The Danger of Theological Tribalism

Tribalism is an increasing phenomena, and that is not a good thing. As Blake Long, the author of this post notes, “I’m not sure if you’ve seen it, but social media is a cesspool that reeks of tribalism within the Christian church. Though this problem isn’t exclusive to social media, we see the majority of it there.Tribalism is simply an unrelenting loyalty to your specific theological group, so to speak. There is not anything wrong with loyalty, but ‘tribalism goes awry when it is used as an excuse to exclude rather than include or when it feeds a sense of superiority’.”

Stop catastrophising

Not everything is the end of the world, but that is not how things are portrayed in modern society, and that is a dangerous thing. “We live an the age of the sensationalised and catastrophised. Everything is either the greatest ever or the worst ever. Headlines ping pong between two extremes, TV and radio hosts grab for ratings by taking extreme views and being hostile in questioning anyone who disagrees with them. And society is polarised into us and them, right and wrong, good guys and bad guys.”

When Martyn Lloyd-Jones Confronted a Pastor Who Loved Controversy and Denunciation

“T. T. Shields was a vigorous denouncer of all denominational apostasy. In theology Shields and Lloyd-Jones stood close to one another; both were Calvinists, both millennial in their view of unfulfilled prophecy.But there was an important aspect of Shields’ ministry with which Lloyd-Jones was not in sympathy. He thought the Baptist leader was sometimes too controversial, too denunciatory, and too censorious. Rather than helping young Christians by the strength of his polemics against liberal Protestants and Roman Catholics, Lloyd-Jones believed that Shields was losing the opportunity to influence those whose first need was to be given positive teaching.”