So, I just checked my comments feed, and I realized it’s been a month since I posted. It’s been a busy time though. We moved, had Holy Week activities, I was in a play…I haven’t really relaxed in the last four weeks. And to make it worse, there have been so many things that I’ve wanted to write about, but haven’t found the time. So this will be, basically a mish-mash of random thoughts, loosely connected by the threads of theology, church life, and church politics. Let’s begin:
Just before a staff meeting a few weeks ago, I had this exchange with a member of our ministry staff:
She: “Where in the Bible does it say we’re supposed to accept everybody and not judge what they believe?”
Me: “How do you mean?”She: “Like that we’re not supposed to judge other religions.”
Me: “It’s not there.”
She: (Quite Confused) “What?”
Me: “You’re not going to find any positive treatment of other religions in the Bible. In fact, it treats them quite harshly.”
She: “What, so we’re supposed to judge everybody and reject them just because they don’t believe like we do?”
Me: “You asked me what the Bible says. There’s nothing good in there about other religions. It says we’re supposed to watch out for false prophets and teachers, and put them out of our midst.”
Other Co-worker: “But who are we to decide what’s true and what’s false?”
Me: “Well, we’re not supposed to. God tells us in the Bible what’s true, and we’re supposed to listen.”
I was a little disturbed after this conversation. The woman who originally asked the question was preparing to give the devotion that would open our staff meeting. At the time she was holding a copy of the Qur’an. She brought it to the meeting, contemplated reading from it, then chose not to.
I didn’t really know what to do with all of the thoughts that were overloading my mind, so I stayed pretty much silent, but I saw then, just as I see now, just how far my fellow staff members are from any form of orthodox, traditional, or fundamental belief. And how little they know about the Bible.
I’m so tired of people saying, “Judge not, lest ye be judged first.” They completely miss the point, as well as ignoring the context and the rest of the statement. What follows is this: “For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” (Mt. 7:2 ESV)
This doesn’t say not to judge, it says don’t judge harshly, because you’ll be judged in the same way you judge others. That means don’t judge someone for cutting you off, because you’ve done it. Don’t judge someone for being sloppy and poor, because you are, too. It doesn’t mean don’t judge at all.
It doesn’t mean watch someone live in sin unrepentant, just because you’ve sinned (now that I think about it, that’s not even judgment, that’s rebuke). It doesn’t mean look at other religions and accept them as equal truth, or truth at all. To think that would be to ignore the greater narrative of Scripture. Think about it…our purpose - the reason God created us - was to bring Him glory. That’s the big picture. How does it bring Him glory to approve of “glory thieves” who take the worship and the honor that belongs to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and points it anywhere else? That’s what we do when we “accept” other religions.
As the church we are to accept people. All people. We are to go to them and become all things to them, so that through every possible avenue, we can lead some of them to Christ. No one is ineligible. There is no quality that precludes a person from receiving the grace of God. Every person can come to Him. The only requirement is that they give themselves over to Him. All of themselves.
Habits, vices, needs, desires. Everything. Old beliefs; new beliefs; hobbies; marriage; singleness; sexuality; friendships; past; present; future. Everything. If you’re holding on to something - anything - you aren’t giving yourself to Him.
Now, in reality, this is a tough thing to do. I’ll spend my whole life trying to recognize the things I’m holding on to and giving them up one at a time. But I’m committed to doing that. What we’re seeing in the church today is a move to allow people to hold on to anything they want, as long as they get what their group sees as the big picture.
The ECUSA gets picked on the most, but it’s only because they make it so easy. I was watching an episode of Friends tonight, The One with the Lesbian Wedding, and it made me think of the Episcopalians, as everything does since Tanzania. Ross’ ex-wife is getting married to her lesbian lover, and everyone is trying to get him to go to the wedding and be okay with it. He says, “If she were getting married to a guy no one would expect me to be there.”
If V. Gene Robinson had left his wife and children to be with a woman he would never have ascended to the position of bishop. But since he broke his vows for another man, he was allowed to be elevated.
I think it’s evidence of the changing view of marriage in the church. Marriage used to be an institution based on commitment. That commitment was for a lifetime. But in society, and now the church, it’s seen simply as a union of two lovers, to be dissolved if one decides he or she is no longer “in love”. If marriage was still seen as a covenant between two people made before God, it wouldn’t matter if Robinson were gay or not. The only thing that would be important is that he broke his vows to his wife, to the church, and to God. He’d be stripped of his title, taken from the ministry roster, and be expected to repent of his actions before being accepted again. The fact that he’s gay would be secondary, and he would be expected to abstain from homosexual relationships. But that’s not the case.
Now, before any of you start on the whole “two-issues of the right” thing, the point for me isn’t that he’s gay, that’s a whole other discussion. The point is the low view of his marital commitment, and the fact that his actions were ignored by his diocese and the ECUSA ruling body, all so they could advance a political and social agenda.
How is that bringing glory to the name of God?
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3 responses so far...
I’ve always seen the judge not lest ye be judged verse as a warning against hypocrisy when viewing the sin of others, not “to not judge harshly.” When Jesus mentions the log in the judgers eye, he says to remove it before attempting to remove the speck in another’s eye (so the speck still has to be removed, but we need to make sure we’re not worse?). Could you explain it further?
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”
That’s a single statement. The reason you want to be careful with your judgment, is that God will judge you the same way you judge others. This is similar to the petition in the Lord’s Prayer, “forgive us…as we also forgive.”
I’m not sure about the speck/plank parable interacting here, mainly because, as your question shows, it implies that we can “make sure we’re not worse”. But we have sin, too, so we’re definitely not better.
We have to be sure that we’re pointing out sinful behavior and thinking, not perceived character flaws, because we’ve all got plenty of those. Pointing out those sinful things can be done in love, where as pointing out character flaws is usually done out of insecurity.
Without the plank, we can see more clearly, because of the clarity of our own struggle, and we’ll do less damage because of it - imagine trying to get an eyelash out of someone else’s eye while wearing a blindfold.
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Glorifying God? Good Question