“Can flavorless food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? My soul refuses to touch them; They are as loathsome food to me.” (Job 6:6-7)
My column several weeks back, “God Isn’t Through With Us,” commending the life and work of Jerry Falwell, did not sit well with one reader:
“I disagree with you. Falwell was nothing like Christ. He showed none of the compassion, love, understanding, and patience of Christ…All he did was condemn and insult them (sinners), telling them they would surely burn in hell…He did damage to the church by making people think all Christians were like him and hated all that did not conform to their exact beliefs rather than try their best to show them the error of their ways through compassion and the love and understanding that Christ showed the prostitutes and tax collectors of his time.”
Obviously, this reader knew nothing of the mission work and philanthropic efforts of Dr. Falwell, but I’m not going to dwell on Falwell’s legacy. Rather, I want to focus on something this reader wrote that I think troubles a lot of Christians. There is a general sense that those of us who call ourselves Christians cannot become angry by the world we see around us and articulate that anger in an effort to promote change because doing so doesn’t promote the gospel of Christ.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, there are several examples of such conduct modeled by Jesus himself. For example, Jesus became angry when he saw money changers setting up their tables on temple grounds. The Gospel of Mark records the he immediately confronted them and “overturned the tables of the money changers.” He then chided them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves’.” (Mark 11:15-17)
Perhaps even more important is the language Jesus used to condemn the actions of the Pharisees and scribes. In the New King James translation, for example, he used the word hypocrite nineteen times in the New Testament, and each time he was referring to the hypocrisy exhibited by those who were supposed to be icons for the Jewish faith. An example of Jesus’ tone is found at Matthew 23:27: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”
I think the language Jesus used to condemn the thoughts and actions of others sounded very much like the language I’ve heard Jerry Falwell use; so for the reader to say “Falwell was nothing like Christ” and then suggest that Jesus would never speak in such a way – the Bible does not agree with him.
There is one final admonition I believe is on point when it comes to how Jesus might have felt about standing up for what we believe is wrong. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told believers who were listening, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” (Matthew 5:13)
Jesus’ point is very clear. Believers are not here to just soak up the gospel; they are supposed to use it to help save a decaying world. Stand up for your Christian values and don’t be afraid to stand up against those things that do not line up with the word of God. Remember, a flavorless gospel will never survive the temptation this world offers!
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