{"id":30764,"date":"2015-06-25T06:30:12","date_gmt":"2015-06-25T10:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=30764"},"modified":"2015-06-25T06:30:12","modified_gmt":"2015-06-25T10:30:12","slug":"obnoxious-for-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2015\/06\/obnoxious-for-the-lord.html","title":{"rendered":"Obnoxious For The Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I recently heard from an old friend who had attended the same\u00a0church as me when I was a teenager.\u00a0As this was someone towards whom I had\u00a0at one point been a\u00a0self-righteous, arrogant, judgmental know-it-all, I offered a long-overdue apology. They very graciously accepted it, saying that they too had once been \u201cobnoxious for\u00a0the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n

I love that phrase. I think it should become a standard way of referring to what is an all-too-common kind of behavior.<\/p>\n

At present, it seems to have only been used twice. Once by James F. White in his book Christian Worship in North America<\/a>\"\"<\/i> (p.147), and once by Keith Green, who is quoted in an online comment<\/a> as having said, \u201cIt [the Bible] doesn\u2019t say \u2018blessed are you when you are obnoxious for the Lord.'\u201d<\/p>\n

I think it is worth reflecting on what it is that motivates that behavior. I engaged in it, and yet I am not sure I know exactly what led to it. But I suspect that it emerges from the belief that the righteous will be persecuted, and thus \u2013 whether consciously or subconsciously \u2013 we may behave in an irritating manner that provokes hostility, which\u00a0then is (mistakenly) taken as confirmation of our righteousness.<\/p>\n

Have you ever been obnoxious for the Lord? If so, do you have any further light to shed on the phenomenon?<\/p>\n

\"Blessed<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently heard from an old friend who had attended the same\u00a0church as me when I was a teenager.\u00a0As this was someone towards whom I had\u00a0at one point been a\u00a0self-righteous, arrogant, judgmental know-it-all, I offered a long-overdue apology. They very graciously accepted it, saying that they too had once been \u201cobnoxious for\u00a0the Lord.\u201d I love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":30765,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136,139,160],"tags":[3204,6120,8294,9854],"class_list":["post-30764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evangelicals","category-fundamentalism-religion","category-pentecostals","tag-evangelism","tag-keith-green","tag-obnoxious","tag-quote"],"yoast_head":"\nObnoxious For The Lord<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I recently heard from an old friend who had attended the same\u00a0church as me when I was a teenager.\u00a0As this was someone towards whom I had\u00a0at one point been\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2015\/06\/obnoxious-for-the-lord.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obnoxious For The Lord\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I recently heard from an old friend who had attended the same\u00a0church as me when I was a teenager.\u00a0As this was someone towards whom I had\u00a0at one point been\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2015\/06\/obnoxious-for-the-lord.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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