{"id":3042,"date":"2017-01-13T10:47:32","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T16:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=3042"},"modified":"2017-01-13T10:47:32","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T16:47:32","slug":"why-i-hate-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Hate Community"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

What I hate about community:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. It takes me away from getting stuff done, and I value getting stuff done.<\/li>\n
  2. I struggle with social anxiety, and I get uptight around people. Watching shows like Downton Abbey gives me community vicariously\u2014all of the warmth, none of the anxiety.<\/li>\n
  3. I forget people\u2019s names, and I feel horrible about forgetting, feel humiliated to ask, and feel weary of coming up with phrases that require only personal pronouns.<\/li>\n
  4. I feel more sinful around other people. Thoughts of comparison or judgment\u2014I hate this about myself, and I hate confronting this about myself, and I don\u2019t have to when no one else is around.<\/li>\n
  5. When I leave a social gathering, I inevitably run through every stupid thing I said (and I\u2019m an extrovert, so there\u2019s a lot to run through).<\/li>\n
  6. I don\u2019t like navigating people\u2019s personal doctrinal commitments. Should I have mentioned a rapture? It\u2019s exhausting dancing around people\u2019s toes.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I\u2019ll stop there, but I could keep going. These dark and murky ruminations would lead me away from involvement in church or Bible study or any community. But it hasn\u2019t, and I think it\u2019s because I have free will.
    \nFree will is typically understood in terms of the power to act. Do we simply act according to the strongest motive? Do we have the power to act other than how we acted? Ignore all that.<\/strong> Far more important than the freedom to act is the freedom to form the intention to act.\u00a0 (That sounds more complicated than it is.)
    \nImagine you are a recovering alcoholic and someone offers you a drink. Immediately you\u2019re barraged with competing desires, memories, beliefs, feelings, and the like. You experience the belief that you could have a drink and be just fine, and you experience the belief that you could not. You remember how fun it was to drink, and you remember how fun it wasn\u2019t. What you immediately recognize is that you have a choice\u2014but not about drinking, not yet anyway. The choice is which desire you\u2019ll fortify with additional reasons, memories, Scripture, prayer, and so on. Whatever our freedom to act, we surely have the freedom to form intention. We choose which truth to \u201cweight,\u201d and Scripture has told us it\u2019s this truth here:<\/p>\n

    Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another\u2014and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
    \nHebrews 10:24\u201325, NIV<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    So whatever your three, five, or seven reasons are, they\u2019ll pop up with every opportunity and invitation to \u201cmeet together\u201d with other believers. Can\u2019t change that. But you can pay them no heed. Let them dance partner-less around your mind. Give them no audience.<\/strong> Choose instead to believe, obey, and be in community.<\/a><\/p>\n

    \n

    You’ve been reading from Watch: Wide Awake Faith in a World Fast Asleep. Author Rick James dives deep into the New Testament\u2019s teachings on spiritual wakefulness, calling Christ-followers to defy the darkness and remain awake as they await Christ\u2019s return. Because being spiritually awake changes everything.
    \n    Continue Reading Watch<\/em>.<\/a>
    \n 
    \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What I hate about community: It takes me away from getting stuff done, and I value getting stuff done. I struggle with social anxiety, and I get uptight around people. Watching shows like Downton Abbey gives me community vicariously\u2014all of … <\/p>\n

    Read moreWhy I Hate Community<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy I Hate Community - The Disciplemaker<\/title>\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.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why I Hate Community - The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What I hate about community: It takes me away from getting stuff done, and I value getting stuff done. I struggle with social anxiety, and I get uptight around people. Watching shows like Downton Abbey gives me community vicariously\u2014all of ... Read moreWhy I Hate Community\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-13T16:47:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/01\/lightstock_139438_medium_david.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"426\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Disciplemaker Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Disciplemaker Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The Disciplemaker Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/336a0124246a4b32dfcd97632e442fd5\"},\"headline\":\"Why I Hate Community\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-13T16:47:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-13T16:47:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/\"},\"wordCount\":548,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Discipleship\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/\",\"name\":\"Why I Hate Community - The Disciplemaker\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-13T16:47:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-13T16:47:32+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why I Hate Community\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/\",\"name\":\"The Disciplemaker\",\"description\":\"Bold. Loving. Sensible.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization\",\"name\":\"NavPress\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png\",\"width\":4092,\"height\":818,\"caption\":\"NavPress\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/336a0124246a4b32dfcd97632e442fd5\",\"name\":\"The Disciplemaker Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f656eb42ae7a3178247402a948adef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f656eb42ae7a3178247402a948adef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Disciplemaker Team\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/author\/dgeeslin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why I Hate Community - The Disciplemaker","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why I Hate Community - The Disciplemaker","og_description":"What I hate about community: It takes me away from getting stuff done, and I value getting stuff done. I struggle with social anxiety, and I get uptight around people. Watching shows like Downton Abbey gives me community vicariously\u2014all of ... Read moreWhy I Hate Community","og_url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/","og_site_name":"The Disciplemaker","article_published_time":"2017-01-13T16:47:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":426,"url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/01\/lightstock_139438_medium_david.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"The Disciplemaker Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Disciplemaker Team","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/"},"author":{"name":"The Disciplemaker Team","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/336a0124246a4b32dfcd97632e442fd5"},"headline":"Why I Hate Community","datePublished":"2017-01-13T16:47:32+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-13T16:47:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/"},"wordCount":548,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Discipleship"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/","name":"Why I Hate Community - The Disciplemaker","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-01-13T16:47:32+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-13T16:47:32+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/01\/why-i-hate-community\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why I Hate Community"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/","name":"The Disciplemaker","description":"Bold. Loving. Sensible.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization","name":"NavPress","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png","width":4092,"height":818,"caption":"NavPress"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/336a0124246a4b32dfcd97632e442fd5","name":"The Disciplemaker Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f656eb42ae7a3178247402a948adef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f656eb42ae7a3178247402a948adef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The Disciplemaker Team"},"url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/author\/dgeeslin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3042"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}