Disclaimer: About This Blog

THIS BLOG IS: my personal journey of how I am rethinking some of my spiritual beliefs.
THIS BLOG IS NOT: intended to point fingers at people who I think are wrong.
I do not believe the final judgement will be based on how many correct answers we get on a theology exam. I believe many people throughout history have had genuine relationships with God, despite holding questionable beliefs and practices. I make no claim to having it all figured out or being your judge. If we end up disagreeing over these topics I pray we can find a way to demonstrate grace.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Be Superficial With One Another

Alan Knox started a chain blog on the topic of  'One Another'.  I wanted to jump into the discussion as one with the others, but my mind was blank. I didn't think I had anything else to say. I recently did a series on the  Five W's of One Another where I asked who, what, where, when, why and how related to the one another verses.

What I have left to say is of little value, but I'll say it anyways.

Please work at being superficial with one another.

When you doubt you have anything of value to contribute, just keep quite.

You don't want to look foolish for asking questions.

People may judge you if you don't look strong.

People may judge you if you don't act like them.

People may judge you if they knew what you were really thinking.

If you show any vulnerability, what will happen if they don't respond in love?

What if they don't accept you for who you are?

What if they don't agree with you?

People may not want to really know how you are, even though they say "Hi, how are you doing."

Maybe you don't really want to know how they are doing either.

Do you really want to know their dark secrets, doubts and pains?

Do you really want to bear their burdens?

Do you really want to love them?

Do you really want to accept them?

Do you really want to be hospital to them?

Do you really want to submit to them?

Do you really want to serve them?

Do you really want to be devoted to them?

Do you really want to love them?

Maybe it is best that we all just act superficially with one another.  We can smile and be friendly and make small talk about sports, weather, or recent shared experiences.  But it is probably best to stick to safe topics.  Do all you can to keep your emotions out of the conversation. If you sense any emotion growing, that is a sign you are going too deep and sharing too much.  Who knows where things will go.  Somebody may get hurt - please do all you can to keep conversations safe and meaningless.

Do you have any other good reasons for being superficial with one another?  We have to admit most of us are pretty good at it.


This post fits well with some previous posts where Alan and I discussed how we should be sarcastic with one another. I hope you can understand. :)

Related Posts:

Links in the ‘One Another’ Chain Blog
  1. Chain Blog: One Another – Alan Knox
  2. Linking One Another – Swanny
  3. What Does It Mean to Love One Another? – Chuck McKnight
  4. The treasure of ‘One Another’ – Jim Puntney
  5. This is how the world shall recognise you… – Kathleen Ward
  6. Accepting one another in love – Chris Jefferies
  7. One Another: A meta-narrative for the church – Part One and Part Two by Greg Gamble
  8. Individualism and “One Another” – Pieter Pretorius
  9. All Alone with One Another – by Jeremy Myers
  10. When it’s OK for Christians to compete – Joshua Lawson
  11. Jesus Christ, the Corner Stone for One Another – Peter
  12. Be Superficial With One Another - Jon
  13. The Unmentionable One Anothers - Alan
  14. Who will write the next link post in the chain? 
  15.  
Chain Blog Rules
  1. If you would like to write the next blog post (link) in this chain, leave a comment stating that you would like to do so. If someone else has already requested to write the next link, then please wait for that blog post and leave a comment there requesting to write the following link.
  2. Feel free to leave comments here and discuss items in this blog post without taking part in the actual “chain.” Your comments and discussion are very important in this chain blog (both this post and the other link posts in the chain).
  3. When you write a link in this chain, please reply in the comments of the previous post to let everyone know that your link is ready. Also, please try to keep an updated list of links in the chain at the bottom of your post, and please include these rules at the bottom of your post.
     

3 comments:

Alan Knox said...

Hey Jon! How's it going? Good? Me too. Catch the game last night? Yeah, it was exciting. Ok. Talk to you later.

Seriously, thanks for adding to the "one another" chain blog!

-Alan

Jonathan said...

:) Thanks Alan for one anothering with us all again.

Alan Knox said...

I've written another post for this chain blog. It's called "The Unmentionable One Anothers" and it will be posted Thursday morning, October 25. This is the url (which will be active when the post is published): http://www.alanknox.net/2012/10/the-unmentionable-one-anothers/.

-Alan