Fruit of the Spirit from Christ Church Cathedral Dublin
I recently have been involved in some Facebook discussions (I know, I know) with people from my past who are libertarians or evangelical conservatives. I get pretty riled during this conversations, then sad that people that I once respected and liked are now so different from me. This is especially sad in the the case of Christians who fall in the conservative evangelical bucket, because we are supposed to have the same faith.
Why does this make me sad? Because I believe people’s political beliefs are a reflection of their values. My values come from my faith, which in turn comes from a mixture of deep Biblical study, reading the Church Fathers, experience, liturgy, community, and constant reflection. My faith calls me to find a balance between being kind and being prophetic - the Bible is pretty clear that sometimes these two can’t happen at the same time. Look at Moses at Mt. Sinai, almost all the Prophets, and Jesus when dealing with Pharisees and the moneychangers in the Temple.
When I see someone who is a Christian saying things that are obviously not Christian, what should I do? Jesus says not to judge others, but the better interpretation there is probably “Don’t condemn others”, not “Don’t evaluate others.” Paul lays out a process for discipline within a congregation, but it isn’t clear that the process works outside of congregations or in our distributed and connected world. The Prophets were not afraid to use harshness or hyperbole to call people’s attention to their errors.
So it seems like there are a variety of ways for me to approach fellow Christians who are not speaking and acting in ways that are aligned with the faith. They range from gentle, private conversations to public “calling out”. How do I know which one to use in different situations?
Right now, I’m looking at the example of Jesus. Generally speaking, Jesus is gentle to those whose sins harm mostly themselves. He is harsh with those whose sins cause others to suffer, like the Pharisees, teachers of the law, temple merchants, or Paul when he forbids Jesus from fulfilling his role.
Therefore, I am likely to speak harshly to those people, especially Christians, who speak or act in accordance with political beliefs that perpetuate the oppression of others. This is because political beliefs are a reflection of that person’s values. If they claim to be a Christian and don’t act in accordance with their faith, they are like the Israelites before the exile, the Pharisees, or the merchants in the temple.