One of the most ignored themes of the Bible is also one of the main themes of the Bible; “Do not judge.” Even those without rudimentary biblical knowledge can loosely quote Matthew 7:1. In case you do not have it memorized, it says, “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged.”
Jesus, in his interaction with a woman accused of violating a social norm (Matthew 8), makes it clear that God does not judge. On a side note, we must also note that although the social law of Judea called for the stoning of both the man and woman in a case regarding adultery, only the woman was brought to Jesus to be killed. The Pharisees’ fallacious claim of obeying the Scriptures led them to become history’s symbol of hypocrisy.
In the modern conservative Church, we see the same hypocrisy. There are many who claim to know the mind of God; spuriously, they claim to know who is accepted by God and who is rejected by God. Anyone who disagrees with their social comfort is labeled as following a false God, all in the name of keeping the church “pure” and teaching the “truth.”
It is interesting, however, that while all others are rejected by God, they claim all of them are accepted by God. While they claim to know the Bible, they seem to be ignorant of a large portion of it, at least Matthew 7:1, Matthew 8:7, and many others like it. In their arrogance, they claim that they have the power to determine which passage of the Bible is the truth and which part is no longer relevant. They claim to be ersatz for God.
Jesus addresses this kind of braggadocio in Matthew 13:24-30. In the Parable of the Weeds, even though the farmer tried to plant only the good seeds, weeds appeared. When the servant asks what to do, the farmer tells the servant to leave them alone. The danger of losing one small, faithful growth was far greater than a bunch of weeds prospering.
The Scriptural truth is that the Church is called to think of others better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3) and have an honest opinion of ourselves (Romans 12:3). We are not to judge others as weeds and ourselves as the wheat. If anything, we are to think that we are nothing more than weeds in comparison to others. We are also supposed to think that others are far more deserving to go to heaven than ourselves. We are to have humility.
The modern conservative Church camouflages its fabricated authority, feigned truth, and spiritual façade through the charade of preaching the truth. The truth, however, is that their truth is a lie. God must be the judge, not humans.
We must no longer blindly offer fraudulence of institutional religion but offer genuine experiences of God through acceptance and grace in our relationships.
Pastor Sunny
Comments