Interesting article in Crosswalk about a book written by Ed Gungor, “Religiously Transmitted Diseases: Resistance Is Futile”.
Here is a couple of quotes,
“I knew exactly the kind of group Halley was talking about. They are in every church. She was talking about those wonderful believers who feel like it is their job to imitate God by trying to make others in their own likeness and image. They are Borg-ish.”
“I have seen many groups inside Christian churches and ministries that were Borg-ish. These are not horrible people; in fact, they are often very kind and godly. But they are infected. They think they have everything figured out and everyone must externally look and act the same way”
“We evangelicals are pretty susceptible to Borg disease because many believe the weightier part of being a Christian has to do with external mannerisms: what we wear, how we talk, what we like or dislike and what we don’t do. Let’s face it – there is a Borg-ish, cookie-cutter, Christian culture that is touted in many Christian circles as “Christ-like.”
“I think real apprentices of Jesus celebrate individual expression – that’s the thing that best kills the Borg weirdness. Borg is about the Collective; about all being the same. It’s about killing individuality and uniqueness; it’s about control. That’s why Christian leaders are so predisposed to catching this disease – it promises them control.
But control is not leadership. To keep leadership clean from this disease, we must be willing to lose control. We must dare to respect people and to trust God. That would allow the saints of God to break into freedom – to dare to be different. Maybe that’s the kind of freedom Malachi predicted would come to pass one day: “And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall”
