Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry
In any normal Christian church-life, what Gene said was reasonable and logical. What could be offensive to Mel, could not be offensive to another brother or sister. As I understand, if a person or persons were offended by something Gene said, Gene was making himself available for the specifc offense be brought to his attention.
As I see the problem Awareness brought forth, it is the conditional word "if". "If" Gene had done something to offend. Considering the era of the recovery, we took brothers at their word. There was no reason for skepticism. Unfortunately for Gene, the word "if" does not correspond with group think.
In the group think reality there is no conditional "if". The offense is unconditional. In the local church context, the local leadership is the group think. There is no room for contrasting points of view. Maybe it doesn't apply to every locality, but based on awareness' experience, this does seem to be the case.
Back to what I was saying, in this particular point in time what is offending Mel, as the #1 elder can say this offends the local church. A #1 elder can say this knowing the other elders and deacons know nothing about the situation. (Word given in the past "the church is not a democracy".) It can be said knowing a good portion of the local church have not been offended by anything awareness said. Has this scenario happened since? You better believe it has.
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This definition was from the article.
Groupthink is a mode of thinking that occurs when a homogenous, highly cohesive group (e.g., a church session, ruling board, committee, congregation) is so concerned with maintaining unanimity (i.e., striving for
agreement) that they fail to evaluate all of their alternatives and options. Sins of omission and commission occur when elders or parishioners, while isolated as a group and under either stress or pressure, engage in
groupthink and see agreement and strong solidarity as the norm. Church elders who are suffering from groupthink on a discipline issue consciously and subconsciously see the motivation to belong to the group
and to conform to its rules as paramount. The covert and overt pressure to agree becomes the stealth temptation that leads group members, as well as the group as a whole, into irrational, unethical, and even sinful behavior leading to sinful conclusions and judgments.
Reading this article it seemed he was talking directly about the LRC and the issues we have been discussing and yet it was clear he was talking about Christianity as a whole, or at the very least the reformed movement of Christianity.
What may seem to be discussions specific to the LRC may actually concern a disease infecting all Christian churches.