Posted on by Abe Austin

The Mote in the Other Eye- The Problem of Others

Who’s to Blame)

Everyone knows someone who is making the world worse. Everyone can identify popular ideals and propaganda that are harming society. Everyone knows who is to blame for things being the way that they are right now. Everyone knows how they’d like to change the world if they could. And people certainly make their opinions known. My news feeds and social media threads are constantly inundated with criticisms and accusations of “them.”

And I cannot claim to have never taken part in this pastime either. I could speak at great length about who I see as responsible for the greatest problems in the world today, and the deep resentment that I’ve harbored towards them.

But part of me has always felt guilty when my mind goes to that place. Part of me knows that at some point I crossed the line from “judging righteous judgment” to full-on condemning. Part of me knows that my desire to make everyone do what is right is not actually from God. It’s a sneaky misstep, because it’s oriented towards trying to establish ‘right,’ but its method of control is evil.

Focus Inward)

When I consider all of this, I am reminded of the words of Jesus: “How wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?” Matthew 7:4. When I hear this, I realize that I’m not just wrong for letting my heart be filled with condemnation for another, but also because it has distracted me from focusing on the problems of my own side.

Of course, Jesus also suggested that after one had cleaned his own eye then he would see clearly enough to clean another’s. Honestly, I can’t speak to that, because I genuinely don’t feel that I am there yet. I suspect there are few who are. My focus for now is still on the first half of Jesus’s words.

The Reason for Reluctance)

I also want to make clear nowhere in Jesus’s injunction to focus on our own eye does he suggest that the other side doesn’t have problems. Even with my flawed judgment, I probably have identified some truly valid issues over on the other side. The idea that “they” need to change isn’t wrong, then, what’s wrong is thinking that I’m going to be the one to make them do it. I don’t have to stop my natural recognition of evil in the world, or condone any of it, but Christ is pointing out that everything would go much smoother if I acknowledged my own failings and worked on changing me, while “they” worked on changing “them.”

But what if I do work on me, and “they” don’t work on “them.” There is a real anxiety in this that manifests each time I try to pull myself back from policing the entire world. Tomorrow I will speak more at length on this fear, and how it can be remedied.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Loving Your Enemy vs Renouncing Evil- Summary

I’ve tried to focus this study on the words and example of Christ, using his behavior and attitudes as the model for his followers to emulate. By studying his example directly I have found two main takeaways. Let’s review each.

Steered Rightly)

The first lesson that I learned was that the correct action for a disciple to take in response to evil is more nuanced and case-specific than I had expected. I learned that we cannot just apply a static rule to predetermine each behavior for all time, but rather that we must have a living connection with God to steer us rightly in each and every situation.

In every great war there are times of attack, times of defense, and even times of strategic sacrifice. God is actively waging war with evil, across a front that is constantly shifting and moving. We are but foot-soldiers, with only a narrow view of the field. If we find ourselves waiting for orders we must conduct ourselves according to what seems best from our perspective, but when the higher command is given, it trumps anything that we thought up to that point. Only the General has the perspective over the whole, and knows the greater movements that are at play.

Perhaps we do not feel it in our nature to go on the offensive, publicly declaring truth and renouncing sin, but if the General needs a victory in this sector it is our duty to give it to Him. Perhaps it feels wrong to us to silently suffer oppression and derision, but if the General is allowing the enemy to make camp in our valley, we must be willing to pull back, remembering that this is but one step in His long and intricate dance.

In short, it is up to God when we are to be bold and when we are to be meek. There are examples when Christ was fierce, and examples when he was mild, all according to the larger, broader plan. So, too, it must be for us.

Our Limitations)

Something else that I learned from my study is that there are limitations on the acts permitted for Christ’s disciples to take. We are at times called to act in many different ways, but that doesn’t mean we are going to be called to act in every way. Some tactics are outside of our Master’s strategy guide, and we cannot employ them as His servants.

