what does the bible say about our social interaction? we are to encourage each other to do good works in Christ(hebrews 10:24-25) we are to take on the hardships of our brothers and sisters in the LORD in helping them to overcome(galatians 6:1-2) we are to make ourselves vulnerable in revealing our spiritual shortcomings to our brothers and sisters in Christ in order to battle sin(james 5:16) we are to share our resources with the brethren when they are in need(acts 2:44-45, hebrews 13:15-16, 1 timothy 6:17-18).
I honestly think this is a huge blind spot within the Body of Christ for a few reasons.
cliques form within the church. you got the college people, the couples, the families, the elders, the theologians, the professors, gamers, the sports folk, etc. this shouldn't happen. it means we're not actually connecting with each on anything but superficiality.
conversations are superficial. no one actually knows each other. doing the things listed in scripture forces us to be transparent and vulnerable. we don't seem to want to go deeper with each other in conversation beyond current events, our weekly activities, and maybe a theological discussion.
we're actually very self centered socially. we only want to be around people who are like us. we seek out our personality clones. we don't really know how to or are not interested in being around someone who is different from us.
we don't value the social common denominator that we have in Christ. we value commonality in hobbies and interests more than we do our commonality in the Faith. while there's nothing wrong with seeking and being around people who have common interests and hobbies, we should not exclude other believers socially because they don't have these same interests and hobbies. we as believers should connect socially on the most common denominator which is our life in Christ.
This is an area where I believe much improvement is needed.
your thoughts?