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   January 20, 2010

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   1 Michael Warden said:
   

   Thanks for the post. I love the spirit and intention of your words; I share them. But they also raise for me a question:

   How do we reconcile the mandate to be a good “representation of God’s love and grace” with Jesus’ obvious no-B.S. harshness with the Pharisees in the gospels? I just read this passage last night, in which Jesus’ public defaming of the Pharisee seems anything but gentle and kind:

   Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. “They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men. “But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. “Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. “But the greatest among you shall be your servant. “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. ["Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.] “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ “You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? “And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ “You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? “Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. “And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. “And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ “So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. “Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?
   (Matthew 23:1-33)

   Since Christ is our model, how do we follow Him boldly to stand up against Phariseeism when it rears its head in modern times (as in this case, with Robertson), yet still highlight that our God is a God of grace and love?

   Thanks in advance for solving this for me.

   peace…

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   January 20, 2010

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   2 Parke Ladd said:
   

   The interesting thing to me is that millions of so called Christians watch and support Robertson every year. Are you really considered the fringe if you’re supported and watched by so many? Maybe the majority actually supports Robertson, and he is the one speaking on it’s behalf. Unfortunately. Maybe criticizing Haiti in time of need isn’t the fringe. Maybe loving people like Jesus would have is. Maybe the fringe belongs to those who were there before the cameras and will be long after. If Robertson was so hated, wouldn’t Christian churches stop watching. What do you think?

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   January 20, 2010

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   3 Christopher Hopper said:
   

   Greeting from on tour in Madrid, Brad. Great post.

   In agreement with your overall statement, I think it’s important to keep in mind that if God truly wanted to judge Haiti, he would do more than just an earthquake. That, and he accidentally killed a bunch of his Christians in the “judgement” too. My discipleship school’s director in NY just left the office to help a family who lost their entire Bible school and all their staff.

   My point being, this ain’t Jesus. Paul charged us to use our authority to bless and not curse, and to overcome evil with good (Rom 12). It was also Jesus who gave us the authority to calm storms. If that is our standard, how could we ever Biblically believe God has now changed his mind, going on a “cursing” rampage?

   To Michael: as much as I disagree with Pat, my family has over 35 years of relationship with him and Scott Ross. I would be very carefu in classifying him as a Pharisee. A brother in error? Sure. But far too often we improperly classify people who we see as a detriment to the faith as Pharisees, when they are not. That, and Jesus also had more than one profound conversation with a Pharisee (if you still want to call Pat one).

   My suggestion. First, do not prove you are just as much of a finger pointer as Pat is by lambasting him when brought up in conversation. This further degrades Christianity. There is only one abuser of the brethren, and we’re either in his camp or we’re not. Disagree with him, sure. But in kindness, as you would want to be treated if you were wrong. Secondly, because he is a public figure, write him a letter. I know he a his staff do read them. While he may not respond, you can at least know you are saying “to his face” what you are saying to others (yet another issue I have with Christians who talk too much: no accountability).

   Just my two cents. ch:

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   January 20, 2010

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   4 Christopher Hopper said:
   

   *Acuser of the Brethern (although *abuser works, too). ch:

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   January 20, 2010

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   5 Scott Gifford said:
   

   Brad, ignoring your advice to not be mean-spirited towards Robertson, I thought this was very funny:

   http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/01/the_devil_writes_pat_robertson.html?sc=fb&cc=fp

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   January 20, 2010

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   6 Brad Ruggles said:
   

   Very insightful questions and great points by everyone above. I’ll chime in with further thoughts later.

   Scott, that letter from Satan to Pat Robinson is hilarious! I love it!

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   January 20, 2010

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   7 Nick said:
   

   I love on the letter from Satan “We may have to renegotiate your own contract!” Hahaha!

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   January 20, 2010

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   8 Theresa Woodkirk said:
   

   Brad and Christopher…I am so proud of you both. Your hearts of compassion make me very glad to have worked (work!) with you both. Isn’t this what it is all about? Showing the love of Christ to the lost and hurting? The Bible states that true religion is to take care of the orphans and widows…need we say more?

   Love you bunches!

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   January 20, 2010

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   9 Christopher Hopper said:
   

   Letter from Satan a keeper. ch:

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    January 20, 2010

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    10 Aaron J said:
    

    I couldn’t agree with Christopher more. Grace and mercy need to operate in our lives towards Robertson as much as anything. If we were full of grace and mercy, we wouldn’t point fingers at Robertson or anyone else. Instead we would use our hands for helping.

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    January 20, 2010

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    11 bondChristian said:
    

    “It only takes a relatively small number of people on the fringe to undermine the image and standing of the majority.”

    Reminds me of another quote:

    “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead

    The fringe is insanely important. While I agree it has the power to ruin the reputation of all the rest, it also has the power to lead all the rest. I want to be the fringe.

    -Marshall Jones Jr.

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    January 20, 2010

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    12 Christopher Hopper said:
    

    Theresa: thanks girl. You’re pretty amazing yourself.

    Aaron: I wish I could claim credit for my views, but I have learned them through trial and error from others who have taught me, and they, having found them in scripture.

    Brad: thanks for letting me have so much realstate on your site; was not my intention. ch:

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    January 20, 2010

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    13 Matt @ The Church of No People said:
    

    I’ve been more appauled at some of the Christian responses to Pat than I was to begin with. Sadly, the advice to just not say anything is rarely heeded, though it is with most people, the best option.

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    January 20, 2010

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    14 Jason Ruggles said:
    

    So I am going to play the pact-makers advocate. And to start of – I’m not condoning Pat’s views… or knocking anyone else’s.

