Wacky Wednesday--Social Skills Don’t Matter

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~Speaking the truth is the only thing that matters.
~Confronting people when they are wrong is the correct approach always.
~Pleasing God, not pleasing people, is what really matters.
~Obeying God’s commands is the mark of a good human, not getting along with people.
~Social skills are just manipulative tactics to get people to like you regardless of whether you deserve it.
~Character matters a lot more than personality.
~You don’t really need other people.
~Other people’s opinions don’t matter.
~Be yourself, and other people should like you for who you are.
~I don’t care what other people think of me, only what God thinks of me.
~This is the problem with modern education, they’re always justifying inferior education by claiming that it’s necessary to teach kids social skills.
~There are surely times where serving God will entail making others hate you.
~If you aren’t persecuted, you aren’t a disciple of Jesus.
~Given how many people don’t have them, it would be absurd to say that there’s something defective about people who don’t have them.
~James 4:4 Whoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
~Does God go around trying to get others to like Him?
~If people don’t like me, that’s their problem.
~Did people like Jeremiah? Jonah?
~Even Paul clearly had some major ruptures with people.
~Martin Luther apparently had quite a bombastic personality.
~Having social skills just makes people like you and then you’re obliged to pay attention to and help all these people.
~People without social skills have the luxury of knowing that anyone who actually does love them loves them for who they are, not for their people-pleasing act.
~Does the Bible speak favorably about menpleasers?

Post-Show Thoughts: First, it's so great to see people starting to post their thoughts on the various blogs. Welcome, Jeremy. =)

Jeremy's point is exactly right. Social skills are really just another name for the practical aspect of showing love to people. Applied love is a combination of having the right motives for an act, selecting an act that serve's God's purposes, and then performing that act in a way that actually blesses the other person. The same goes for speech, of course. So whether by deed or by speech, social skills are really just the third leg of that set. There are times when the savvy thing to do from a social skills perspective is not the right thing to do according to God's particular purposes. This explains the sometimes abrasiveness of Paul and Jesus. But it also allows room for the Holy Spirit to guide us when to refrain from using the social skills we are supposed to have and use in most ordinary situations. A ministry or a project can succeed without them, but I have yet to even imagine a Godly commission that would not be better served by a person who has social skills than by the same person if he didn't have them. Given what a tremendous part of our lives are made up of interactions with others and the essentiality of getting along with other people, especially other believers, social skills aren't just an optional element of humanity. They are a key ingredient of a healthy life, below holiness and righteousness in importance but surely above financial concerns and even health in the hierarchy of values. As such, these are things that must be taught, and especially to Christians since our specific call by God is to love.

Thus, there are three errors (perhaps sins).
1. Negligence. Not having learned social skills.
2. Men-pleasing. Having social skills and refusing to turn them off when necessary.
3. Hatred/Pride. Having social skills and refusing to use them to bless other people.