Skippy

Gandhi once said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Hinduist or not, sometimes, I can’t help but think how much truth there can be behind that statement. Are we Christians setting a good example in the world? Are we really being a light for those in the darkness? Or are we not making an effort to humble ourselves as Jesus did?

About a week ago, I was unfortunately involved in a debate with others about, basically, judging others and how worship should be done. And it’s been on my mind ever since. It started out with my friend asking an innocent question on Facebook, something like “if I can’t make it to a church on Sunday morning, and I just worship God by myself, would it still count as worship?” A few good answers were given, one was that Jesus often went alone to pray. I pointed out that Paul worshipped while he was held in prison. Then a guy (we’ll call him Skippy) answers that it’s not our job to “sugarcoat” the truth, and that it’s not okay to choose whether we feel like going to church or not on Sunday mornings. Okay, first off, we weren’t talking about choosing whether we feel like going, we were talking about the possibility if we are not able to meet with other believers, if God accepts one-on-one time as valid worship. Secondly, (I had to bite my tongue on this one) does Skippy worship God every day, or just on Sundays? Does he put God off on the other 6 days of the week? Because God shouldn’t be just a part of our weekly schedule. He should be our schedule, if that makes any sense.

And so a sharing of our opinions go on, then Skippy actually starts condemning us and telling us not to “cast our demons”, calling us false prophets, or whatever. That’s when a few of the other discussers got a little heated as well. One even had the audacity to just write, “Go to hell.” I tried getting them to stop by asking if any of them had heard of the ad hominem fallacy (since that was basically what they were doing), at least trying to lighten the mood. Apparently that didn’t work, when Skippy told me that Christ himself attacked the Pharisees with harsh words (which back then, meant “brood of vipers” or “white-washed”), and, quoting Skippy, “take your rhetoric elsewhere. It is not welcome in God’s realm.” End quote. Okay, so Skippy doesn’t appreciate humor…

Yes, it did seem Jesus attacked the Pharisees with harsh words. But Jesus truly knew their hearts. This is the Son of God. Meanwhile, the only basis Skippy and the other attackers had for condemning us and each other were a few comments on a Facebook status, which just obviously isn’t enough. I had to have the patience of a rock to deal with these people.

So, finally, I decided to check out Skippy’s profile. The first quotation he has on his Favorite Quotations section was one by Einstein: “Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance.” Skippy can’t even remember his own profile. He didn’t (and doesn’t) know any of us, yet he’s calling us false prophets and condemning us. I pointed this out to him, yet he just told me to read the rest of his quotes, and maybe I might learn something. So I told him, “Fair enough. I’ll ‘investigate’ you further. But I’m not going to condemn you. I have no right to.” Finally, I had my friend delete her status so the fierce debate wouldn’t have to go on anymore. And the other quotes on Skippy’s profile? Yeah, they had nothing to do with what we had been talking about.

Funny thing is, all of the discussers claimed to be Christians. Yet they were forgetting one of the greatest commandments: Love one another. They were also forgetting that we as humans are not to judge one another. If any non-believer had read that discussion we had, chances are they would not want to be involved at all with Christianity, and view all Christians as hypocrites. Do we want to risk that chance just to gain an “upper hand” on the opponent? I wonder how they would’ve responded to Gandhi’s statement…

“Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil, or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, ‘Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil, and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.’

“Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. ‘Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.’ But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”

- 1 Peter 3:8-16

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