I have two Pastor friends. One of them was sending out a "verse of the day". I enjoyed getting them and made comments when the Spirit moved me to do so. He sent me one that amazed me and I had to comment. It didn't go over well.
"Judge not, lest ye be judged" was the verse, but his interpretation of it was disturbing, to say the least. His verse of the day always came with his own comment, and this one really surprised me. He thinks the verse means that we aren't allowed to consider any behavior bad and to never be "judgmental" regardless of what we see happening. He thinks Christians should never take a stand against evil!
We argued politely for a few replies and he told me that since I hadn't provided any Scripture to support my position, I must be wrong. So I contacted my other Pastor friend and asked him what he thought. He immediately replied with a series of quotes that clearly proved my case. The first Pastor hasn't spoken to me since...
Christians were slave owners, true. But Christians also led the fight to free the slaves. If things had been done his way, we'd still have slavery. Bishop Roncaldi rescued hundreds (if not thousands) of Jewish children from the Nazi's during World War 2, by forging passports for them and saved their lives. But had my Pastor friend been there, he would have cautioned the Bishop against being "judgmental". Bishop Roncaldi, by the way, later became Pope John XXIII. Today we have another terrible wrong to deal with. Abortion. My Pastor friend apparently considers it "above his pay grade" to care whether babies (Gods most innocent creatures and special gifts) are being slaughtered on a horrifying scale. Much like Dr. Tiller's Pastor, perhaps.
My other Pastor friend, for whom I have great respect, is willing to take a stand against evil and speak out. If Christians permit evil to continue when they could stand against it, they are standing against God.
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Hi SL,
ReplyDeleteOne of my biggest heroes is William Wilberforce. I really admire him for his campaign to stop slavery. It's a good example of how we should sometimes speak out against what we know to be wrong.
And in terms of your friend's comment, just because somebody doesn't know exactly where to find evidence for something in the bible does not mean they're necessarily wrong. Not all of us know our bibles cover to cover. And also some things that are right or wrong don't have a very clear, specific bible verses that points this out.
Liz
Hi Liz! The first pastor certainly had access to a Bible and should have been willing to reply when he got the Scriptures he asked for. But he literally quit speaking to me! My own Bible was among the several dozen things that I still can't find since the move, but I'm thankful that Lester was able to come to the rescue!
ReplyDeleteHi-We had a homily the other day from a priest who explained the 'judge' bible quote to us and he said that God meant this to be only about whether a person goes to Heaven or hell...He said it has nothing to do with making opinions about right and wrong and saying so when 'called' to do this...So bravo for writing this...
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