Have you ever noticed?

Have you ever noticed that the people who like to complain about rude, overbearing Christians tend to be rude and overbearing in their complaints? Have you ever noticed that people who complain that Christians are intolerant and judgmental typically do so with intolerance and judgment? Why do you suppose that is? (I could cite examples, but doing so typically tends to draw fire and leads to more caustic, rude, overbearing, intolerant judgment.)

I'd like to say I find it amusing, and, I suppose, in one sense I do. On the other hand it just seems so sad. "You rotten conservatives! You stink to high heaven! I will be rude, unkind, acerbic, and sarcastic to you to show how rude, unkind, acerbic, and sarcastic you are. I will be high and mighty in my rant against you being high and mighty." What's wrong with us?! What makes people do that?

There are, of course, several possible answers. Sometimes people are more attuned to certain evils because they suffer from them. A person with a problem with a foul mouth, as an example, might be more sensitive to other people using foul language. But that's typically only true if they are either consciously or unconsciously aware that they have a problem with it. If not, they won't even notice. Sometimes people are feeling guilty about their own problems and failures so they seek to impugn others. Or there is the one we all know. It's the "bully syndrome". Someone suffers from feelings of inferiority or impotence, so they pick on the one we think most obvious and least capable of defending themselves. Oh, there are lots of reasons. These are just a few.

The unfortunate thing is that none of them should be the case in Christian dialog. I knew a lady who was a fine Christian. She was quick to tell people how bad they were for going to R-rated movies or for smoking cigarettes (things that can't be found in the Bible) but simply refused to submit to her husband or love her neighbor (things found explicitly in the Bible). It created such unnecessary division and tension. It was not marked by love, but by self-defense, Pharisaical superiority, and blindness to issues.

We don't need that. We don't need to fight fire with fire. We need to speak the truth, but we need to do it in love (Eph. 4:15). We need to stand for what is right, but we need to do it with gentleness and reverence (1 Peter 3:15). We are to stand firm, but let's not do it by being caustic, rude, overbearing, intolerant, or judgmental. There may be a point where a parody or sarcasm is the most effective means of getting across the truth in love, but surely that is a rarity. The Bible says the Gospel is foolish and offensive to non-believers (1 Cor. 1:23). We don't need to be more foolish or offensive than that.