google results to get an opinion. The downward spiral takes only seconds, and the sad results can be lasting! We Christians can ruin so much when we get angry or critical.
’tis a good word! it’s the “unloving and very prideful ways” that gets me riled up.
I have had to learn this the hard way. I am very opinionated and I often get diariah of the mouth, I am learning though…
I have to say..
I think saying “Shut up” is not unholy or unwholesome talk it’s just good sound common sence and the bible says it over and over again in different words.
If I may chime in on this….
Although I do have (quite a few) opinions myself, I consider my personality to be more of a type B and I know consciously when I voice my opinion, I make the effort to not put other people’s down or use any condescending/implying remarks, or at least not to attack them personally. I will say though however, some people seem to be more ‘free’ and ‘blunt’ when it comes to the Internet (yes, many are Christians or even church staff…). Specifically with flowerdust, I personally have only been affected with that kind of comment once on one older thread.
I sometimes don’t agree with some commments I see, either they’re a bit mean (no I won’t mention specifics), or they seem very argumentative, but since I’m pretty non-confrontational and this is not my blog I just move on and if I had any issues I’d just discuss with Anne in private.
Regarding Anne’s post, if this is about the cat posting, I didn’t think it was done in a ‘mean spirited’ kinda way (if you really hear the person talking in the video, she was actually joking about it).
I don’t think Anne should feel bad about this and just shut u..I mean don’t worry about it.
OK, I’m afraid of heights so I’ll step off my soap box now :)
Yeah, Carole. I’m with you. I was thinking that Jesus probably said something like “shutup” to those morons in the temple selling stuff. And, what about to those religious Pharisees and Sadducees? He would never be disrespectful, I’m sure, but I bet there are times when “shutup” is the only appropriate thing to say.
OK I just have to go there…First we have Anne Jackson of all people using the phrase “shut yo mouth”…
next, we get to wrap our minds around the phrase “crazy freako negative blogger experience”…
then add the mental picture of Scott Williams getting chased down the street by a mob of angry “flowerdusters”…
finally, stir with a video of Jesus kicking the money-lenders in the temple out in a non-”disrespectful” way…
Here, let me do it: “shutup jimmy!”
The mental fruitsalad is good today. (grin)
Anne…here is what my Starbucks cup said this morning…”You can learn a lot more from listening than you can from talking. Find someone with whom you don’t agree in the slightest and ask them to explain themselves at length. Then take a seat, shut your mouth, and don’t argue back. It’s physically impossible to listen with your mouth open.”–John Moe (Radio host and author of Conservatize Me.)http://www.conservatizeme.com/ I thought it was a quote relevant to this thread.