tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11516215.post7564412496326331701..comments2024-03-28T15:31:02.860-07:00Comments on Metacrock's Blog: The Salvation of The Modern IndividualJoseph Hinman (Metacrock)http://www.blogger.com/profile/06957529748541493998noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11516215.post-30460293433560568102018-08-07T23:53:42.463-07:002018-08-07T23:53:42.463-07:00Excellent points Kristen. I think the evangelicals...Excellent points Kristen. I think the evangelicals have lost the understanding of individual personal relationship with God and are just leaning to the sheep thing. My brother Ray (my late twin) Observed way back in early 70s that in America one must afford individuality. The privilege of individuality is based upon personal wealth.Joseph Hinman (Metacrock)https://www.blogger.com/profile/06957529748541493998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11516215.post-81086123796115743132018-08-07T23:14:56.730-07:002018-08-07T23:14:56.730-07:00This is very interesting. It certainly is true tha...This is very interesting. It certainly is true that what Christ and Paul taught was a balance between the individual and the collective; not one or the other,but both. Western thought, and particularly Enlightenment thought, tends to the binary: a thing is either A or not A. But Jewish and early Christian thought really wasn't binary-oriented. A thing could be A, B, A+B, or even C. <br /><br />Using the binary (either individualism or collectivism, but not both) turns out to be self-serving for those who want to preserve power. Individualism in American Christianity has been used to keep Christians from thinking in terms of social or systemic sin, so that the hierarchical social status quo (of whites over people of color, for example) can remain unchallenged. But collectivism in American Christianity has also been used to support the status quo -- for example, to keep lay Christians from thinking in terms of their rights and needs as individuals, in order (again) to uphold the hierarchy of church leaders over the "flock", who are told to think of themselves as merely parts of the supporting collective body. Oddly enough, then, as a Christian I've been admonished both for being individualistic and for being collectivist, by those who find it advantageous to move the church in either direction. It is Christ (and Paul) who encourage us to keep the two in balance. Kristenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08252374623355509404noreply@blogger.com