Motivational Confusion

The other day I was pondering a concept. In a recent church service I had some difficulties with the "order of worship" -- song selection and such. Now, I know that I'm not alone in this line of thinking. Ask any elderly Christian and they'll likely tell you they're having difficulties with modern worship. The music is too loud, the process too performance-oriented, the drums are from Satan, or some such idea. So I asked myself, "Is that my problem? Is that what I'm thinking?" I know that a lot of those who protest current popular worship music and practices often do so on the basis of preference. They don't like the practices because they don't like the style. Some couch it in "holy" terms, but in the end it's not a problem with principle; it's a problem with preference.

A couple weeks ago during a meal with some of our church group a woman was demeaning those who were drinking coffee. "So you like mud, eh?" She clearly didn't like coffee, but beyond that she decided that those who did were not merely different, but wrong. There was even a sense of superiority -- "I know what's good and you don't." That's what I'm talking about. Some protest modern worship practices because they just don't like it, but they assign moral outrage and righteous indignation to their concern not becuase there is genuine biblical principles involved, but because they don't like it.

In our world these days you'll find this a lot, and not just in terms of church worship. I remember a well-known pastor who argued against homosexual behavior by urging us to consider "the ick factor." That is, "If you think about the practice, you'll have to admit it's icky." Maybe. But is that a reason to assign moral values? Is that a reason to say it's wrong? Because to me there are a lot of "icky" things that are not immoral.

It is this idea that causes some of the problems between Christians and the world. When we stand and say, "Repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15), they hear, "I don't like what you're doing ... or you, very much, either." Why? Well, too often it's the truth. People, even Christians, are offering moral judgment based on what they like and don't like and not on any biblical principle -- not on the basis of love. As a result, those who urge repentance and faith out of love for those who are in opposition to God are lumped in with those who are morally outraged by the "ick factor" present in many sins.

How do we get past this? For me, my preferences are irrelevant. If you like coffee or you like sex with the same gender, it doesn't matter what I prefer. There is no need for righteous indignation on my part. If you don't like coffee (I do), I have nothing to say about your preference. If you prefer sex with the same gender, my preference is irrelevant, but I do have something to say: "Repent and believe in the gospel." That's not because of any preference of mine or any moral outrage; it's because the Bible tells me that you're in eternal danger and I don't want bad things to happen to you. How do I and people like me express that without being classified as a "hater", a "bigot", a "homophobe" (the latter of which makes no sense whatsoever)? We are not being hateful or bigoted; we're being concerned.

I consistently find that people lump one in with the other. "You dirty, rotten fundamentalists," they decry (as if there is the possibility of "fundamentalist" being anything other than "dirty" and "rotten" in their view). "You're all haters." Not accurate. But it doesn't matter how often we say it. It doesn't matter that we get accused of unfairly representing those who unfairly represent us in this. It still happens, almost as if "a biblical Christian who loves others" cannot exist at all.

I started with the thought about worship in church. I was not contemplating "the music I like" or style or such. I was wondering what God wanted. "Is this what God has in mind when He commands worship?" Because my preferences do not constitute a moral or spiritual concern on your part. But, like the "same sex" problem or the like, it is nearly impossible to ask, "Is this okay?" from the perspective of "Is this what God would want?" without being perceived as "You're just an old guy who doesn't like new stuff." And I don't really know how to get past this.