How Well Do You Take Criticism?
Well, if the truth be known, while we can propositionally affirm the providence and grace of God in such occasions, in the ‘heat’ of the moment, it is not always as easy to be so gospel-centered!
This is especially so, as those who may be more ready to offer criticism, may be those we care for the most!
Here are some words from John MacArthur on how he has perceived criticism in Truth Endures… On page 31, MacArthur affirms these words…
“I have learned to embrace failure and criticism as probably the most productive work of God in my life. I can exegete a passage; what I cannot do is to refine myself. I cannot crush my own pride. So there is a sense in which the best things that have happened to me have been the disappointments and the misrepresentations.”
A Radical Reality, No?!
To further encourage you in such reflections, Tim Keller has recently posted on this subject. Here is how he introduces his article, titled, How Do You Take Criticism of Your Views?…
Recently several people have asked me ‘how do you deal with harsh criticism?’ In each case, the inquirer had felt stung by what they felt were unfair attacks on him or her. In this Internet age, anyone can have their views censured unfairly by people they don’t know. So what do you do when that happens? Here’s is the gist of the counsel I give people when they ask me about this. For years I’ve been guided by a letter by John Newton that is usually entitled “On Controversy.”
You should read the rest of the article HERE!
You can find the John Newton article that Keller refers to HERE!
Finally, there is another article by David Powlison, titled, Does the Shoe Fit?, which speaks on the same subject. Here is a little on its message…
Critics are God’s instruments. I don’t like to be criticized. You don’t like to be criticized. Nobody likes to be criticized. But, critics keep us sane—or, by our reactions, prove us temporarily or permanently insane. Whether a critic’s manner is gracious or malicious, whether the timing is good or bad, whether the intention is constructive or destructive, whether the content is accurate, half-true, or utterly false, in any case the very experience of being criticized reveals you. To what madnesses are you prone?
You can download a PDF of this article from HERE!
Some good practical reading for us all!
Always Informing, For the Always Reforming, From the Land of the Long White Cloud
Man of Spin
H/T: Justin Taylor
John MacArthur & Pretrib Rapture
Who knows, maybe John (Reformedispy) MacArthur is right and the greatest Greek scholars (Google “Famous Rapture Watchers”), who uniformly said that Rev. 3:10 means PRESERVATION THROUGH, were wrong. But John has a conflict. On the one hand, since he knows that all Christian theology and organized churches before 1830 believed the church would be on earth during the tribulation, he would like to be seen as one who stands with the great Reformers. On the other hand, if John has a warehouse of unsold pretrib rapture material, and if he wants to have “security” for his retirement years and hopes that the big California quake won’t louse up his plans, he has a decided conflict of interest. Maybe the Lord will have to help strip off the layers of his seared conscience which have grown for years in order to please his parents and his supporters – who knows? One thing is for sure: pretrib is truly a house of cards and is so fragile that if a person removes just one card from the TOP of the pile, the whole thing can collapse. Which is why pretrib teachers don’t dare to even suggest they could be wrong on even one little subpoint! Don’t you feel sorry for the straitjacket they are in? While you’re mulling all this over, Google “Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty” for a rare behind-the-scenes look at the same 180-year-old fantasy.
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