This is my second attempt at putting this post online, and I have written it in my mind numerous times over the past few days.
I read a post on one of my favorite blogs the other day: it was Jon Acuff's "Stuff Christians Like", his Thursday post really pushed my buttons. Therefore I am going to address it here; you may want to stop over and read it before reading the remainder of this post, it's called "#586 Not Forgiving Amy Grant Nearly Fast Enough".
I have liked Amy Grant since I discovered her music in the early eighties - I think contemporary Christian music owes alot to her.
When her popularity reached a peak among Christian audiences, she seemed to begin to insert more and more "cross-over" music into her work. Crossover music plays well on Christian radio as well as Top 40 radio.
Her overt references to a relationship with Jesus became less and less, opting instead for good "positive" music with references that could be applied to any loving relationship.
I think Amy Grant walked away from Christian music and hasn't shown any serious signs of wanting to come back.
But that is not the point of my contention.
I think it is time to address this subject of judgmentalism. Jon in his characteristic sarcasm (which is why I love to read his posts) says that he did not burn Amy's CD's; instead he put them in his "judging box" until he decides what to do with them.
I would like to point out that in the ranks of western Christianity there are two camps that occupy equal and opposite ends of the spectrum.
Both notions are wrong.
On the one end we have legalism, judgmentalism and other hypocritical and sometimes "Pharisaical" mindsets. This line of thinking gives Christians a bad name these days. It is how we are portrayed in the media: in fact I would say you could count on one hand, the number of serial killers and rapists that are portrayed in the American entertainment industry - that were not whacked out because of some over-bearing "Christian" or else they rely on some extreme "Christian" zeal to justify their misdeeds.
Judging others is - in most cases - wrong. It is sin.
The problem is that folks that occupy that end of the spectrum are easy prey to all who oppose Christianity; and yet they also find themselves "piled onto" by much of the Christian segment of the population. So they seem to have enemies everywhere.
That makes for a very lonely state.
Paul found it necessary to lash out against this kind of legalism. In an instance recorded in Galatians 2, he saw his colleague, Simon Peter leaning toward legalism and called him on it. Peter's visionary encounter with God in the early days of the Church had led to the realization that the Kingdom of God would be made up of not only Jews, but also non-Jews.
Peter was adapting to this new realization by fellowshiping with non-Jews and even eating with them (this was forbidden under strict Jewish law). On one occasion, Paul saw Peter eating with non-Jews - but when some of his old-school friends entered the room, Peter quickly separated himself from the non-Jews in old-school fashion.
Paul saw this as legalism and "withstood Peter" to his face. We would say he "got up in his face".
But wasn't Paul judging Peter?
And Jesus, when He spoke out against the hypocrisy of the "Scribes and Pharisees" wasn't He judging their actions?
These questions bring us to the other side of the spectrum: on that end is the opposite of legalism, it is the camp of license.
That is the "pretty-much-anything-goes-as-long-as-it's-done-in-love" crowd.
As I have said, it is popular in America these days to pounce on traditionalism and legalism, but 35 or 50 years ago, I would say that it was the license camp that was getting trounced. People in general took a harsh view of sin and compromise.
Unwed mothers were deemed a stigma to society. Divorce, promiscuity, substance abuse, homosexuality, all these issues were dealt with in a harsh fashion by the society as a whole.
As a society, we deal with these issues differently now - and some of that is very good.
But in some ways, we may have gone too far.
Again, Jesus was pretty harsh when He lashed out against the practices of the Scribes and Pharisees... He did not follow up His rebukes with any cushioning statements like - "...but I understand how you feel - I find myself mistreating people at times..." that would be ridiculous.
Yet it is not unusual for us to try and soften any of our references to sin by pointing out that we are no different.
But we are called to be different. In our effort to become more engaging, non-confrontational and "conversational"... we are at risk of becoming no different from the world.
Paul also dealt with the issue of license in a church setting. In 1st Corinthians 5, Paul addressed an issue that had arisen in the church. Apparently there was an inappropriate relationship going on between a man and his step-mother. And it seems, that this church was very "open-minded" and "tolerant" toward this behavior.
Paul counseled them to deal in a fairly harsh manner with these folks - cutting off all fellowship with them until they realized their need for repentance.
Was Paul being judgmental?
Of course he was being judgmental, but it was called for in this case.
I am reading Jerry Bridges', "Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate" (NAVPRESS 2007), and he has a chapter on "Judgmentalism" which is helping to straighten out some of my thinking on this matter.
He talks about judging based on Biblical mandates and judging based on our own personal convictions without the backing of sound Biblical arguments: perhaps that is where we should draw the line on when judging is called for and when it is wrong.
As far as Amy Grant is concerned. Maybe we Christians should welcome her back but how would she know that we had? What would be our sign to her that it was okay for her to pour her creative energies back into the Christian market?
For that matter - where is the public outcry for Christians to forgive Jimmy Swaggart?
My guess is that Swaggart and Amy Grant came from opposite ends of that aforementioned spectrum. So we should welcome Amy but Swaggart can just flail away in the wind.
God calls us to balance; not compromise - but to look at things through the prism of His love and His sovereignty.
Jerry Bridges recommended a reading of Romans 14 and in that chapter, Paul reminds us that we should follow the things which make for peace...
Peace among the folks that occupy the kingdom of God. We can better attain that when we remember that God is the Master and to his own Master each one of us stands or falls.
When we follow the things that make for peace among us - don't you think we will look very different to the world.
Don't you think that difference will be compelling?
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