But are we really Tolerant?

Hey friends. I haven’t posted in a long time for many reasons… but I’ve got some things on my mind and want to get them off my chest.

First, I hate how ugly our world has become. In this post-pandemic world in which we live, the love of many waxes cold, just as scripture said it would. that’s not exactly what this post is about though.

In previous posts, those who follow me may have read about the music/art studio we opened 3 years ago. It’s a long story but the short of it is that I felt called to open it, and my business partner and I have dedicated our business to the Lord. I don’t yet collect a paycheck from the studio, but have worked very hard in the last three years while working my day job too to try to grow the business. One day I’d like to quit my day job and run the studio full time.One of my role models is Mark Batterson, successful part or/author who is known for encouraging Gods children to follow their dreams and “work like it depends on you and pray like it depends on God”. I am trying to do that in all we do.

At the encouragement of our accountant (also a Christian), I have been joining various groups on Facebook for the purpose of posting our classes and workshops to as many people as possible. I personally despise the way social media has turned people against one another and have found that even people with similar viewpoints will lash out at one another because of the animosity in language. However, I find that a significant number of our students came to us because they learned about us on Facebook.

Several weeks ago, I saw a post on our local community page by a woman who was starting her own cleaning business. I forget the exact name if it but it was something like HisGlory Cleaning, and on her add, she had the words “servant”. Clearly hers was a Christian owned company and she wanted everyone to know. I applaud her. I scanned through the comments and saw a lot of well wishes, and people tagging other people who might be interested… and then I saw a comment by a girl who graduated with my daughter (she was known to be a bit of a prima Donna). She said, “but why say servant, tho?” For all the world I wanted to reply to her comment but I knew it would not do any good. So I kept my real thoughts to myself and posted that I am not in need but wished her much luck and success.

Ours is a Christian business, and anyone who visits our website can see that, but we teach anyone. We have instructors and students of all ages and religious backgrounds. I don’t push my views on anyone, but am unashamed of the God I serve. I have signs and artwork in our lobby that clearly show who we serve.

I’ve had some reasonable success finding groups to post our events and workshops on. An upcoming workshop we have for the summer is called Bandwagonz.

https://12thoctave.com/bandwagonz

We have two classes available, one a rock band and one a worship band. I’ve posted:

Good morning, friends! Our Bandwagonz program kicks off in June 1! Time is running out to register!

We’re looking for students who play instruments (guitar, bass, keyboard/piano or drums) to join our summer Bandwagonz program!

Bandwagonz is an 8 week workshop which forms a band and teaches students all aspects of being in a band together. You need not be a current 12th Octave student to pre-register.

We’re specifically recruiting guitar, bass, drum, keyboard and vocals! Have some friends who play but don’t have a full band? Pre-register at the link below! We’ll form the band!

Rock Bangwagonz will meet on Wednesday evenings through June and July.

Praise and worship Bandwagonz will meet on Sunday evenings in June and July. Both programs culminate in a concert at our studio and other locations to be announced!

For more information visit our website or contact us: 412-414-3051 or info@12thoctave.com

I’ve posted on several local town groups, business groups and musician groups . Today I found a new group that seemed geared to theater, but since there are often musicians involved in theater, and theater is part of creative arts, I thought “why not?” So I asked to join the group and then posted the same as I had in other groups.

Almost immediately, someone commented and said I should have said it was a church group up front. Well… it’s not a church group. It’s a music studio. Another person commented and copied verbiage from our website where we indicate we operate on biblical principles. They criticized that we should tell everyone we are teaching hymns…. We are not teaching hymns… we teach a variety of music!

Keenly aware that a gentle answer turns away wrath, the anger inside me welled up large enough that I knew I couldn’t reply right away but prayed that God would give me words to say in defense of myself and our Savior. In short both of the members of this group had a real problem that we used the term “Christian” on our website (not on the original post mins you, although one workshop is for a “worship” band.

The one member went on to say that whether I realize it or not, the use of the word “Christian” was offensive to him and to many. The other person said that I should be upfront about being a Christian business so that someone wouldn’t unknowingly come somewhere they weren’t welcomed because they don’t subscribe to Christian values. Um… do you mean like how I unknowingly stumbled on their group and felt unwelcomed because I do subscribe to Christian values?

Christian values screams “you’re not welcome here”???? Really? Well for my first time posting on this group I surely didn’t feel welcomed THERE! So these two individuals were assuming that because we’re a Christian organization we must be intolerant of them… but THEY were being intolerant of me… and didn’t even see the irony in it.

I was mad enough to spit nails actually but chose to wish them well and then left the group. The one member tried to backpedal a bit, acting like what he was doing was a favor to me to attract more people.. but the truth of the matter is that these liberal thinking people were actually doing the very thing that they were afraid I would do to them.

Why is this okay?

“You better let them know you’re Christian so some unsuspecting family doesn’t come in and feel unwelcome because they don’t live by Christian values.” Really? Believe me… it’s obvious from our website who we serve. If that’s not you’re interested, scroll on by… but to think we’d make someone feel unwelcome?

To be fair, I’m sure there are people who call themselves Christian who are intolerant… and I get it… they’ve probably been burned by something in the past… but THEY themselves were the intolerant ones!

I am committed to the Lord… and I am committed to the business He has brought me to, until He calls me otherwise. By that same hand that has provided this far, He will continue to provide.

2 Timothy 3 summarizes: I belong to the Lord and I have all I need.

3 Be sure of this. In the last days hard times will come.

² People will love themselves. They will love money. They will talk about themselves and be proud. They will say wrong things about people. They will not obey their parents. They will not be thankful. They will not keep anything holy.

³ They will have no love. They will not agree with anybody. They will tell lies about people. They will have no self-control. They will beat people. They will not love anything that is good.

⁴ They cannot be trusted. They will act quickly, without thinking. They are proud of themselves. They love to have fun more than they love God.

⁵ They act as if they worshipped God, yet they do not let God’s power work in their lives. Keep away from people like that.

⁶ They are the kind who go quietly into people’s houses. There they get foolish women to believe them. These women know that they have done many wrong things. And they want to do many kinds of wrong things.

⁷ They are always trying to learn, but never able to find out what is really true.

⁸ Jannes and Jambres were two men who were very much against Moses. In the same way, these men I am talking about are against what is true. They are men who have wrong thoughts in their minds. They do not believe.

⁹ But these men will not get very far. Everyone will see that they are wrong, just as people saw that Jannes and Jambres were wrong.

¹⁰ Timothy, you know my teaching and the way I lived. You know what I want to do and what I believe. You know my patience, my love, and my strength to bear trouble.

¹¹ You know about my troubles. You know what happened to me in Antioch, in Iconium, and in Lystra. You know how badly the people treated me. But the Lord brought me safely through it all.

¹² Yes, all who want to live a good life in Christ Jesus will be troubled by other people.

¹³ Bad men and those who fool other people will grow worse and worse. They will fool other people, and other people will fool them.

¹⁴ But you, Timothy, must keep on doing the things you have learned. You know they are right. You know who taught them to you.

¹⁵ From the time you were a child you knew the holy writings. They showed you how to be saved by believing in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶ All that is written in the holy writings comes from the Spirit of God. The holy writings are good for these things: to teach people, to show them when they are wrong, to make them see what is right, to teach them to do what is right.

¹⁷ In this way a person who belongs to God has all he needs. He is ready for every kind of good work.

Be blessed today, my friends, as I have been blessed.