Jesus or Judgment?
The other day I was browsing through news.com.au and reading the blog posts in response to an article titled "Australia a nation losing its faith". It was an article about how the 2006 census has revealed that more and more people are straying away from religion.
The comments can be found here: http://www.news.com.au/comments/0,23600,21976369-2,00.html
One comment in particular stood out for me...
| Christians have failed to attract people to the church as in Australia it is led be the extreme right. The catholic church never ex communicated Hitler, the SS was started in a Catholic church, and now it is lead by someone who was in the Hitler youth well after the war finished. Further I cannot stand the Church's attack on people who are gay and lesbian, and Jews and anything they disagree on. The Church line is simple, if you are not with us, you are evil. They then go on to attack anyone who does not follow them. There are many good people who are not Christians and do not want Christians telling them what to do in there life. |
Although it might be easy to dismiss the posting out of hand, for me it brought up some interesting things to think about. Chief among them is something that has been bugging me for quite a while: when a non-Christian comes to Church, what do they get - Jesus, or judgment?
Judgment is definitely a part of God's ultimately plan for humanity. God is definitely about punishing sin and rebellion. After all, God is perfect in all things, including justice. This means that no sins will go unpunished.
And yet is it the Church's responsibility to be God's "justice machine" in the world?
1. Internal accountability
In a sense we are meant to keep each other accountable, as explained in Galatians 6:1-2:
Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
In this way we should gently remind those who are going astray to look toward Christ for redemption (after first making sure that there is nothing in our life that we need to look at, of course!). However, I know that I personally can feel that some people in church miss the word 'gently' - it's incredible sometimes how whispers can spread about the unmarried girl getting pregnant, or even the old people who we avoid talking in front of about going shopping on a Sunday lest we get slapped down.
The other week our growth group watched a film together called "Saved!" The film - a critical look at the pentecostal church culture in the U.S.", in part deals with the trials of a young Christian who becomes pregnant to her boyfriend. Alone and afraid, she feels like there are no Christians in whom she can confide due to their judgmentalism, and instead reaches out to non-Christians for support, people who don't judge her and show understanding.
It made me wonder - how would a young woman coming along to our church feel to find out she has become pregnant? It doesn't just have to apply to pregnancy either - what about the young boy caught stealing from the offering bag, or the middle-aged man who had an affair?
Yes, we have to deal with the consequences of our sins. But wouldn't it be awesome if these people could come to church knowing that they can confess these problems and receive guidance and support? I feel if I were any of the above people I would want to keep my sins hidden from Church people, just because I know that I would have to deal with the judgment and criticism that would come.
Even wearing my Demon Hunter t-shirt to church has been enough to get some dirty looks shot at me from people who believe that I am "violating God's holy place" or some such.
2. External attitude
If I feel uncomfortable by the reactions of Church-goers, as a Christian and a part of that Church, how much worse must it feel to be a non-Christian and face that kind of judgmental attitude?
I am not being exclusive here: I fall into the very same trap. It's very easy for me to look at someone who doesn't have their life all together and think "Well, it's their sin that got them there." Or I look at a rich person and think "Well they're so self-centred and don't give their money away, therefore they're a terrible person."
Why? Well I think it's because we fail to remember that without God's grace, we are exactly the same as them. There are many Christians who struggle through life, does that mean that it is the consequence of their sins? Maybe. Or it could be that they aren't getting the support that they need from their church community.
As for being rich and self-centred... well, I'm afraid that I am rich and self-centred too. I certainly have more money than I need to survive, plus a house to live in. And yet I still find the need to go out and buy a DVD or a new phone for myself. Just because I don't give away millions of dollars doesn't make me any better.
And yet the way that I can act towards sinners sometimes, it's no wonder that they don't feel any desire to come along to Church. I forget Romans 14:11-13
It is written:
" 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord,
'every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will confess to God.' "
So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.
It's not up to me to judge other people. It's up to me to show Christ's love to them, and indeed to all people in the world. I have to realise that without God's grace, I am no different from Joe Atheist on the streets. For too long, I think, church has been a place of judgment rather than Jesus. And yet, if we were about pointing people to Jesus, wouldn't Church be a far more attractive place?
