Article published in the Phelps County Focus on August 1, 2024. Here’s just the start of it; please visit and support my publisher!
Gatekeeping. If you poke around on the internet, you’ll see plenty of examples, where someone tries to determine when someone else’s accomplishments or tastes or interests or suffering are “sufficient” or “authentic.”
Statements like, “Stop claiming you love sushi when all you do is eat a California roll with a fork!”
There’s something fundamental in human nature that wants to draw boundaries between who is in and who is out. Many of the “gatekeeping fails” memes are updated versions of the old joke, “You think you have it so hard? I had to walk 10 miles to school in the snow, uphill both ways!”
As if one person’s likes, dislikes, challenges, pain or desires are only valid if they are more extreme or more authentic than someone else’s.
Unfortunately, gatekeeping is well-known in the church, too.
We simply cannot resist the urge to make rules, formal and informal, about who is worthy. We have hundreds of denominations in America, thousands worldwide, because of disagreements over those rules.