Mirror, Mirror.

We mirror our understanding of what God's nature is.

If our understanding is that God is angry, judgmental, schizophrenic, a conditional lover and discriminates, we become that.

If our understanding is that God is love (without any but's), we become that.

You are no more a Christian than you are a rocket scientist

"Really tired of "Christians" judging who is and isn't saved, who's right and who's wrong, who's good and who's bad. You are no more a Christian than you are a rocket scientist. If you're really a Christian, you're supposed to be known for your love for one another - not being right. Now shut the hell up and love someone." :-)

- Jackson Baer 

Spurgeon's Cigar

Allegedly, Charles Spurgeon invited D.L. Moody to speak at an event he hosted.

Moody accepted and preached the entire time about the evils of tobacco, and why the Lord doesn’t want Christians to smoke.

Spurgeon, a cigar smoker, was surprised at what seemed to be a cheap shot leveled by Moody, using the pulpit to condemn a fellow minister.

When Moody finished preaching, Spurgeon walked up to the podium and said, “Mr. Moody, I’ll put down my cigars when you put down your fork.”

Moody was overweight.

 

“Christians get very angry toward other Christians who sin differently than they do.” - Philip Yancey

The above story and the quotation is an excerpt from Frank Viola's new book - Beyond Evangelical.

 

One may argue that Spurgeon was not right to respond to condemnation with condemnation (actually, someone did mention this in a thread on Facebook). My take on that opinion is that there is a difference between condemnation and popping the self-righteous bubbles. Jesus constantly popped the Pharisees' self-righteousness when they judged and condemned from their high thrones (I'm not implying that one has to make a vocation out of popping the bubbles). 

We can only speculate if Spurgeon was doing either here. Regardless of what his intent may have been here, the best antidote to self-righteous judgments is the Law itself - the same tool that is used to pronounce the judgement. This is one reason why the Law is a greasy slope. The moment I judge or condemn a person using the Law, I slide myself alongside with the same person, for the Law is partial to no one.

Fortunately, we don't have to judge or condemn anyone, because sin was nailed to the cross and without the sin, there is no need for the Law. Without the Law, we do not have an ammunition to judge and/or condemn another.

On Comments

I briefly experimented with the idea of open comments. That is, I do not verify the comments before approving them.  I may not necessarily agree with a wide variety of Christian interpretations out there, but that does not mean that I cannot have an open discourse. 

The only thing that the experiment showed me was that it was a magnet for Anonymous comments. First of all, I do not understand why someone has to to hide behind the Anonymous mask, considering the fact that I am not posting about matters on national security here. Regardless, I ignored and allowed it. As long as the content was relevant to the posts, it did not matter. But what I do not have, is the time or the inclination for plain judgmental negativity.

Case in point. This is the comment that I received from an Anonymous poster for the post on Steve Jobs: 

"“I wanted my kids to know me. I wasn’t always there for them, and I wanted them to know why…” Steve Jobs

I am sad for Jobs’ children.

And I am equally sad for a nation who praises and glorifies a man simply because he achieved much in the world of business and technology. That’s a polite way to say it, I suppose. Maybe it would be more accurate, or at least more pointed, to say it this way: I am saddened that we worship a man simply because he gave us phones with touch screens.*

How I wish our society honored those men who love their families with a love that is second only to their love for God."

My response to the Anonymous commenter: 

Someone once said, "Judge not, that you be not judged". He also said, "Love your enemies." I doubt Steve Jobs is your enemy, but still, love others by abiding in Him, even when they don't fit your high standards, because that is exactly what Jesus did for you and I. Without love, we are nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. And there is no love in conditional love. I wish you the very best.

And that concludes my brief experimentation with the 'open comments'.

I will no longer be accepting comments from 'Anonymous' or 'Unknown' either. 

If you are a blogger, how do you handle comments?

Why is Judging Bad?

What exactly is wrong with judging someone? Why is this very negative activity frowned upon, when we know that the person we judge "deserves" our tongue or thought lashing? 

Judging and condemning others is bad, not because it is impolite or because Jesus exploded at this venomous negativity.

When the faithful religious crowd was about to stone a woman, Jesus said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” 

Once it finally hits us, that all of us needs His Grace, then our reaction would automatically be, "how can I judge someone?".