Get Yourself Some Trousers

Carl Trueman's article, "Is Hurt Mail the New Hate Mail?", is worth pondering.

I've seen a lot of women that have been "hurt" by someone else's opinion. There are plenty of Mommy wars in cyberspace: To Spank or Not to Spank; to Homeschool, or Not; Breast is Best. . . the list goes on. Then there are church issues: Family Integrated Church is the Only Righteous Model; Headcoverings are essential; Women are to Keep Silent, yada, yada...

I enjoy reading the many points of view on all of the above. What astounds me is the way differing opinions are taken as personal attacks. I've seen women write that they are sitting in front of their computers with tears streaming down their cheeks, because someone has disagreed with their practices, and they're "hurt".

Grow up, people! Or, as Carl says, "Get yourself some trousers!"

Who cares what others think about what I feed my family, whether we go to movies, or if I enjoy a sip of Cabernet Sauvignon with my roast? We're always going to have people who disagree with our choices. Unless we're being a stumbling block to another Christian (as in the case of drinking wine in front of a weaker brother), we ought not to worry about it. We have liberty, in Christ. He is the Master. It is to God we will give an account.

Carl tells it like it is in his article. If someone is "hurt", and they write to the one who hurt them, they're writing for a reason. They want them to stop disagreeing with them - as if they are the centre of the universe!

Expressions of hurt are too often really something else: cowardly attempts by representatives of a cosseted and self-obsessed culture to make themselves uniquely important or, worse still, to bully and cajole somebody they dislike to stop saying things they don't want to hear or which they find distasteful. My advice to such is akin to that of the counselor in the Bob Newhart sketch: Stop it!

Stop it, indeed!