Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for people to see … “ Mat 23:1-5 NIV
We live in a culture that so easily dismisses someone or something in the entirety upon discovering any flaw, failure or fallacy. It’s not just that they acted in a way that is inconsistent with their espoused belief, it is deemed to be evidence that everything they believe is error. It’s not that they are wrong, they are Evil (an actual incarnation of evil). Therefore, everything they have ever done or said is tainted by the pure Evil that they are and must be automatically exposed, rejected and discarded.
Unless we like with them …
If we discover a flaw, failure or fallacy in one of our own then the rules change. After all they are only human and have suffered so much under (pick the oppressive social ill that best suits) that we must have compassion and realize it is absolutely not a failure on their part, but rather a complete systemic failure of the intractable Anglo-misogynist rule, or at the very least an attempt by the mean-spirited, ignorant haters to bring down something/someone they oppose. They need our support and understanding. After all, they may have erred on a point or two, but that in no way diminishes their massive contribution as a whole.
Can we talk? …
Civility is so much more than putting on a mask and pretending. It is not about implying agreement through silence. It also does not mean abandoning the conversation so only one side is heard, but includes allowing the other side to speak. Civility is to listen at least as much as we talk and to judge the merit of ideas, evidence and conclusions without respect to personalities. Yes character does count as we weigh the conclusions made by others, but there is no place for character assassination in lieu of reasonable evaluation. What is said is far more important than who said it.
Heroes fall and not all villains are “bad’ guys …
It is an unreasonable burden on anyone to make them a hero. No one gets it right all the time (probably not even most of the time). A person can be heroic in a specific moment and yet a self-centered, self-indulgent child in most of their affairs. On the other side, a good, giving, self-sacrificing servant can snap and in a specific moment do the most horrific things. If Hitler saved a kitten from a raging stream and wiped the tear of a weeping child at some point in his life, does that make him equal to Mother Theresa? If Ghandi snapped over the mistreatment of a group of poor people and bludgeoned a police officer to death and knifed three others, would he be counted in the same league as Stalin? It’s not as simple as the guy in the white hat. But there are still heroic actions performed by ordinary folks, and we need them. And sometimes good people do bad things – and there are penalties for that.
We do what is right, because it is right …
I know it is out of style to insist that there is a right and wrong. Worse, there are many things that used to be right that are now wrong. But the standard still exists and if we honestly look at nature, history and relationships we can still see it (It is still pretty well understood in “under developed” areas – it takes a lot of education to completely eradicate common sense and general morality). Unfortunately, doing what is right is rarely rewarded – in fact it is often ridiculed. It is not convenient. It can be counterproductive to personal achievement/enrichment. It costs. But we do it anyway. Because it is right.
So what’s a person to do? …
Love God. Love others.
Forgive.
Feed the hungry.
House the homeless.
Visit the sick and imprisoned.
Defend the the widow and the fatherless.
Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to get angry.
Rejoice in the truth.
Oppose evil.
Make peace (but never at the expense of one of the other principles).
Seek to do good.
Whatever is good, whatever is noble, whatever is pure – think on these things.
He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do
justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with your GOD? Micah 6:8 NASB95
