1 Cor 10:23-25
23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.
24 Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.
25 Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake:
(KJV)
Rom 14:14-17
14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
(KJV)
Even the world understands this. Why should the church struggle with it? When the space shuttle was being designed it was obvious that to function it must have sophisticated computer controls for many of its critical functions. And they would often take action without the possibility of timely human reaction to detect a situation and override in time to correct an error. If the computer failed there was little if any chance of a mission that did not involve “the loss of the vehicle and its crew.” It was decided to provide several computers and they would vote on actions. I don't remember the exact algorithms but they insured that a single computer feeding bad results or the failure of any or even three of four computers would not cause a problem. But one flaw still existed. There is little possibility that two computers with the same program and the same input will result in different output but this was covered. There is a much greater possibility that all four computers would initiate THE SAME WRONG ACTION or fail AT THE SAME TIME if there was faulty software, hardware or firmware or a same environmental change. A single problem could cause a catastrophe. The input that causes a software failure or a bad output from one computer is likely to cause one on the others with the same program. A power fluctuation that causes one computer to fail would likely cause all like computers built according to the same specs to fail. To prevent this from happening a fifth computer was added to the shuttle. The hardware and software for this computer were created by a different vendor than the main computers' hardware and the software. The two development groups were not permitted to share information and interact. There was little chance that they had the same flaw and would fail at exactly the same time. Had they left the groups interact the likelihood of simultaneous failure increases. Two different computers; even if built to the same specifications are less likely to be impacted like hardware situations like power glitches, sensor failures or vibration AT THE SAME TIME. Over a period of time, both might be impacted the same number of times but simultaneous failure is unlikely. BTW, today these diverse computers have been replaced by several that are alike! When will we ever learn?
Likewise, two advisors might each be wrong ten times over the next ten years but if they are not clones they are unlikely to be wrong at the same time. And often if wrong, they see the flaw. But without the initial look by someone else they do not. What goes for advisors goes also for leaders.
ERRORS BY THOSE WHO SUPPORT LEADERS
Just as the men held up the hands of Moses there are those who will hold up the hands of the men of God today. Many of these are trustworthy, honest, Godly and care about the ministry, the leaders and the people. Their perspective is often such that they have a different view and can provide the counsel to avoid pitfalls. I have discussed how the leaders can nullify the counsel of these, now I will discuss how these can fall into traps that will make them less than effective and possibly even dangerous to the man of God, the ministry and the people.
GREAT MAN SYNDROME
The GREAT MAN SYNDROME is a situation that has manifested itself several times. Men that have fallen and been hurt, in the church, in politics and in business have often fallen because those who surround them say, “He is a great man, if he thinks this is a good thing, it is.” And they have justified actions that have been devastating and they knew were wrong.
The world knows this is not the way. Henry Ford once chaired a meeting where an idea was presented and nobody could find anything wrong with it. He too favored it. But before the end of the meeting he saw a pitfall, for some reason everyone had seen the gloss, not the depth and he was concerned. To the chagrin of the presenter he tabled the decision for a week and gave an assignment to find something wrong with it. At the next meeting it was obvious the program would have failed and it was defeated. When something looks too good it almost always is.