Most particularly, it is not for man to condemn another. The Lord taught, “of you it is required to forgive all men,” (Doctrine and Covenants 64:10).” In none of the examples that I studied was there any reason to assume that we are ever called to permanently dye another’s soul black and call them a lost cause.

Firstly, we must not do that because we never know the full picture. Secondly, even if we did have the full picture of another person, their beginning and their ending, their inner thoughts and motivations, the state of their very heart, it would still not be right for us to pronounce final judgment upon them because it simply isn’t our place to do so. Even if we could judge them rightly, it just isn’t our job to do it. “The keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there,” (2 Nephi 9:41).

But that isn’t to say that the worldly cry of “don’t judge me!” is in harmony with Christ’s examples either. There are two salient points that need to be understood in combination with the fact that we have no right to condemn one another.

  1. Judging sin and calling it wrong is approved by the words and example of Christ. As already established, we are not to condemn a fellow-child of God, but absolutely we are called to condemn the wicked acts that they do. We condemn the wicked acts that we, ourselves, do also! In all cases, we can, and should, point out when behaviors are of a devilish spirit, and renounce them most emphatically.
  2. While we do not condemn others, God does, and sometimes He calls on us to bear the message of that condemnation, or to carry out His sentence. The Israelites had no right in-and-of-themselves to choose life or death for the pagan kingdoms that occupied Canaan, but God did, and He ordered their destruction by the hand of His people. Similarly, informing others of the judgments that God has already made is not the same as casting our own judgment upon them. The scriptures clearly spell out certain behaviors that God has called sinful, and they also clearly proclaim that all sinners are worthy of damnation. To proselytize that message, along with the Good News of salvation through Christ, is entirely justifiable, so long as we do not mix in our own personal condemnation while conveying God’s.

***

It is a careful balance we are called to walk as disciples of Christ. How wisely he said that we were to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves,” (Matthew 10:16). We do not condemn our brothers, but we do condemn sin. We do not stand in final judgment, but we do forewarn what God has revealed for when that judgment comes. We are ready to fight and ready to endure, to reproach and to hold our peace, all at the direction of our Heavenly General. We are adaptable to the situation and the command, but consistent in God’s spirit through it all. He is our one constant in this intricate, dangerous dance.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Loving Your Enemy vs Renouncing Evil- Father Forgive Them

With my last two posts I’ve brought up scriptures that are commonly used to argue that disciples of Christ cannot judge wrong behavior, and explained why this interpretation is false. I will continue this pattern with today’s entry, where I examine the greatest act of non-judgment in all the scriptures. It is, of course, the moment where Christ was upon the cross, being executed for false charges, and asking Heavenly Father to forgive his killers. Luke 23:33-34:

33 And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

If Christ would forgive the people that did the greatest evil imaginable to him, then shouldn’t we excuse everyone else for anything that they ever do?

Well, no. That goes too far. And the reason why is that while Christ’s forgiveness was certainly magnanimous, it was not absolute. I believe there are two clear limitations on Christ’s forgiveness here.

  1. He was not seeking forgiveness for everyone. It seems clear in these two verses that the “them” he asked forgiveness for was the same “they” that “parted his raiment,” which would mean the Roman guards assigned to carry out his execution. There is nothing to suggest the Jesus was asking for forgiveness for the Pharisees that had called for his death on trumped up charges, knowing full well that they were condemning an innocent man, and of whom Christ said, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” Christ was able to distinguish between the truly guilty, and those only guilty by association, and here he only asked forgiveness for the latter.
  2. He was not trying to have them forgiven for everything. Jesus was speaking specifically of his execution, which was carried out by these men only because it was assigned to them by their superiors to do so. He was beseeching for them in this matter where they “knew not what they did,” but that would not make them any less culpable for other sins, ones where they did know what they did. Before or after executing Christ, if any of these men should lie, or steal, or contradict their conscience in any way, they would still be on the hook for those actions.

