Tuesday, November 25, 2014

All Rise!


Without knowing it, we judge people every single day. People who wake up early consider late risers to be slothful; speeders despise the person doing five miles per hour below the speed limit in the left lane; most New Englanders - depending on which side of the Connecticut River they live - add the word sucks to Yankees or anything New York related as a superiority of Boston, Providence, Hartford, Portland, New Haven, and so forth; and even our children have picked up on it:  they play with the kids who have the same things they do and dress . Judgmentalism is prevalent in small homogeneous towns and even in medium sized ones [think: Conway > Cabot] when both are more similar than not. As a result, we eventually become intolerable to be around because we are so busy tearing people down due to insecurities. 
Every day, we are walking a fine line between judgment and judgmentalism:  the former is holding people to a standard we did not create (Thou shalt not kill, commit adultery, covet, etc.) and the latter is thinking ourselves morally superior because we haven't committed the acts of others, such as not using your turn signals when changing lanes on the highway. While murder is commonly frowned upon as a universal sin and rightfully deserving of its punishment, we fail not only each other but our Father when we claim an artificial standard such as looking down on beer drinkers because you do not partake in the consumption. I like beer, but it is for the taste NOT to get drunk. If you see me at Vino's with a locally brewed pint of porter, it is because I prefer the taste of it as opposed to reaching intoxication. 
We all have the right to respectfully disagree with each other and tear down policy, but where we fail as a race is when we diminish the value of a fellow human being simply because you do not like his/her politics or personal behavior is not a good strategy for persuading him/her to change. It also raises the level of invective, which is not only injurious to our politics but also to the one contributing to the vitriolic atmosphere. 
What is the primary objective in debate? It is to persuade one another to accept our superior view, if not consider it. Criticism is a double-edge sword; are you being objective in your argument, or exercising moral superiority? If it is the latter, then you just committed the sin of pride. Proverbs 16:18 reminds us that pride comes before destruction - and if you disagree, keep living.

Public exposure of private sins reminds us of our own cover ups. Just because James is a womanizer does not mean for Mary to look down on him, as she may be a vain character - explain her multiple Botox surgeries, a medicine cabinet full of makeup, closet full of clothing with the price tags still on them, and the obsession of taking daily selfies. Each of us is capable of doing the same things we abhor given the right circumstances and opportunity. It does not provide an excuse to be a racist or Pharisee or Sadducee, but it does explain the action.
Over in Matthew 7:1-6, Jesus invokes for us not to judge because it can and often will come back around to us. For example, middle- and upper-class people tend to look with disgust when the underclass revolt against a verdict that they disagree with by stealing merchandise and destroying the stores in their communities since they do not live, much less associate with them. What would happen if when a police officer got away with killing a child the 'hood came and executed his family and everyone in the political structure established before him to protect "law and order"? In 'Merica, you know who I am talking about. I am by no means advocating violence, but it (and racism) are this nation's greatest exports - even over McDonald's, General Motors/Ford, and Wal-Mart. 
To overcome judgmentalism - and public shaming:
  • Know thyself. Take a look in the mirror. If you don't have any skeletons in the closet, you're not looking deep enough. 
  • Know Christ. Earlier, I've pointed that Jesus is the best example to follow. He did unconditionally love all of us saints and sinners alike; try being closer to Him and less like ourselves.
  • Know the Pharisees and Sadducees. Some people will always cherry-pick facts and the ministry to defend their points of view. Pharisees were the people in our day who thought they were perfect and stayed comfortably in their lanes. They primarily kept the things that were easy to follow, used blustery language to describe it, and ignored the hard stuff. Sadducees were the people who were unconcerned about the world surrounding them because it was not in their realm. While today's Pharisees may be seen at Tea Party rallies, our modern-day Sadducees are busying themselves with pushing a plutocracy and generally unaffected by dissent until their pocketbooks are significantly impacted. 
  • Confess thyself. We have to let others know of our sins and struggles. You don't have to tell everybody how much dope you sold out of that apartment in Ashbury Court or how many women you and your line brothers "set out" in your early twenties. Confession means going public with things we have kept private; once this happens, we realize we don't have a leg to stand on and others know it. 
Showing grace is an extremely radical concept. If we're able to do this, it will save us from the prisons of self-righteousness. Who knows, you may even gain a friend and influence people for the rightful cause of Christ. 

Remember, the sins of some people are obvious, leading them to certain judgment. But there are others whose sins will not be revealed until later. - 1 Timothy 5:24





Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Keep your comments civil and clean. If you have to hide behind anonymous or some false identity, then you're part of the problem with comment sections. Grow up and stand up for your words/actions.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)