Dank Kingdom Christian Memes

[appleman2006]

So just a couple of points to add. I would be interested in how you police partisan politics. My own experience has been that when someone holds a view different than what you hold that the term "partisan politics" is often used as a way of discrediting said person. I certainly would not want to be in charge of policing such a policy. Perhaps all you do is not allow parties to be named as such. If so that is great but I think it still leaves you open to criticism to saying that you could have or allow a leftist slant for example over a right wing slant.

We are open to far more criticisms than that, but a "left-wing or right-wing slant" is an inherently subjective judgment call that's always subject to personal perceptions. In my view, trying to avoid such perceptions is a fool's errand, because it makes something ephemeral—the local political fads of the moment—into a benchmark of righteousness.

Everyone I know who demonstrates a clear allegiance to Jesus as King holds a combination of moral positions that make them unwelcome either on the American political Left or Right, and thus I and many of my friends, including some of you in this forum, are well-accustomed to being labeled as right-wing patriarchal traditionalists by leftists and as Marxist-sympathizing progressives by right-wingers. That's the kind of myopia partisan politics creates in an otherwise healthy human mind, and I suspect the resulting perpetual political outsider status is part of what it means to be a stranger and pilgrim in the world as now constituted.

Anyway, while the policing of such a concept is unavoidably subjective, what I suggest we look for when gauging whether one's political allegiance is with Jesus or a party is quite simple: What is that person's benchmark for right and—just as important—wrong? If you present me with a thoughtful scriptural interpretation I disagree with, and instead of countering your claim on its own merits I accuse you of being a Trumpist and a protofascist, I'm using partisan politics as a benchmark and demonstrating that my moral framework is shaped more by worldly culture war propaganda than by Jesus.

One has to be humble and tentative about such judgments, of course, but I don't think that's a reason to abandon the attempt. How well we do it at DKCM is for others to judge, and judge they have, with a wide variation in conclusions. We have members who lean well to the right and left of the admins in their opinions, and they are welcome until they establish a pattern of framing ethical and moral issues in terms of partisan talking points rather than Scriptural and apostolic teaching.

I take comfort in knowing that we ultimately stand or fall to our Master's measure, not that of the peanut gallery, and that eternity, not human opinion, will illuminate which of our works were gold, which precious stones, which wood, hay, and stubble.

As far as to the stated mission of the site. I still am unsure as to whether it is a really effective way of doing what it might be intended to do.

Indeed, so am I. What I have observed is that this experiment has produced some positive and unexpected fruit I have rarely seen in any community online or off, and I'm interested in why, and how to encourage more such results.

Anyone that knows me well knows I have a fairly good sense of humour. I even have a personal liking for satire and have been known to dish it out as well as be on the receiving end.

Added to that, anyone that has followed me on here for any length of time knows that I am quite capable of critiquing what I see as some of the weaknesses of conservative Mennonites. But ultimately I try very hard to do it out of respect and love because of how much I care for the community as well as that I find it really is the only way change will ever happen. Trying to change someone else's deeply held beliefs through mockery even if you include yourself along with the intended recipients almost never works.

For example, it is really easy for me to mock anti vaxers, or anti GMO people or the whole pro organic industry. I find them to be extremely easy targets but it really does not work as far as effectively changing people's minds. Nor is it a very effective way for bitter people to get rid of their bitterness. And yes, you do have a few bitter people on your site. Not nearly everyone of course but a few.

I've observed that if someone isn't open to changing their beliefs, few if any interventions can help. On the other hand, once the mind is open and some degree of relationship is built, many approaches have promise and different ones work better with different people. One reason DKCM went private is that we felt much of the content is more useful within the context of a community who are there by choice than broadcast across the internet to be stumbled on by people who lack the context to feel the spirit behind it.

As for bitter (I might say hurt and grieving) people, we know we have them, and while we get weary of hearing some of them sound the same note over and over, many of them have testified that this is the first community where thy have been able to discuss some of these hurts without either being coddled and encouraged to nurse their grievances, or being told to just shut up, get saved, and get over it. To be a nurturing space for troubled and hurt people to safely expand and grow forward seems like a win to me, not something to fear.

And so for me the effectiveness of the site is still open for debate IMO. Personally I get a kick out of some of it. I find some of it to be illogical and occasionally I am too stupid to get one of them but that is OK. I shall try and keep an open mind.

The effectiveness of the site is regularly debated among the admins and moderators, so feel free to debate it here. As an experiment, it has been one of the more interesting and heartening projects I have been involved in, has provided new insights about my own culture and how it interacts with that of other believers, and has created possibilities for Kingdom advance that I did not envision before.

thank you for addressing my post and some of my concerns in a fair way. While I still have some questions I will continue to watch with an open mind.

[Wayne in Maine]

The point is, I think I’m as apolitical as you do, yet I pick up a distinct leftward bias under the guise of “we aren’t partisan”, and proclaiming how virtuous your group is doesn’t actually make it so nor make it any less partisan. There is a distinct political slant coming out of DKCM that just happens to be exactly the same as the political zeitgeist amongst fashionable academics, revolutionaries, protesters, and large, multinational corporations of the present day.

That gives me pause for concern not because I dislike your message, but because I’m suddenly cautious when a message is in lockstep sync with Apple, Google, Mozilla, and my own employer, as I have not seen these institutions to be dedicated to biblical or apostolic doctrines.

I see my failure to keep up with the daily news headlines has left me behind the curve, but it's great news that while I've been napping the mainstream cultural zeitgeist has turned in favor of large traditional families, marriage for life, Scriptural gender roles, sacrificial living, the authenticity of the historic Gospel, with its miracles and its promise of resurrection; and against materialist scientific triumphalism, global top-down solutions to human brokenness, and the celebration of individual autonomy at the expense of community and accountability.

I wish DKCM message made this apparent because it certainly is not what I am seeing in the slightest.

And that is not why I stepped aside from it.

[natashaasbj]

What is here to discuss?? If your Spirit is not cringing from these memes there is something amiss. There are people trying to get into Conservative Anabaptist circles that want to entice innocent minds of Conservative youth to abandon purity of thoughts and start pursuing worldly-sarcastic intellectualism unknown to them before... These people are usually come into Anabaptism from the liberal colleges and fail to leave this liberal political spirit behind...They laugh at everything - at how we dress, how we reason, at our cultural traditions,at the President, etc. they make laughing stock out of everyone who differs from them, and contradicts them....do not REASON with these people .They already made up their minds to "change" us into their image.

[AnthonyMartin]

What is here to discuss?? If your Spirit is not cringing from these memes there is something amiss. There are people trying to get into Conservative Anabaptist circles that want to entice innocent minds of Conservative youth to abandon purity of thoughts and start pursuing worldly-sarcastic intellectualism unknown to them before... These people are usually come into Anabaptism from the liberal colleges and fail to leave this liberal political spirit behind...They laugh at everything - at how we dress, how we reason, at our cultural traditions,at the President, etc. they make laughing stock out of everyone who differs from them, and contradicts them....do not REASON with these people .They already made up their minds to "change" us into their image.

All do respect, a lot of us versus them, and broad brushed "These people" in your post here that I'm not comfortable with either.

[natashaasbj]

Free country. I can post my mind. You are welcome to do the same

[AnthonyMartin]

Free country. I can post my mind. You are welcome to do the same

So can "they"

[natashaasbj]

yep, so can they!

[joshuabgood]

And another great one from the DKCM farm.