Actually, no kidding, I was thinking of writing an accompanying essay about how the church only functions properly when people stop treating it like a fandom... and how fandom only functions properly when people stop treating it like a church.
What I mean is, the vast majority of the problems and divisions and "flamewars" in the Christian church arise from people having their own ideas and theories and agendas about Christianity, instead of truly recognizing and bowing to the authority of Christ as the Head of the church. If believers were all imitating Christ and honoring Him above all, we would be unified and we would know how to handle disagreements and differences without destroying each other, bearing grudges, etc. After all, He Himself said, "By this shall all men know you are my disciples, if you have love one for another," and as John said, "We love, because He first loved us."
And the problems that often arise in fandom come from people taking their hobby far too seriously and treating it like worship. Therefore, you can't say anything negative about Person X's favorite character or ship because OMG THAT IS BLASPHEMY!!! And since in fandom there is no Christ-figure or other noble example we are all called to emulate and respect as the final authority, there isn't any way of telling people to behave other than asking them to exercise a degree of common sense that they may or may not actually possess.
no subject
What I mean is, the vast majority of the problems and divisions and "flamewars" in the Christian church arise from people having their own ideas and theories and agendas about Christianity, instead of truly recognizing and bowing to the authority of Christ as the Head of the church. If believers were all imitating Christ and honoring Him above all, we would be unified and we would know how to handle disagreements and differences without destroying each other, bearing grudges, etc. After all, He Himself said, "By this shall all men know you are my disciples, if you have love one for another," and as John said, "We love, because He first loved us."
And the problems that often arise in fandom come from people taking their hobby far too seriously and treating it like worship. Therefore, you can't say anything negative about Person X's favorite character or ship because OMG THAT IS BLASPHEMY!!! And since in fandom there is no Christ-figure or other noble example we are all called to emulate and respect as the final authority, there isn't any way of telling people to behave other than asking them to exercise a degree of common sense that they may or may not actually possess.