Thus, this passage is an example of forgiving the ignorant when they are ignorant. It makes no assertions, however, about the knowingly guilty. Does this passage still have a lesson of love of forgiveness for followers of Christ? Of course! We should all aspire to similarly remove ourselves from our pain and recognize whether we have been wronged deliberately or ignorantly, and we should have the presence of mind to pardon those that are still learning. We should be gracious enough to give the benefit of the doubt as far as it can rationally be extended, though not so far that it becomes a farce.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Loving Your Enemy vs Renouncing Evil- Judge Not

Matthew 7:1, 4-5:

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.

4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

In my last post I considered one of the passages typically used to say that Christians should not judge others, today I am looking at another.

“Judge not, that ye be not judged,” Jesus said, and so, we are told, it is not our place to call out the behavior of another as sinful or in need of censure. Admittedly, when looking at that verse in isolation, that could be a potentially correct interpretation of the passage. But how, then, does that hold up when three verses later Christ talks about removing the beam from your own eye so that you can remove the mote from your brother’s? How are you even to determine that there is a mote in your brother’s eye, and help him to pluck it out, if you have not “judged” that something about him is amiss?

And surely, even the staunchest critic of Christian judgment must admit that they, too, believe in renouncing some forms of evil. Can we not call a murderer, a child abuser, or a rapist wrong? Would anyone really make the case that with such crimes we must simply shrug our shoulders and say “well, it’s not my place to judge?!”

Obviously, any coherent interpretation of “judge not, that ye be not judged” must be consistent with Christ’s other words and also consistent with common sense. So what could a more fitting interpretation of this phrase be? Well, let us consider that our English word “judge” has multiple meanings. There is the sort of “Judging” with a capital “J,” such as when I am convicted by a court of law for a serious crime. There is also “judging” with a lower-case “j,” though, such as when my neighbor thinks I am lazy for leaving my Christmas decorations out until Easter.

And, as it turns out, this same strong/weak form is also found in the original Greek word that is used in today’s passage. The word that is being interpreted as “judge” is κρίνετε (krinete). This word is used at various points in the Bible, in a weaker form, being written as “judge” with a lower-case-j. In it’s strong form, however, it is more similar to our English word “condemn.” In fact, it is translated exactly this way in other verses, such as in John 3:17 where it states, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

Do Not Condemn)

In the King James Version of the Bible, Matthew 7:1 is translated as “Judge not, that ye be not judged,” but another valid interpretation, and one that I think might be more accurate to our current vocabulary, would be “Condemn not, that ye be not condemned.” And this sentiment I fully agree with. If anyone tells me that it is not the role of an individual Christian such as myself to “condemn” another person, they are absolutely right. I am not sitting in final judgment for anybody. I cannot comprehend the sinner’s whole life story, where they are coming from or where they will go, and I cannot state unequivocally that they deserve hell fire. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t, it just isn’t my place to say.

But that doesn’t mean that I cannot judge their behavior. That does not mean that I can’t stand in opposition to the act of sin and renounce it emphatically.

Put another way, Christ’s words compel us not to condemn the sinner, for that is a child of God, but we absolutely should condemn the sinful behavior, for that is the work of the devil. I am, myself, a sinner, and everyone should condemn my acts of selfishness and meanness, just as I do. But also, I am a Son of God, and because of that fact no one should write me off as a completely lost cause. It is possible to do the one without the other.

This is exactly what Christ is describing in the passage above, hating the mote in the eye, but loving the brother enough to point it out so that it can be removed. Not only are loving our enemy and renouncing evil compatible with one another, in most cases they are one and the same thing! Like God’s Son, let us not condemn the world, but let us use righteous judgment to help save it from the condemnation that it is already in!

Posted on by Abe Austin

Loving Your Enemy vs Renouncing Evil- Turn the Other Cheek

Matthew 5:38-40, 43-44:

38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

There are a few passages of scripture that are often used to to argue that Christians should not judge others. Today I am looking at the first, which is Christ’s teaching that we should “turn the other cheek.”

