Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
The other thing I noticed about their prayers, was that I could tell the Alpha males and Beta males from the Gamma and Theta males about how they amen'ed each other. It was pretty clear to me that the call-and-response patterns had some socialization aspects as well. Who was "losing face" to whom. When you are habitually losing face to others you put yourself into submission. Again, why merely assume this is "God" and not fallen human subjugation, reinforced by centuries of culturally-derived patterns?
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It is interesting, in the LC environment, it seems there is a constant struggle among members to earn respect and to 'prove' themselves. This can be traced back to what is at the heart of LC teachings, that being the emphasis on authority. But it isn't authority that always manifests itself in obvious ways. Sometimes it is evidenced when someone calls on the Lord in a way that is deemed to be to 'quiet', then that person gets called out in front of the group and a snide remark is made, such as "
Brother, you need to exercise your spirit."
Everyone is made to believe things like a lack of volume and fist pumping is a legitimate concern, when it is really just an establishment or reinforcement of a pecking order. Whoever performs the best earns the respect of the group and becomes the alpha male. Someone who has no interest in shouting and fist pumping probably can't expect to ever be someone who is looked up to in the LC, rather they might be someone who the elders look down on.