I was skimming Facebook the other day and I was struck by how many posts by churches, organizations and even just people that were flooded with unnecessary comments from people who are not affiliated with them. Of course, most of these comments were judgmental, negative, anti-something, policing in nature, etc. And since I, myself, have been victim of "good Christian folk" just thinking they have the right to police me, well, this is all just rubbing me the wrong way. So here you go and note that I am writing in plural...lumping myself in the middle of all this because I am not perfect and G-d knows I'm guilty of this:
Stop it! Stop being judgmental pricks! Just stop!
You know, Church (universal), if we spent half the time worrying about our own crap, our own message, our own behavior, our own mission, as we do worrying about what other churches or people are doing or the message we think they're giving or how what they're doing might make us look ...we might actually make a difference in the world!
It's absolutely shameful that people who have no intention of attending, partnering with or encouraging another body of Christ feel it is their responsibility to police that other body. Likewise, it's shameful when brothers and sisters in Christ feel they have the right to police individuals for the language they use or for drinking or whatever. Sometimes we act like a bunch of bullies! Like the Pharisees that Jesus called out for the pious, legalistic, judgmental and hypocritical ways. "Let you who has no sin throw the first stone." But we're like the Pharisees, we like to throw those who aren't doing things the way we want or we would out...naked...hoping that they are stoned to death.
It's our judgment towards one another that makes us a joke! We are not all supposed to look alike. We aren't even supposed to think alike beyond our shared love for Jesus. We all approach ministry differently as we should be.
If there's a church out there that you don't go to and you have no intention of going to because you don't like them anyways, why are you trolling their media? Why do you feel it necessary to intervene or give your opinion? It's not your faith community, leave it alone! Quite frankly, it ain't your business! If you think they've done something out of line, guess what? 1) you are not the judge and 2) Jesus is. He'll deal with it. He doesn't need your help, your defense, your gossip and he definitely doesn't need your hatred. In fact, Jesus says love your enemies. It's sad, that another Church can be our enemy, but hey, our actions show that to be true.
So Church, can we just stop? Stop being judgmental pricks? Stop thinking that we have the right to police one another? Stop trolling Churches that we have no intention of going to? Stop telling people what they should or shouldn't say as a fellow Christian? Stop judging people for doing things that we wouldn't do? Can we just stop?
Can we instead be the followers of Christ that He called? You know, the ones that are known by their love for one another? The ones that even though they are different, they honor one another. The ones that don't gossip about one another. The ones that don't slander and judge one another. The ones that see God in every human being no matter how different they are.