    OK, So we all look at the world through our own prism… our own worldview.

    Being a missionary in Thailand, it has become quite clear just how different two views can be. Thailand has a spirit-affected worldview… living in fear of spirits. A case-in-point: a popular pet name for babies is “Ugly” and they will call a baby ugly. Why? Because they don’t want to attract the Evil Eye (I can’t verify if it’s the one from LOTR) with a cute baby. Now a typical ethnocentric American response is to say how quaint and/or stupid this is and then go on and talk about science and calculus. Maybe a better approach would be to understand this to better understand them.

    Where am I going with this? I am merely pointing out that we need to look at Pat’s worldview… a worldview that sees good and evil supernatural forces at work in the world. (Incidentally, the last sentence on his clip was that he was optimistic. With his org Operation Blessing, they do a lot of good.) He is trying to do good and fight evil.

    Naturally, our response to Pat is the same as our response to the ugly baby.

    I guess I’m not as angry at his off-the-cuff gaff as I would have been 8 months ago. So he belives an actual pact with the devil is the cause of their poverty, instead of _____(fill in the blank with the REAL scientific reason).

    Let’s all expand our understanding of others just a little bit.

    Oh, and so this confusion doesn’t happen again, we need to do a major edit of that big book we look to for our worldviews.

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    January 21, 2010

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    15 Jay said:
    

    First of all, I don’t like labels like “the fringe” and I think the image at the top of this post is blatantly unfair as it groups together good (but flawed) men like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson with the people from Westboro Baptist Church (the Fred Phelps crowd) who proudly espouse their hate. It’s a rather unfair portrayal as is referring to Robertson as a “wacko.” In all honesty, that’s some pretty judgmental stuff you have going on there.

    In addition, the mainstream media is certainly not in the habit of reporting on the good things that Robertson does but after seeing how the media operates for nearly 20 years, this doesn’t surprise me. Sensationalism is their bread and butter. I don’t worry about it because I just don’t watch television news anymore.

    But it’s this quote that gets me the most:

    “It only takes a relatively small number of people on the fringe to undermine the image and standing of the majority.”

    I wrote about this on my own blog. We get so caught up in what we want the “image” of Christianity to be, that our knees jerk uncontrollably when somebody says something like Robertson did and we’re scrambling to distance ourselves from it saying, “That’s not me!” Is anybody willing to defend Robertson from the scurrilous attacks that claim he’s a racist, bigot, etc? If not, why not?

    Why do we concern ourselves so much with this image? Why not go out and just do what Christ called us to do and stop worrying about what others think of us? Our actions are always going to speak louder than our words or the words of others. In addition, there are and will always….ALWAYS….be people who are going to look for any opportunity to say, “Aha! I knew that’s what you Christians were really like!” No matter what image you attempt to project, there will be people who will always see Pat Robertson. And what does the Bible say about that? In Matthew 7:6 it says, “Do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.”

    When we’re concerned about our “image” we’re allowing the outside world essentially to define us. The best response to what Robertson said is to simply say, “Well I don’t agree with what he said, but did you know what his organization, Operation Blessing is doing?”

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    January 21, 2010

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    16 Brad Ruggles said:
    

    Jason – Yes, Pat Robertson obviously does have his own worldviews and is entitled to believe whatever he wants. However, he is a public figure and as such is held under public scrutiny. Regardless of what he believes about Haiti or its supposed “pact with the devil” it was in very poor taste to parade his “worldview” before the public when so many people are dealing with such incredible loss.

    Jay – Perhaps I could have chosen a different word than “wacko” (even though that is what his statements makes him sound like). The only reason I am frustrated when public figures make these kind of statements is because the vast majority of Christians who don’t hold to those opinions end up having to do damage control and explain to our friends & family that not all Christians think that way. His statements are harmful to the cause of Christ and place unnecessary barriers in the path of those who might consider placing their faith in Christ. The simple fact of the matter is that Christians do in fact have an image problem and people like Pat Robertson don’t exactly help.

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    January 25, 2010

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    17 Aaron Guilmette said:
    

    While Pat Robertson and his group do a lot of good with things like Operation Hope, it’s remarks like these that fuel anti-Christian sentiment.

    Another piece of narrow-minded dogma in the last week and a half came from Scott Lively, president of Defend the Family International. The story has to do with how the Ugandan parliament is attempting to make homosexuality a capital offense, punishable by death. Lively, who has a lot of connections throughout Africa (much like many other religious leaders do), toured Uganda in 2009 and gave speeches concerning the gay agenda. Lively says that he never suggested the death penalty for homosexual acts, but he did say, “But the fact that they’re willing to stand up and say, ‘No, we are not going let you homosexualize our country!’ — that is a step in the right direction, and I would hope that it would spread to other countries.” (Full story at http://bit.ly/5VyDeY).

    I definitely don’t advocate for or condone the practice of homosexuality, but Lively’s backhanded way of saying that action like that may be a “step in the right direction” because it shows commitment is inflammatory and runs the risk of making all Christians seem as hateful.

    I have plenty of friends that view me as a tolerant Christian, but who won’t call Christ their own because they don’t want to be lumped in with folks like Pat Robertson or Scott Lively. And I can’t blame them.

    As my boss used to say, it only takes one “Aw, sh**” to wipe out a hundred attaboys.” I think the same thing holds true here–it only takes remarks from one person with a worldview perceived to be intolerant to obscure all of the good work that’s being done in God’s name.