Confident and Judgmental

Recently Denny Burk, an Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at Boyce College, wrote a response to Rachel Held Evans on the Today Show. Good response. All well and good. What was interesting was the comments. One commenter said, "I’m reminded of Paul saying in Acts 20:30 that 'from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.'" Another commenter responded to that comment with "That’s an intense verse to hurl at your sister in Christ. ... Please search for grace in the Bible you love before condemning your sister in the faith." To which another commenter commented, "'Sister in the faith?' What makes you think this woman is saved? ... She needs to repent of her blasphemy against our Lord and ask forgiveness from the Christian church and recant from the lies and slander she has spread across the internet." From there it devolved into a fight rather than a discussion of the post or its merits.

I don't offer Burk's post as a standalone argument. I offer it as an example. I've heard it a lot myself before. Too judgmental. Too arrogant. "We don’t get to judge others and decide when they need to repent." One thing that is universal, it seems, is that it is wrong to be sure.

And then I read this:

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth (1 Tim 6:3-5).

Wow, Paul, I mean, wow! Apparently you didn't get the memo. We don't get to judge others. It is wrong to be that judgmental. Your confidence is commendable, I'm sure, but, look, you're only human, right? What makes you so sure you're right and they're wrong?

Christians, like all humans, can tend to be abrasive when they're sure. (Don't be deceived into thinking it's a "Christian" or even a "religious right" thing. Atheists and liberals are just as confident about their views and just as judgmental of those who disagree.) However, based on Scripture (and reason), it seems as if there certainly is a time for us to be sure, to be confident, and even to be condemning of false teaching and false teachers. Anything else would not be biblical ... or loving.