Mac and Tosh

In my younger years we had (unedited) Warner Brothers cartoons with characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig ... you know, classics. Two of the lesser known were actually two of my favorites. They were originally in a 1947 cartoon short entitled The Goofy Gophers. People confuse them with Disney's Chip and Dale, but these are not those two. They tell me their names were Mac and Tosh. Fine. The thing that marked these two was their extreme politeness with each other. They laughed at each other's jokes, complimented and complemented each other, worked together perfectly, and deferred to each other to the point of danger. (As the enemy is charging and they seek shelter, "You go first." "No, you first." "Oh, no, I insist." "I simply couldn't." That sort of thing.) You don't actually find that sort of thing in most cartoons ... or other entertainment for that matter. Or even life.

Odd thing. This notion of considering the other person to the extreme is actually something that seems to show up in Scripture. We find it in Paul's description of the attitude required in marital sexual relations. "The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does." (1 Cor 7:3-4) We are commanded "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves." (Phil 2:3) These in stark opposition to the standard "looking out for number one" attitude of most of our world.

Romans 14 concerns what we call "Christian Liberty". With an opening command "not to quarrel over opinions" (Rom 14:1), the discussion regards things not commanded and, therefore, basically a matter of opinion or personal conviction. For our world, the response is, "Yeah, live and let live. You should let me do what I want!" That is not the idea in Romans 14. The approach there is "decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother." (Rom 14:13) The approach there is "let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding." (Rom 14:19) That is, in matters of opinion, not only should we not be hastening to condemn others, but we should be limiting ourselves.

This is something of a reverse war. Instead of "I think the KJV is the only way to go and you are all pagans for denying it!" followed by "Only a fool would argue 'If it's good enough for Paul and Silas, it's good enough for me'!", you might see, "I think that the KJV is the best, but I couldn't imagine imposing that on you." with the response, "Oh, no, I prefer more modern translations, but if it is more edifying to you to read the KJV, I'll read that with you."

It works in lots of places. "I believe that the best church music is the old church music, but if you are best able to glorify God with newer instruments and tunes, who am I to say no?" "Oh, my, if my drums and musical style offend your more traditional worship style, I can't imagine using them to hinder your worship." A host of things. When I was growing up there were some who were offended by playing cards, dice, or even going to movies and others who were not. Today we would include vegetarianism and the like. I even know those today who believe it's a great sin to swim in "mixed company"--men and women together. Matters of opinion over which we could compete to favor others over ourselves.

Mac and Tosh had an interesting approach. On matters of opinion and preference, "you first" is the first response. A genuine preferring of the other over self was the rule. It does not work in matters of clarity. "Well, the Bible clearly says that homosexual behavior is a sin, but I wouldn't want to offend you over that." No, that won't work. "I know that Jesus said He was the only way, but if that kind of exclusiveness is a problem for you, we can just assume that all roads lead to God." That isn't going to fly. But I think it would be amazing if, in matters of preference or opinion not clearly described in Scripture, we could wage reverse war, so to speak, seeking to "outdo one another in showing honor" (Rom 12:10). Seems somewhat "Bibley" to me. Of course, the trick is finding out what Scripture really says. Maybe being biblical is just too much work? That can't be good.