Intimidation is a terrible curse on the human scene. It crushes folk who allow the overbearing prominence of others to take away their self-esteem. Certain people never achieve their spiritual potential because they are intimidated by those who seem superior. Intimidation is a tool we use on one another to win arguments and to chastise those in disagreement with us. It is not a comfortable attitude for either the intimidator or the intimidated. The intimidator does not really prove a point. He or she merely embarrasses folk into submission. The intimidated are not really humble. They are simply humiliated. So often in church intimidation is a tool for teaching and preaching. For example, here is a preacher who presents a beautiful truth which is quite capable of being received as presented. Yet, he chooses to punctuate his point with the intimidating statement that "if you do not see it this way then you do not know the God I know." Have you ever heard someone say in disagreement to some thought "that is not the way my Bible reads?" Such statements are subtle attempts to use "my God" and "my Bible" to intimidate others toward belief. The truth of the matter is that intimidation is never an effective means of witness. The gospel of grace is quite capable of doing its own convicting without human coercion. The bottom line is that we have all been created in the image of God to find our self-worth in Him and to help others find their worth there also. Only in Him can we find relief from the curse of intimidation. Calvin Metcalf is interim pastor of Newport Presbyterian Church |
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