“So that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world….” (Philippians 2:15)

The largest antebellum plantation home in the country just learned an important lesson:  “How you appear to yourself is not necessarily how the outside world sees you.”  And similarly, “Sometimes it helps to get an outside opinion on how you are being perceived.”

Nottoway Plantation, situated halfway between Baton Rouge and New Orleans on the west (aka, the south) side of the Mississippi River, is said to be the largest plantation home in the country. Built by slaves in 1859, just before the Civil War, it serves today as a tourist attraction, a bed and breakfast, a restaurant, gift shop, and a site for conferences, weddings, and parties.

Recently, Nottoway (it’s actually located at White Castle, LA) was in the news because a singer canceled her retreat/concert there due to its slavery connections.  James Gill, columnist for the New Orleans Advocate, writing in the Sunday January 5, 2014 edition, gives the details.

(The mansion, built by John Hampden Randolph with slave labor, has been owned since 1985 by a rich Australian.  It’s a lovely place. I’ve spoken at conferences there and met relatives for a luncheon in their dining hall.  The architecture of the main house is phenomenal. Readers would enjoy perusing their website.)

According to James Gill, the management of Nottoway boasted that Mr. Randolph owned 155 slaves “when most owners possessed fewer than 20 slaves.”

The material from the plantation read: “Ever the astute businessman, Randolph knew that in order to maintain a willing workforce, it was necessary to provide not only for his slaves’ basic needs for housing, food and medicine, but to also offer additional compensation and rewards when their work (was) especially productive.”

Gill comments: “And, if that didn’t work, slaveholders could always resort to whips and chains.”

And did you notice the phrase “a willing workforce”? It’s not, Gill says, as though slaves had much choice in the matter.

The brochure: “The abolition of slavery and a depressed economy took their toll.  By 1875, Nottoway Plantation was reduced to 800 acres.”  Gill says, “Be strong, reader! Dab away those tears!”

Gill acknowledges that the printed information on the mansion’s history “comes out against slavery,” but “its denunciation remains woefully feeble.”

The point being…

What we mean and how we are perceived may be miles apart, and many of us may need some help closing the gap.

When a man or woman decides to run for elected office, particularly one with high visibility such as Congress or the Governorship, they suddenly discover that everything they say is fair game.  Opinions they’ve held all their lives and which have never been questioned now are being broadcast across the land, on television and in print, and used to make the candidate look like an idiot.

You see this when preachers enter the political arena.  In their congregations, their word was sacrosanct and unquestioned. Now everyone questions his every pronouncement. The doctrine of his denomination, positions he held but rarely gave thought to, are now being ridiculed and questioned in the media and he is being asked to defend them on talk shows. He uses the language of the pulpit and the unchurched world takes offense at what they perceive the preacher-candidate is implying about them.

These days pastors have blogs and churches have websites.  What we say and what we believe are no longer reserved for the confines of our buildings, but are on display for the world to see and attack.

And attack they will.  Count on it.

That’s why pastors and churches would do well to have their material vetted from time to time by friends with sharp minds and red pencils. The object is not to pull out all offending material in order to be politically correct, but to communicate effectively exactly what we want to say and not to incur opposition needlessly.

No one minds being called to account for the beliefs he holds most strongly.  It’s the misconceptions, misunderstandings, and misinterpretations that drive him berserk.

I’m remembering a church banquet given in honor of a wealthy donor to announce that the man and his family were funding a new building.  The priest was elated, as well he should have been, and thus in his opening prayer, said, “And Lord, we thank Thee for this succour which Thou hast provided.”

The intended donor was so offended at being labeled a “sucker”–and before the Almighty yet!–that he stormed out of the banquet and canceled his pledge.

We would do well to consider how the outside world hears our words before we become too attached to them. And the only way I know how to do that is to ask.

I have known of more than one pastor who invited in their unsaved, unchurched (and un- a lot of other things too!) acquaintances to listen to what was being said from the pulpit and to read the church’s printed materials and call the attention to the minister of anything that communicated negatively or wrongly.

Again–we cannot emphasize this too strongly–no one is talking about tweaking our doctrine to make it palatable to the world, but simply communicating clearly what we do want to say.

And there’s hardly a person among us who does not need assistance in that area.