God has made us for community. But not all communities are made for us. That includes “Christian” communities.
Ultimately, we each take the leap of faith to Jesus as individuals. And it is as individuals that we will stand before God’s throne on Judgment Day.
Today’s excerpt from I Pledge Allegiance: A Believer’s Guide to Kingdom Citizenship in 21st Century America concerns the blessings and the dangers of finding comfort in a church community. It comes from pages 109-110.
The Holy Spirit does not obliterate our sinful nature, what Paul calls “the flesh.” It is not unusual for the flesh to show extra panache in flaunting itself throughout Christian communities where the masks of piety and sincerity are worn so easily…and loosely.
“The company we keep is more determinative of personal behavior than many of us suspect, for both good and bad. Most actions become easier with the support of others, especially when those actions are subversive. And when the action means compliance with the status quo, it becomes mindless repetition…
“It comes as no surprise, then, to learn that the majority of Christian rescuers during World War II were bolstered by a support network of like-minded people, whether in the local church or elsewhere, who all shared in the dangers, encouraging one another along the way. That ancient slave who finally screwed up enough courage to say “No” to her master knew that she was not acting by herself. Although no one else could suffer the master’s beating for her, she was sustained by a family of brothers and sisters in Christ who also believed that her act of civil disobedience was a necessary step in following Jesus. She knew they were praying for her; they loved her and would be there to tend her wounds, take her into their homes, clothe her, and feed her if need be. She could rest in the knowledge that she would not face her owner’s wrath alone.
“Unfortunately, the dark side of human nature means that there is also a dark side to community, including Christian community. The same group dynamics that support positive transformation can also blind a person to his own gradual
corruption if the group is corrupt. Sebastian Haffner’s autobiography, Defying Hitler: A Memoir, is a fascinating testimony to the infectious, corrupting power of a community bound together for evil purposes. Haffner was staunchly opposed to Hitler, National Socialism, and everything the Third Reich was doing to his country. Yet, as he finished his university law degree, the government imposed a new requirement forcing all graduates to attend a Nazi indoctrination camp before they could take the bar exam. Refusing to attend this camp meant losing the chance to practice law.
“Haffner was certain that his hatred for Hitler was unshakable. It would serve him well as a protective shield against the Nazi’s ideological bombardment, insulating his true self against any unwanted changes. He would enter the camp an anti-Nazi, and he would exit it the same way. What Haffner had underestimated, however, were the sly and subtle ways in which members of a group conform themselves to one another, whether they intend to or not, whether the group behavior is admirable or not. To his utter horror, Haffner confesses that, by the time the camp had concluded, he was talking, behaving, and thinking like a Nazi. The man who began by hating Hitler was now clicking 
his boots, shouting “Sieg Heil,” and meaning it. Inch by miserable inch, he had surrendered his scruples to the camaraderie—to the fellowship—of his enforced Nazi community. Toward the close of his memoir, Haffner agonizes: ‘I realized that I was well and truly in a trap. I should never have come to the camp. Now I was in the trap of comradeship. . . . ‘We’ had become a collective entity and with all the intellectual cowardice and dishonesty of a collective being we instinctively ignored or belittled anything that could disturb our collective self-satisfaction.. . . It was remarkable how comradeship actively decomposed all the elements of individualism.’
“The ethos of fellowship and group support can either elevate the individual to
stand apart, to think independently, and to act heroically, or it can destroy the individual by pulling her down into the quagmire of conformity, where mindlessly repeating the group’s scripted mantras can pass for brilliance and even earn a PhD.”