We all have a basic sense of justice within us that when a person insults us we want to insult them back, and when they strike us we want to strike them back. But Christ compelled his followers to suppress that natural spirit of retaliation, and instead invite another rebuke from them! This is extraordinary, and it certainly asks a great deal of every disciple, but we should note that there are certain requirements attributed to this sermon that Jesus never actually called for:

  1. Nowhere does Christ say that the offender is to be absolved of their guilt. Turning the other cheek is not the same as justifying what the other person has done. If anything, our invitation to be struck again doubly condemns the offender! Also, note that while verse 44 calls on us to love, bless, pray for, and do good to those that harm us, Christ does not ever say for us to approve, justify, or defend their crimes. We can both love our enemy and turn the other cheek, while still maintaining that their behavior is wrong.
  2. Christ gives examples of how we would accept relatively light forms of physical violence and the loss of an article of clothing. These are both small infractions, and both related to the loss or harm of earthly, physical things. It is not right to take this instruction and apply it to wrongs of a greater severity, such as another person trying to kill you and your family, or of a different type, such as another person trying to spread lies in your community. Nothing in this passage suggests that there is never a time to defend or push back.
  3. In each example, Christ is only talking about the disciple accepting a personal slight. There is a great difference between allowing wrongs to be perpetrated against the self and allowing wrongs to be perpetrated against others. Christ does not say, “whosoever shall smite your child upon the cheek, turn to him your other child’s also!” That would be passivity to the point of cruelty to the innocent. We do not only refute the evil of the world for our own sake, but for the protection of the weak and the innocent also.

What Christ teaches in these verses has real weight and meaning, and calls for a real change in his followers. But we should limit the lessons that we take from this to the ones that were actually intended, and not mis-attribute other lessons upon it as well. Christ is calling us to do something very hard, but only on a personal level and for particular sorts of offense. Nowhere in these verses does Christ say that we should allow others to take every liberty against our person, or call evil good, or cease to preach repentance to the wicked, or fail to protect the innocent. We can do all of those things while still being totally consistent with the instruction to turn the other cheek.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Loving Your Enemy vs Renouncing Evil- Question

Jesus showed mercy to the adulterous woman, but he also gave punishment to moneychangers at the temple when he drove them out with a whip.

Jesus besought forgiveness for the very men that carried out his execution, yet he also assured the pharisees that they would not be able to “escape the damnation of hell.”

Jesus besought his followers to turn the other cheek, but he also commanded the nation of Israel to destroy their enemies in the land of Canaan.

In short, at times Christ called for mercy, forgiveness, and patience with sinners and oppressors, while at other times he called for the punishment and condemnation.

The purpose of this study is to understand when we are to be the Lord’s balm and when to be His sword? When are we to be patient and longsuffering, and when are we to stand with boldness against evil? When are we to be a vessel of mercy, and when of justice?

In my following posts I will seek to answer these questions by looking at several examples in the scriptures, particularly of Christ, that speak to both sides. It is not my intention to argue for one side over another, but only to understand how to do what is right, serving God in either fashion according to His will and dictates.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Optimism in a Falling World- Genesis 18:23-24, 26, 28-32

And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.
Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.
And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty’s sake.
And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.
And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.

COMMENTARY

Peradventure there be fifty righteous: wilt thou not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? If I find in Sodom fifty righteous, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.
Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.
Sodom and Gomorrah was a place of intense wickedness, filled with a populace that had given up any pretense of morality or decency. When considering the destruction of those people, though, all Abraham could think of was the potential innocents that might be lost as well. His great concern was not about the guilty escaping their rightful punishment, it was about the guiltless being unjustly condemned.
And God readily agreed with Abraham’s pleas. For fifty good, for forty-five, for forty, for thirty, for twenty, for ten…He would regard the few righteous over the thousands of evil.
How often do we do the same? I think it is often easier to point to the other side of our political and social divides and describe the “others” as being all bad. All the rich are corrupt and should have their feet held to the fire. All the liberals are immoral and should be censured. And if any among their ranks are not actually guilty by action, we still make them guilty by association. We are very quick to call fire down on all the “wrong-thinkers,” with no regard for the innocent mingled in their ranks.