Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Christians Policing other Christians is Problematic




Matthew 7:1-2 "Do not judge or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.




I have mentioned some of this in my a post from my first blog on the topic of legalism. However, I want to go further on this next post regarding how Christians  I have researched many Christian sites on post and articles on several topics and I can't count the times, I stumbled upon an article by posted by a Christian author including a pastor or even a blog where they felt the need to delegate what other Christians should or should not do regarding the choices in their lives in order to to be a "True Christian".

 This goes from what other Christians should watch on TV examples like horror, soap operas, R-rated films, any show or film that contains negative things that we Christians don't condone.  Or reading certain books, like fiction horror, Harry Potter series or Twilight, romance novels that have lovemaking out of wedlock.  Other topics involved are whether Christians should have tattoos, dye their, women cutting their hair, wearing makeup, doing yoga, martial arts, go dancing, clubbing, dating, ever drink alcohol, how far is too far in a relationship and the list goes on.   It seems like these authors view themselves as more of a expert in how to live a godly life and feel it's their need to tell others what to do in which they all need to follow his/her personal standards or else they're not a true believer.

Another problem is that these Christians turn a Christianity into a long list of dos and don't over every aspect in a Christian's life or else God will condemn us. I recently read two positive posts, one from Jeffrey Curtis Poor's blog "Rethink" titled "Christians Stop Being the Moral Police" and John Shore's  "What Non-Christians Want Christians To Hear" from his blog at Patheos "Above All, Love, Unfundamentalist Christians".  He is also the author the book "I'm Okay, You're Not: The Message We're Sending Nonbelievers and Why We Should Stop".  Of course, their arguments are related to Christians attitudes towards non-Christians or non practicing Christians, but the actions are the same regarding passing too much judgment, quick to condemn, narrow-mindedness, condescension etc.

The main motto for these so-called Christians is to wag their fingers and criticize as well as shame others who don't fit into their one-size-fits all philosophy on what a real believer should or shouldn't do often with self-righteous, sanctimonious, holier-than-thou attitudes. This is mostly built out of legalistic rules from their own interpretation of the bible, the need to feel morally superior to others and just the need to feel all knowing, self-important like they're are the true paragon of a true Christ follower and others should just listen to them.  For the most part, plenty of these Christians are well-meaning in their posts of articles and youtube videos as they believe they're helping their fellow believers out a little on how to live righteously and not stray away from Christ and possibly go down the wrong path on the naive belief what they're doing is not harmful.

But fact remains, there isn't one size fit all way to live as true Christian over issues that isn't mentioned or right out condemned in the bible nor anything that is outright against God's will.  Making a long list of man-made legalistic rules of what and what not to do isn't benefiting or building up the Christian community, as many will be confused with different points of views of what a "true Christian" should be and what is acceptable and what isn't.  In fact, these rules are basically built on the need to police and control, installing fear of of sin or looking for sin even when it isn't there.  It also encourages believers to live under law rather than grace where they bear a  heavy guilt when they break the so-called rules or don't live up to them and always looking for ways to score points with God or seek approval from other fellow believers on minor things on how to live a godly life.

As for me, I try to avoid delegating what other Christians should and shouldn't do especially involving matters that isn't biblically-mandated even though I may make a few exceptions but I desire not to live on a long list of rules on what to do and what not in order to live a Christ following life.  Instead playing moral police and policing others, I just focus on continuing to strengthen my relationship with God, grow more spiritually, read the bible whenever I can if not grow everyday, not worry so much if I stumble now and then as none of us are perfect will never be, we are all inclined to sin once and a while but keep embracing Jesus in my life and strive to live under grace rather than law.

 Reading books by Pastor Joseph Prince has helped me a lot and watching his show everyday.  I think the true thing Christians should do is to just receive Christ, keep him the center of your life focus less on on a what-to-do lists and just take it from there.

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