A friend from seminary told me that I should stop posting David Hayward’s drawings on my social media pages because they are dangerous.
“Dangerous cartoons”, is what he wrote on a few of my posts.
I asked him why they are dangerous and he said because they are “divisive” and because they put “the Church” in a bad light when not “all churches” fall into the categories he describes.
Fair.
So I asked him some questions …
Even though Jesus called out “the Pharisees”, did “all Pharisees” fit the mold of the ones he called out?
“No.”
If my father was verbally abusive to me, does that mean that “all fathers” are verbally abusive to their children?'
“No.”
If I had a “narcissist boss”, does that mean that “all bosses” are narcissists?
“No.”
BUT, here’s the thing - just because …
ALL Pharisees aren’t bad Pharisees.
ALL fathers aren’t abusive.
ALL bosses aren’t narcissist.
… That doesn’t mean we should just ignore the ones who are and go on with our lives.
Right? I mean, yeah - all churches aren’t bad churches and all churches aren’t inflicting their congregations with layers and layers of religious trauma, BUT some are … A LOT are … and part of what David does is shine a light on their actions, call them to the carpet, and make people aware of what’s very often going on either overtly or behind the scenes.
And I respect that. A lot.
My friend continued to tell me how dangerous the cartoons were and how dissatisfied he was with my faith evolution and so I promptly ordered a mug from David’s website and made sure it was in every picture I posted.
(Petty, I know. But HILARIOUS. 🤣)
David has been on the show a couple of times now (ONE, TWO) and has become a friend of mine and one of the things I love about him is that he’s using his prophetic voice in a unique and creative way.
Right?
Yeah, he writes books.
Yeah, he goes onto podcasts.
Yeah, he posts on social media.
BUT.
He’s a gifted thinker and artist and he’s merged both of those things together to shine a light on the problems of the Church in ways that no one else is doing or has ever done.
He’s inspired me a lot in my own work because although lots of people have podcasts and blogs and vlogs and lots of people write and do the “deconstruction thing” … I like to think that my own creativity makes the What If Project vastly different from anything else out there.
The graphics.
The colors.
The outlandish things I say.
The way that I write.
… It’s all part of me trying to be true to myself and present something that is close to my heart in a way that honors who I am and who I have been created to be.
And so hopefully just as David has encouraged me, he can also encourage you - take your gifts, your passions, your specialty and use it to put a unique twist on whatever it is that you’re passionate about.
The world needs you to do whatever it is you feel that you need to do and the world needs you to do it in the kind of way that only you can.
Much love.
Glenn || SUPPORT THE SHOW: PATREON / BUY ME A COFFEE
NEW BLOG POST ✍️
Here’s an excerpt!
“One of the subtle lies I picked up during my time within Evangelicalism was that at my core I am a bad person and there's nothing I can do to make it otherwise. As Jeremiah says, “the heart is deceitful above all things.” I was told that on my own and apart from God, I could no good thing.
I’m bad.
I’m evil.
I’m sinful.
Like the song says, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me."
This teaching came across in lots of different ways. Sometimes it was very much "IN YOUR FACE" while sometimes it was much more covert, almost subliminal. And sometimes it was wrapped in nice, Christian language like "God loves you (the sinner), but hates the sin that is at the core of your being, your sin nature" ... but, whatever the vehicle and whatever the level of intensity, the message was always the same:
You are bad.
You are evil.
You are sinful.
Your sin must be punished."
NEW VLOG POST 📺
In this episode I talk about an email I received from a podcast listener who was asking me how to deal with the doubt that creeps in when we begin to deconstruct and rethink all the things.
We often talk about how the What If Project is a LIFEBOAT trailing behind the ship of Evangelicalism, picking up people who were thrown off or jumped off.
As we say - THIS is your lifeboat. Design comes in a HOODIE, T-SHIRT, or LONG SLEEVE TEE.
Go get it!