Slice Is Diced Up And Found Delicious

Communicating well with people has always been a conundrum. As a former workforce trainer, I can tell you that if people always communicated with each other well, I would have been out of a job long ago. Now, if people standing next to each other at work have a problem communicating, how much worse is it going to be by e-mail or blog comments? A few years back e-mail communication became a hot training topic for just this reason.

Have you ever seen the old communication pyramid? Well it goes like this: The tone and visual (body language, eye contact, etc) elements of communicating make up approximately 90% of WHAT we communicate. Words get a paltry 10% of WHAT we communicate. (And to think how much time we spend trying to pick the right ones!)

Think about that because this is not some pseudo social psychobabble. You can get a feel for where the person is coming from by listening to their tone and seeing their body language. I can say the word 'Sorry' and you know how it is meant if you are standing next to me. If I type the word 'Sorry' you have no idea if I mean it or not.

What all of this means is that e-mail, letters and blog comments are ripe for misinterpreting a persons character. And we must take it into consideration before we jump to offended conclusions. Me included.

I got to thinking of this in light of the ongoing controversy with Slice of Laodicea http://www.sliceoflaodicea.com/and several who want Phil Johnson over at Pyromaniacs http://teampyro.blogspot.com/ to censure Slice.

Some say Slice is vitriolic and hateful. Others think Slice is doing a service pointing out what is going on in the pomo church. The question comes down to this: How is the truth communicated?
I, myself, would never be described as sweet and cuddly in person so I am sure I come off a bit intense or arrogant to some in word. I suppose I could employ the use of emoticons more to try and interject a softer stance when I am vehemently disagreeing with someone. (insert frustrated but loving emoticon here)

What if Ingrid, at Slice, is typing yet another post about a circus at church to entertain the kids and she is weeping over the trivializing of our Savior? How will we know that? Time and space considerations prevent her from describing her 'feelings' (insert emoticon yelling yuck here) on every post. (insert emoticon shaking head no here)

Since blog comments and e-mail are at a distance but also a two way conversation, we cannot forget the person receiving the information. They, too have issues. (insert smiley face emoticon here) Perhaps they get offended real easy or have a chip on their shoulder? Or, perhaps they are so nice that they would never confront their dog about the mess in the living room for fear of hurting his feelings? (When I was about 8 years old, my brother called me some not very nice names. When my mom heard it she said, "Now, say something nice about your sister." His reply, "You don't sweat much for a fat girl.")

So, you can see that I have never had the 'nice' problem. I grew up in a home where we debated politics, theology and everything else at the dinner table for fun. We loved a good debate and 'feelings' were not allowed. If you cried, you were out forever! Only facts were allowed and you had better be right. A few of my visiting friends would come away amazed we could be so intense and still love each other. (insert smiley face emoticon here)

Others may come from homes where no one ever disagreed or if they did, it was not discussed out loud. Gee, maybe they go to a church where disagreement is considered sinful. Who knows? One cannot take all of that into consideration with every post. The hardest thing in the world is to communicate by word. The receiver of the written communication is filtering YOUR words through their own world lens. (insert frustrated emoticon here)

Here is just a small example: Someone complained about Slice referring to Joel Osteen as a mousy man. Uh oh. That is name calling! That is not Christian! (insert questioning but excited emoticon here)

That never occurred to me because I had just read where he preached a Sunday morning sermon on the benefits of eating a good breakfast. Not exactly spiritual giant stuff there. More like mouse man when it comes to spiritual things. (insert emoticon pounding his head with hammer here)

What is loving? What is hateful? In the end, I wonder if we have just turned these two words upside down. If we could get at least 10,000 of the 30,000 (insert sarcasm emoticon here) people at Lakewood to see that JO is mousy, instead of thinking he is a spiritual giant, wouldn't that be a good thing? (insert questioning but sincere emoticon here)

I have lots more to say on this subject but am running out of time. I just want to end on this note: Listen to Ingrid's show. What you will hear is a very neutral toned, steady but concerned woman vying for the truth. To her detractors: How do you know this woman is not on her knees every night praying for the state of our souls, our churches? Maybe she does all this because she cares about our eternal lives. Judging goes both ways, ya know. (insert truth in love emoticon here)

Galatians 4: 16

Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?