Endnote: I know that people are going to say "You can't go light on the judgment parts of the Bible in order to pull people in!" But I'm not suggesting such behaviour at all. I'm looking at the attitude that we are Christians display toward each other - are we about accepting each other as sinners in needs of God's grace, or are we a 'holiness clique' where all members must meet certain criteria?
posted by Taz @ 1:55 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Have you gotten a new phone???
Might I ask the secular question of morality and ethic?
"Will it hold up to public scrutiny?"
Does the church's (read "Bible's") stance on sin - hold up to public scrutiny?
The reality is that it does not. It is unacceptable that the Bible preaches condemnation to anybody, let alone gays and atheists (that is not saying that all gays are atheists and vice versa). This condemnation, irrespective of the salvation offered, irrespective of truth, irrespective of the Church's previous influence, does not stand up to "public scrutiny". It may stand up to personal scrutiny, it may be shown to be the perfect model for our lives but it simply does not stand up to public scrutiny. And there can be no rescue if there is nothing to rescue.
Therefore, it is confronting. Therefore, it is unethical. Therefore, we should run away with our tails between our legs and be full of remorse for trying to peddle a doctrine that simply does not hold up to the tests that society subjects it to. And by raising our children in Christ, they will be ill-prepared, because they will be blinded and under the illusion that the Bible is so much more than acceptable. What terrible abuse.
I have steered clear, to date of the issue of the judgemental church. My argument, so far, runs parallel to that issue. However, I note two things: first that Paul, inspired by God, directed Christians to live lives worthy of Christ. Oh bugger. Failed on that one. Secondly, he directed the church to cease fellowship with a brother who, though convicted of sin, fails to struggle with that sin.
It's the struggle with sin. One of the primary differences between Christians and nonChristians is that Christians struggle with sin, nonChristians do not. Surely, as a church we expect our brethren to struggle with sin. And when we see them fail to struggle with sin, then surely we should stand up.
So Phil, if I believed that your demonhunter t-shirt was sinful and that you were wearing it, the Biblical model is that I would tell you so (gently of course), then, having been told where to go, I would find another elder or two to join me in approaching you, so that the case can be established before two or three witnesses. Finally, the leadership should expel you from amongst us. Hmmm. Somewhere in there, somebody should have the wisdom to realise that wearing a demonhunter t-shirt is not sin (though it can be sin if...).
A similar thing should occur with your example of shopping on Sunday. Somebody should address you about it, and those people who have a problem with your (and my) shopping habits should seek witnesses, then bring it before the elders, who, you would hope would be able to gently explain that Christ has fulfilled the Sabbath and that the idea of a Sabbath is useful, however, to legalistically observe the Sabbath on the Sunday, is ironic because the Sabbath was traditionally on the Saturday... I digress.
My point is as follows: we do not follow at all well the Biblical model for church governance.
As a fairly significant aside, if my memory serves me correct, the directive is to approach a brother in sin, not a neighbour. I hypothesise that we should not be reproaching somebody whose name we don't even know. We might be brothers in Christ, but if we don't know somebody at all, how can we be sure of this?
This then culminates in the following observations:
The Bible is culturally unacceptable, and therefore unethical.
As Christians, we are judged and condemned by the world.
As Christians, we know that Christ has died for our sins, but that if we do not accept either our sins or his payment for it, we are condemned.
We see evidence of this acceptance or denial in the way that we live. We either struggle with sin, or we do not.
There is a Biblical foundation for being judgemental towards those who we know are claiming to be Christians but are not struggling with sin, but are defeated by it.
These people should be admonished, and barring change, they should be expelled from the community that they may repent and be saved.
There is no Biblical foundation for being judgemental towards those who are struggling in sin, towards those who are not claiming to be Christians and we should be very wary about addressing sin in the lives of others, because, more often than not, we do not understand the full story - we do not see the hidden struggles, we do not know the heart.
Penultimately, we should encourage and build each other up in Christ, trying to help people in their struggles, and not be a hindrance (as was the case in "Saved").
And finally, but most importantly, we must rely on Christ, the author and perfector of our faith. Without Christ, it is all futile.
Post a Comment
<< Home