And if I ever meet anyone who is perfect, I will give them all the privilege they deserve. But until then, people who pretend they are perfect, or perfect enough to judge the faults of others, are going to come under my fire.
The Christian unicyclists thread has caused quite a bit of discussion. I enjoyed reading parts of it, especially the very poignant comments that non-Christians made concerning the faults of Christians. Some people might call it Christian bashing. Consider this post Christian bashing Jethro style.
Many of you have already figured out that I am a Christian pastor. And most of you have probably figured out that I don’t quite fit the mold. That has been an ongoing challenge for me. I became I pastor largely because I felt like the church needed some pastors who didn’t quite fit the mold. There are many who expect me to “act like a pastor,” whatever that means. I have never been able to do it. If the truth be told, I have probably never tried.
I have some pretty strong personal convictions regarding other people’s sin. Namely, I try not to concern myself with other people’s sin until I get a better handle on my own. I do a pretty good job with this, but one area I fall short is in dealing with people who have the sin of hypocrisy.
Take yesterday, for instance. I have one person I associate it, albeit unwillingly, who had he lived during Jesus’ time, would have made a great Pharisee. He loves to hold other people to a standard of perfection which he cannot live up to himself. He loves to make blanket statements of condemnation concerning people who have certain sins. For instance, yesterday he told me that I should not allow people who are divorced to hold positions of leadership in the church. He said that was an abomination. Now I have had conversations like this with him in the past. I have been patient and understanding and tried to show him how His comments were very unlike anything Jesus would say.
But yesterday was the wrong day to say what he said. And I spoke the first words that came to my mouth (if you have read other things I have written, you know how much I love sarcasm). So here is how the conversation went:
Judgmental Guy: Pastor, you shouldn’t allow people who are divorced to have positions of leadership in the church. That is an abomination.
Me: You know, you are 100% correct. I am going to remove every one of them and replace them with homosexuals. Since homosexuals are not allowed to get married, I will never have to worry about them getting divorced.
He stood there for a moment with a blank stare on his face and then left.
I laughed. I probably could have handled it better, but then, I’m not perfect.
