Spiritual Engineering
I was skimming through a book on Genocide, by Alexander Laban Hinton. I’m fascinated by such topics because they expose the depravity of the human heart. Social engineering was the preoccupation of the Nazis, and this holds true for every other genocidal agenda.
Basically, social engineering intends to institute a new and better order. Genocide intends the design of the perfect society, and to implement this design through planned and consistent effort. The way this happens is two-fold: first, by facilitating the propagation of healthy stock, and two, by the containment or elimination of any disruptive factors.
I’m interested in how our designs for spiritual communities in many ways resemble genocidal intentions for society. How often have I been attracted to an alluring, charismatic and convincing personality who had an agenda to create and build a new kind of order? And how often have I witnessed and experienced the isolation and eventual separation and elimination of those who did not fit the program? I have to be even more honest than that: How often have I supported and even promoted these kinds of agendas to shape spiritual communities and the people within them?
This is a vital issue for me because I claim to be passionate about diversity in community. I argue that diversity is healthier than homogeneity for community life. I also insist that we must be brutally honest about what our intentions are for the community and the people within it. What are our designs for people? What plans do we have for them? How are we hoping to change them and shape them into the kind of community we want? Because the kind of community we want is going to determine what kind of plans, visions and goals we impose upon them. How much do our plans and intentions and designs violate who they already presently are? And is something already wrong with them that they need to be changed? Who is the judge of that? How do we treat people who will not or cannot comply with our wishes for them, no matter how good and noble our wishes might be?
These are important questions. If the church is to represent and actually be the vastly multifaceted and varietal diversity of the body of Christ, a body in which we cannot and are not to judge between the good and bad fish or the crops and the weeds, a body upon which we are not to call down fire from heaven to destroy the bad parts, then how does this determine the plans we have for this body? When we try to engineer the kind of community that we want, are we actually doing violence to the body of Christ and violating his parts?
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[...] Jump to Comments The naked pastor posted some great thoughts on spiritual engineering, and got me thinking. What isit that we want to eliminate from our communities? What is it that we want to promote? [...]
Great reminder, it is often hard to remember that growth in the faith life of someone makes them more the person God wants them to be, not the person we want them to be.
What if we try to engineer a diverse community in which everybody is accepted? Is that possible?
well, in that case there’s no engineering required.
When we try to engineer the kind of community that we want, are we actually doing violence to the body of Christ and violating his parts?
—————-Not necessarily.
fishon
The unfortunate challenge with Christianity is that its basis is that we are all flawed and sinful. Regardless of whatever beauty you do, you are still, in essence, a sinner in need of saving.With that as the backdrop, how can any so called “Christian” not feel the need to change everyone they meet? We dont need to look very far to see the Violence that creates both physically and emotionally.
The basis that we are all flawed and sinful is not meant to be the motive for violence, but the explanation for it. Our solidarity as human beings is our fallenness. The problems begin when one thinks he or she is less sinful than the other, creating separation which causes the violence against one another.
The problems begin when one thinks he or she is less sinful than the other, creating separation which causes the violence against one another. (David)
I have a different view of that. I think when your first perspective of who you are is that of a Sinful, fallen person you are more than likely to act that way. Its very similar to a the psychology of sport. To be a great athlete they have you focus on what you do right, rather than what you do wrong. For the most part Christians are focused on another world, so tell me how are they going to make this one better if thats not their priority?
I agree with fishon’s “not necessarily” comment.
I think we all naturally gravitate towards engineering things in our favor, whether we’re conscious of it or not. It’s part of our broken, fallen nature seeking safety and self-preservation, and is not something we can escape. When we give in to this need for self exaltation, and organize others around our cause, then we recognize it as the warped type of social engineering you describe, where the goal is uniformity, not unity — promoting our own agenda, rather than participating in God’s mission.
The key to me is being aware of this, and humbly submitting ourselves together to become the community that God wants us to be. This involves dragging our own thoughts, feelings, convictions, biases, etc., into the light — sharing them with each other — airing them out — arguing if need be. And realizing that none of us has “the answer” in our back pocket. We all have limited perspectives at best, and we all need illumination from our Heavenly Father, the Waymaker, to show us the way forward.
This involves trust — trusting that God really does want to guide us and show us the way if we ask. It also involves trusting our Father’s heart, even when the path runs through the desert, is obscured, dark, or full of stumbling blocks. Because God’s purpose for the path often has more to do with the process — growing our faith, making us more dependent on him, and more loving/forgiving towards ourselves and each other — than the actual destination.
The question for me then is not whether we should try to engineer or not, but who’s agenda we’re advancing, consciously or unconsciously — each day — today — in this moment…
“…well, in that case there’s no engineering required. ”
Maybe–if our default behavior is to try to change others before accepting them…