Slice of Laodicea is currently offline. When I first saw it, I thought it was a religious right parody site, but it became evident rather quickly it wasn’t. It is a blog associated with VCY religious radio in the US, run by professional Christians and it is highly critical of anyone who isn’t them. VCY is known for sending out a fair number or blitzes of press releases focusing on their disagreement with others.
Being anti-other is a good way to boost audience across media platforms.
It spawned a a couple of response blogs, including a parody site, and is known for deleting commenters who call posters on their attitude, and has caused a fair bit of hurt, anger and confusion in the evangelical/theological blogosphere.
The blog is being integrated into the radio site over the next couple of weeks - meantime an obsessive and incorrect accusation the parody writer was anonymous was not corrected, leaving one wondering about credibility and mean spiritedness.
While reading the dreariness, I came across a rather long ranting letter that poster Ken Silva had sent to the President of the Southern Baptists, Frank Page.
Silva also runs a site called Apprising Ministries, you can see one of the emails to Page (under are there any real men of God left) and Silva’s rant once Page actually responds to him. The Southern Baptist’s is a large organization, and I find Silva’s inability to see what Page is saying to him odd and ungracious considering the fact a President of the largest denomination in the US took time to respond to Silva.
I believe Silva believes what he is saying completely, and I genuinely believe he is not able to be introspective and aware of his condemning communitive style.
Page’s response to Silva:
Pastor Silva, Thanks for your sharing of concerns with me. I pray for God’s discernment for my life as well as for others too. May we all be able to speak the truth in love.
In Christ,
Frank Page
Dr. Page acknowledges receipt of Silva’s concerns by a) thanking him, and b) owns his own feelings and actions, c) ending on a positive and theologically open and sound note about love in truth.
Silva doesn’t see a gracious and appropriate response the way many of us would.
O I know, you’re probably thinking right now: “Whew, where in the world does one possibly begin to deconstruct a letter of this profundity?” And yet, I will attempt to give it my best. Dr. Page begins with, “Thanks for sharing your concerns with me.” Well, with my own years of study–taking into account I am but self-taught–my best guess here as to making this accessible to the reader would be that Dr. Page has just said: “I have a fly in my office and I really want it to go away. It’s really annoying me as it buzzes around in here.” Again, I make no claim to be a theologian but this is what I am seeing before me.
Next we come to the central issue Dr. Page brings up in this most judicious reply. He says, “I pray for God’s discernment for my life as well as for others too.” Now, to the best of my ability here I sense what Dr. Page is attempting to teach me is: “I have a piece of chewing gum stuck to the bottom of my shoe which irritates me as I walk, and so I pray it will somehow just get scraped off.”
Silva remains sarcastic, unempathic, polarizing, fixated on his accomplishments, the issue and people that upset and inflame him, and seems genuinely unable to see where Page is coming from.
Dr. Page then presses his argument home with: “May we all be able to speak the truth in love.” I must admit, this did take me a little off guard in our odium theologicum. But after much soul-searching and prayer I do believe the Lord has helped me to see that Dr. Page has essentially patted me on my proverbial head and said: “Thanks for writing me little boy, now you just run along and play. I really can’t be bothered with all of this nonsense about Who God is. I have very important work to do developing Christ followers for His Kingdom.” But no Dr. Page wouldn’t simply try and patronize me like that; would he?
And we wonder why people avoid evangelical blogs.
Sad.
“Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.”
- Proverbs 17:28
Update: Slice of Laodicea is gone. It is now a site called Christian Research Network.
via: Tall Skinny Kiwi
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‘And we wonder why people avoid evangelical blogs.’
Do you find Slice to be a typical Evangelical blog in its tone? That certainly hasn’t been my experience.
There are pockets of poor tone across the evangelical spectrum, we can’t deny that. (SBC has a good share) There are hundreds of fruitful, loving, mature and productive evangelical blogs.
I think Slices of Laodecia is out to promote the radio show, get revenue and listeners with hyperactive attacks. I still find it a bit difficult to believe it’s anything more than show biz rankings and ratings, but I understand from reactions people take them seriously and get hurt as I mentioned above. They send out a fair number of issue Press Releases about issues and people. I confess I don’t take them seriously, their tone is quite foreign to my experience as an evangelical.
