Emphasis Preaching Journal

We live in a time when people do what they want to do, and for the most part they do not want to listen to any voice but their own. One example of that is found on airlines. In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of in-flight incidents, situations where passengers refuse to listen to the instructions that the flight crew give. For many years, airlines dealt with those kinds of problems by trying to ignore those passengers, not wanting to offend anyone, and hoping that they would settle down by themselves.

But now airlines like TWA and United have determined that a zero-tolerance policy is the only proper way to respond to disruptive passengers. Realizing that passengers who are belligerent and cause commotions are not only an annoyance to the other passengers, but also that they're a real threat to the safety of the whole aircraft, crew members now not only warn such passengers, but also have handcuffs on board to restrain them. On several occasions, planes have landed so that they could kick the unruly passengers out.

So many churches are torn asunder by disruptive church members. Instead of ignoring or tolerating such behavior, perhaps the church is called to seek to eliminate such disturbances so that the unity that Jesus speaks of may prevail.

-- Bowen