Christianity is under attack. Of that we all have no doubt
and we were told to expect it. However, I have had several discussions with
non-believers only to discover that their biggest complaint about Christians is
that they are very judgmental people. My
immediate reaction was to go on the defensive, but instead I chose to ask “in
what way are they judgmental?”
I was told about Christian’s who have sent vitriolic
messages to people, like Richard Dawkins, condemning him to hell and hoping
that he gets there soon. I have heard
about Christian’s who condemn people with tattoo’s, piercings and addictions.
Churches where people are not allowed in unless they follow a specific dress
code or where unmarried mothers are unwelcome.
Now as much as I do not like what Richard Dawkins and those
of his ilk are doing, I think it is far more important for us to pray for him
than attack him! He is a man who is so far removed from God and His infinite
love that his life is centered around trying to disprove the existence of God.
How awful that must be to spend so much time and effort on something you do not
believe in! To not know the awesome love of our Creator! If all Christians were
to pray for him to have the scales removed from his eyes and see God for the
loving heavenly Father that he is, imagine the impact his revelation would have
on all the other unbelievers who are already hanging on his every word!!
As for those Christians who condemn unmarried mothers,
addicts and people who do not behave according to their ideal morals and
principles – have they forgotten who Jesus spent time with? Our precious
Saviour did not spend time with the Rabbi’s and other religious people! Instead
He spent time with the lost, the prostitutes, the diseased and all the other
people that the religious leaders condemned. Jesus paid far too high a price
for us to decide who can come to know Him.
We are not told to just minister to the poor and suffering, but also to
those who are lost – spiritually lost! Spiritually destitute and spiritually
suffering!
We are told not to judge, lest we also be judged. Matt 7:1-2 “Do not judge or you too will be
judged. For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with
the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” I therefore call for the church – the body of
Christ, to stop condemning others, no matter how low in life they may have
sunk, but rather to reach out a hand to them, to pull them up out of their
darkness and despair and to lead them lovingly to Jesus! Is that not, after all, what Jesus
commissioned us to do? Matt 28:19-20 “Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I
have commanded you.”
