The Bible tells us not to judge. Judgment is best left to the ultimate determiner of right and wrong, God. jesus a gospel of love we should not judge is to protect our own reputation. We tend to judge loudest against our own sins that we see in other people. We project onto others because we don’t like to see the mirror image of our sins. Look closely at what upsets you in other people and you will see yourself. We tend to be indifferent about the sins of others that we don’t own ourselves. Judging others is also a dishonest way of praising ourselves and it may also reflect doubts in our own faith.
But if no one on Earth is passing judgment, who defends the faith? I believe God wants us to defend the faith. Not in the terms of a Torquemada style inquisition, but in terms of a Pauline style of apologetics. I think it can be done as long as you are discussing the behavior and not the person.
So here are some of my favorite outrageous Christian behaviors. I know I own some of these sins, but I’m pretty sure I don’t own all of them. So here I go, in no particular order (at least I don’t think so).
The Self-righteous Christian- I know that is redundant and we are all guilty. Try to remember that there are only two reasons why one should witness. First, Jesus told you to do it. Second, because you love your fellow man. If you are self-righteous about your faith, this means your faith is in your faith and not in Jesus Christ. Don’t make threats of eternal damnation (I’m saved and you’re doomed to Hell.). Reach out to people out of a spirit of love, like Christ did. Yes, He occasionally spoke about damnation, and the fate of the unsaved is clear, but He seemed to reserve those speeches for the phony religious leaders. People who are very confrontational about their faith are probably wrestling with their own doubt. Christ took the calm approach because He knew the truth.
The Christian Theodicies- Sorry, I couldn’t think of a better word. These are the people who speak for God outside of a Biblical context. The kinds who claim they know what God’s divine judgment or other motives are when looking at current events. The kinds that say, “Hurricane Katrina wiped out New Orleans because it was a sinful city.” I don’t know why Christian people like to do this. I guess they are just trying to make some sense out of a seemingly senseless world. Now I can’t make an outright claim that these examples are not divine intervention, but one really shouldn’t speak on God’s behalf. Besides, Katrina steamrollered a huge area outside of New Orleans. Did God miss the mark that day? Personally, I try to stay with the Job approach. Though God loves me, He doesn’t owe me an explanation for what He does. The Holy Spirit is probably doing me a favor by leaving me out of the loop.