Nor do I know how they’d be theologically classified, the rancour is so bad, I can’t pin down what their theology/denominational affiliations are.
Might be interesting to do some research and pick a top 10 hypercritical group of evangelical blogs.:^)
What observations have you observed about the blog consistent to US readers of Slice of Laodicea?
While I appreciate your possible attempt to fairly assess what it seems you aren’t grasping that well, please understand I have been with the SBC a long time and I know exactly what Dr. Page means.
He’s welcome to it, and I take no offense from what you write here. But for the grace of God our positions could be reversed. That said, the issue is over heresy being condoned by very influential members of the SBC.
And now I show that Oneness Pentecostal Jakes already preached there last year:
http://www.apprising.org/archives/2007/01/ed_young_jr_has.html
I agree, T.D. Jakes believes in modalism.
Glad you didn’t take offense, none meant.
I’m hearing you say asking Jakes to speak in this conference is wrong.
He fits right in in terms of the criteria - this is an entrepreneurial, corporate, growth is success pep rally for church leaders.
Seems this is a typical church numbers conference about how to get people in the pews, about church consumerism and management, not about theology, and Young’s church makes a few bucks by hosting it.
The speakers have mega-churches and therefore are American religious success stories - don’t see any indication it’s an SBC conference hammering out doctrinal matters.
You said: “Glad you didn’t take offense, none meant.” Shhh..I’m not really as bad a guy as people might think. Don’t let that gt out though; it’ll ruin my inage.
“I’m hearing you say asking Jakes to speak in this conference is wrong.” I am and it is.
Here we agree to a point when you say: “He fits right in in terms of the criteria - this is an entrepreneurial, corporate, growth is success pep rally.” If this was all this conference was Jakes certainly would be welcome in a big Amway-type secular business deal.
However, this is allegedly a “Christian” church event with two high profile members of the SBC and it is in an SBC church. I’m not trying to sway your opinion here, just pointing out how as a minister of the SBC we’re supposed to view it.
Jakes believes in a god who is a solitary person who has acted in three different ways. The SBC believes in the God of the Bible Who is three Persons Who are not each other but are the one God. Therefore Jakes believes in another god, a different god. So, if Jakes is to be included with Christians; why not the Mormons? They are nice people who believe in a trinity and love “Jesus” too?
Or how about the Jehovah’s Witnesses? They believe in a god who is one person and they love “Jesus” too. Or how about the Musilms? They believe in a god who is one person and they revere their “Jesus” as a prophet almost equal to Muhammad. I just hope you see that to open the door to Oneness Pentecostals as Christians (though some might know Christ and are still ill-informed) is to have to open the door to those other groups as well.
I pray this helps a little to understand my rationale even if we have to agree to disagree agreeably. Like me or not, I at least stand for what I bellieve. And believe it or not I also respect those who stand for what they beleive even if I go hard at them as one might in a football game. We all know what is at stake as we step into the public arena to teach.
I’m hearing you tell me ‘what’ you are attempting to get across is of vital importance to you…a teacher’s heart. I’m hearing you say is important to you we understand your SBC should not be using outside people that do not honour your doctrine.
I think you have heard me say the ‘how’ of communication matters.
You got an email from the current head of the SBC, a denomination of 16 million people. Let’s assume his office can send out a thousand or so emails a day, Dr. Page sends out a couple of hundred.
That puts you in rare air, with unique opportunity.
I’ve been very clear that the ‘how’ of response choices does affect the ‘what’ of the message. Hockey is our game here, and we can hit hard too.:^)
Perhaps people assumed because Slice was a blog off a radio program, well rounded and mature communication skills would be there.
They simply weren’t.
It was a wise decision to close it down and walk away from that format.
In the format it was in, it was one of the most toxic and harmful sites I’ve seen.
Sometimes people just aren’t good for each other, and get locked into destructive relational patterns.
Slice will be remembered that way.
I don’t believe you have intent to harm, your frustration and desire to teach is apparent, the ‘what’ is your rationale in the public arena.
Thank you for understanding ‘what’ I was attempting to say.