FACEBOOK POLICE: When we judge others by their posts, but ourselves by our convictions
We all face the wrath of the “Facebook Police” at one time or another, telling us what we should and shouldn’t believe and what we can and cannot write on our personal pages – teaching us ‘the truth‘ and helping us move from ignorance to being informed. But, truth be told, we have all been part of the Facebook Police at one time or another as well. We all love to comment on posts we disagree with but hate it when we are subject to comments and unkind posts ourselves. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m guilty of this transgression as well. We all judge others by their posts, but we judge ourselves by our convictions. We all live with a certain sense of superiority when reading the posts of those who still ‘need to discover the truth’.
The question is, can we tolerate the posts of others when they quote unbelievers, non-believers, or false-believers. Isn’t it our Biblical duty to respond with the truth and expose the lies and falsehoods?
The short answer:
Sure! But do it on your own page. I need to allow people to write what they believe on their page and take the liberty to write what I believe on my page. Remember, no one is as far removed from the truth as those who think they own the truth. We probably expose our own hearts more than the fallacy of those we are trying to expose when we invade their privacy.
I have however adopted a more comprehensive approach when being criticized or when reading posts I disagree with, and here it is:
The long answer
I have discovered, regrettably through my own erroneous obstinacy and self-justified prejudice as a young believer, that the one single biggest obstacle to building capacity is selective learning; a false teachability that only accepts the teachings of those we agree with — or should I say those who agree with us.
We love to learn on a horizontal level where our uncertainties are never exposed, our fallacies never challenged, and our opinions always confirmed, even when proven wrong. We seldom venture into a vertical level of excavation where we learn from those who think differently than we do.
Think about the Protestant mindset rejecting Catholic teaching simply because it is Catholic, and vice versa. Or the reformed reasoning rejecting the charismatic experience, and vice versa. There are the conservatives and the liberals, the creationists and the evolutionists, the Orthodox and the Evangelical, the revolutionary and the pacifist, the pre-millennium and post-millennium, the persecuted and the prosperous – all reluctant to acknowledge that the other group might possess any wisdom that could be useful for spiritual growth. The doctrinal walls that block exposed wisdom are endless.
Even Jesus suffered under prejudice when He started His ministry because of where He came from, and His teachings were challenged even before He opened His mouth. “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. (John 1:46)
“Come and see!” said Philip.
I need to remind myself when reading articles, posts, and perspectives of the words of Philip. “Come and see. Don’t shun the Nazarene. Be open to be challenged while you firmly hold on to your own convictions.” You do not have to agree with everything, but don’t disregard the “Nazarene” because of cultural or doctrinal prejudice.
I love to use quotes from all kinds of people, for good reason. Some are seen to be wolves in sheep clothing, but they still have some valuable wisdom to contribute. Some are described as Christian pagans, some are said to be ecumenical Roman Catholics, some are labelled part of the Emerging Church movement, some are described as being self-help gurus, some are considered New Agers and some even secular psychiatrists.
My invitation is as follows: After nearly 40 years in ministry I have learnt that the Lord has not limited His wisdom to Christians only. I have come to understand that God can even reveal His purposes to His prophet through the mouth of a donkey[1]. The challenge in the Biblical story of Balaam is not to look at the donkey for wisdom but simply to see it as the vessel of a Godly oracle. Balaam missed the point completely, as we so often do as well. It might do us all well at times to listen to those we disagree with (the “donkeys”, in our eyes) in order to understand that the wisdom of God stretches further than our own theologies.
So why the need to resort to these un- or non-Christian sources when we have the wealth of Scripture from which to learn? Would it not be better to simply feed the reader with words from Christ and the apostles, rather than with stories from people who might not even be Christian? My answer is three-fold:
Firstly, this is exactly the same question the disciples asked Jesus (Matthew 13:10)[2] . “Why do you speak in parables?” And to make matters worse for those who followed the Teacher from a cultural position, was the fact that the parables often included pagans, sinners, religious illiterate, the unsaved and enemies of the Jews: Women, Samaritans and Romans. Why not simply quote the prophets, why refer to those who were culturally and religiously offensive?
Jesus’s primary goal was to educate and engage people in the Kingdom of God, not to teach Scripture per se. Jesus always honored and often idealized good, holy non-Jews, like the Samaritan man (Luke 10:29-37), the Roman centurion (Matthew 8:5-13), and the Syro-Phoenician woman (Mark 7:24-30). The intent of the religion He taught was never to bring about a greater schism between heaven and earth and divinity and humanity but to provide the links that joined the two together in the hearts and minds of people. The stories Jesus shared did just that. Jesus understood that sharing earthly stories with a heavenly meaning would be easier remembered and more clearly understood. Stories always contain symbolism and analogies that people identify with (salt, bread, sheep, etc.) and their meaning was fairly clear in the context of His teaching. Jesus also recognised the fact that stories have a time-release effect; they plant seeds that sprout later. He frequently used this method to illustrate profound and divine truths so that the principles conveyed would be like seeds planted in fertile soil. The Good Samaritan is an excellent example (by the way, in the hearts of the audience this alone was a contradiction in terms. Good and Samaritan were not two words to be used in the same sentence). How many of us would have remembered the principle of loving our neighbour if it was not for the pagan Samaritan in the story of Jesus?
Matthew Henry explains as follows: “A parable is a shell that contains good fruit for the diligent, but keeps it from the slothful. The disciples did not say, ‘Why do you speak to US in parables? (they knew how to get the parables explained) but to ‘THEM’. We ought to be concerned for the edification of others, as well as for our own, by the word preached; and if ourselves be strong, yet to bear the infirmities of the weak.”
Secondly, I am a firm believer that ALL wisdom comes from God even if it is uttered by those who do not fully acknowledge Him in a way that fits into our theological boxes. In Him alone are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge[3]. I firmly believe we have much to learn from everyone on earth because every human being was created in the image of God with a certain sense of a God-understanding in their lives. BUT, in saying this, I do not imply that every word uttered by every creature on earth is truth. I therefore use the following criteria when quoting people:
- Is the principle being conveyed consistent with Scripture? If it contradicts Scripture, then it is obviously not Truth and therefore not usable. All the “parables” (stories and quotes) used in the book are consistent with the Truth of Scripture. Nothing contradicts Scripture or the character of God. I am certainly not promoting the people I quote – I am promoting the principles of Scripture.
- Is the attitude endorsed consistent with the character of Christ? Does it promote the non-negotiables that Christ taught: forgiveness, peace, brokenness, simplicity, acceptance, etc?
- Thirdly, I believe that God’s truth is often revealed in cultures that do not know Him, and yet have a sense of God that we can learn from – not because of who they are but because of who God is! The “wolf-story” from a Cherokee Indian tribe on page 93 illustrates this principle.
So, “come and see!”
- [1] Numbers 22:28 Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”
- [2] Matthew 13:10-13 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.”
- [3] Colossians 2:2-3 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.