Inexcusable According to Paul

The scandal is everywhere, it is the primary story on everybody's facebook news feeds. If you haven't heard what happened, you're living under a rock.

The Duggars aren't perfect. After 13 years, the really really really bad horrible terrible thing that happened has finally reached the ears of the gossip magazines, and as a result, the lives of 19 kids, their parents, their spouses, their in-laws, and their own kids have been successfully destroyed.

It sure does the heart good to know for sure that such a sickeningly good, happy, loving family has to go through the absolute torture of being eaten alive by wolves, don't it? I'll tell you, if this doesn't get me out of bed with a smile on my face, nothing will.

The truth is, this is a big deal for no other reason than because the world has been watching and waiting for something like this to happen ever since the Duggars first rose to stardom. You can tell because Lena Dunham didn't flood my news feed when she admitted, in a funny little anecdote, that she had sexually abused her little sister for years and that it wasn't a big deal and anybody who didn't like her experimentation needed to get over themselves. In fact, I hadn't even heard of her scandal until someone else mentioned her in relation to the Duggar case. The Duggar case blew up.

So why is it wrong for a Duggar but okay for a Dunham? Well, that's very simple. It's because the Duggars talk against immorality, so if they mess up, they're hypocrites. While since Lena Dunham doesn't speak against immorality, immorality is just fine for her.

So it's not really that the world cares about sexual immorality or anything like that. It's not that they feel sorry for the victims who just wish their past and private hurts had stayed past and private. It's not that they actually think that what Josh did was wrong. What they think is wrong is for Josh Duggar to say that it's wrong because since he did it 13 years ago, saying now that it was wrong makes him a hypocrite. Because if you don't practice what you preach, you're a hypocrite. You know, not from a view of time as a strict progression of cause to affect, but from a non-linear, non-subjective point of view where time is like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. And from that perspective, since time is non-linear, of course it's hypocritical for Josh to say something is wrong since he did it. That's practically the same as him saying something is wrong and still doing  it.  And that makes him a hypocrite.

But here's the big deal: The world doesn't really hate hypocrites either.

Don't close this page down just yet, I promise, I'll explain that statement later. For now, I want to get to the real, true root of why the Duggar's skeleton is so much more newsworthy than the Dunham's skeleton. It's because the Duggars are Christians and  they're happy.

If there is one single thing that the world hates more than every other single thing, it's to see someone who "does right" to actually be happy. It casts doubt and suspicion on the whole "YOLO, eat drink and be merry, do whatever feels right" method of obtaining happiness. People like to believe that morals and Christianity are a prison, that nobody can be happy if they have to follow some uptight goody-two-shoes rulebook.

So when somebody comes along who is happy because they follow Christ, the world has two options:
1) Admit that living a righteous life leads to peace and happiness.
2) Call the person a fake and wait for them to screw up because they WILL screw up and when they do, you can be right there to kick 'em one for good measure.

Surprise, surprise, most people opt for choice number two.

The thing that really gets me, though, is the double standard held by the people who are most "enraged" by the news, and this is where the hypocrisy issue I mentioned earlier comes in. The phrase "Your God" has been peppered throughout the entire debacle. "How can you stand these people when your God allowed it to happen?" "How can these people say they're a Christian!?!? Doesn't your God say immorality is wrong?" "I don't know how you can believe in your God when these are the kinds of people who believe."

This, coming from the mouths of the very people who also say things like "Doesn't your God tell you to forgive?" "Doesn't your God tell you not to judge?" "Doesn't your God tell you to love your neighbor?" Never mind the hurt they may have caused, never mind the fact that they might never have apologized, never mind that they might have spoken selfishly and demanded respect when they gave none. If they are hurt, they demand restitution. If they hurt others, especially if the others are a Christian, the others are expected to forgive without the dignity of receiving an apology or the reassurance that they won't be hurt again.

Why is it that the world, that professes a disbelief in MY God, uses him as leverage to get me to "forgive" sexual immorality AND as leverage to get me to shun sexual immorality, all the while mocking me for my belief in him? That's two separate double standards right there! Let me spell it out:

A man says "I don't believe in God," then turns to a Christian and says "God wants you to forgive everyone," then turns and points to someone else "But God doesn't want you to forgive THAT guy." And then turns back to the Christian, laughs, and says "I can't believe you believe in God. You're so stupid!"

People who aren't practicing Christians sure like to preach about what Christianity should look like, don't they?

Before you disregard my above statement as just another hypocritical one, read further.

The most widely accepted definition of "hypocrisy" is refusing to practice what you preach, right? Well, let's forget about Christianity for a second and give some examples of plain ol' hypocrisy.

When you demand forgiveness for your own actions but refuse to forgive those who have acted against you, you are being a hypocrite.

When you demand respect from the people you know but refuse to treat them with the same respect, you are being a hypocrite.

Here's a kicker: when you get all up in arms at someone who posted something hurtful about you on facebook so you respond by posting something hurtful about them on facebook you are being a hypocrite.

And before you come at me with things like "they deserve it" or "They did it to me first" or "I'm just holding them to their own standard," let me define hypocrisy again: Hypocrisy is holding somebody else to a standard you don't hold yourself. Not practicing what you preach. So for a liar to say "You shouldn't lie" Or for a thief to say "You shouldn't steal" OR for someone who doesn't follow Christ to say "You should follow Christ" is hypocrisy. If it's wrong for someone to hit you, it's wrong for you to hit someone else. It doesn't matter who swung first.

If you do not practice Christianity but you still preach about what Christianity should look like, you are being just as much a hypocrite as the very Christians you are trying to call out.

And I'm gonna throw out a brain-buster now: Hating on hypocrites makes you a double hypocrite because everybody in the world is a hypocrite about something or other.

It's like everyone in the world is saying "Everybody is a hypocrite except me!" And that makes them twice as much a hypocrite.

And yes, before you ask, I am including myself in that statement. How many times have I done the very thing I hate the most when I see it in other people? More times than I would like to admit. Yes, I am a hypocrite, and a big one at that. But truth be told, I have NEVER met someone who wasn't a hypocrite in at least one area of their lives. And actually, I have met very few people who I would say only were hypocrites about one or two things.

For someone to preach against hypocrisy while their entire lives are one big contradiction (i.e., they think it's wrong for you to lie, they think it's wrong for you to judge, they think it's wrong for you to hate, but they are the most selfish judgmental lying haters you know,) they have now become a hypocrite.

So when someone demands in the name of your God, that you forgive their sexual immorality, though they have no plans of ceasing, but then scoff at your God for reprimanding us to forgive those who have repented and turned from THEIR sexual immorality, they are holding a major double standard.

They seek forgiveness without being willing to forgive.

No wait, let me rephrase that: They DEMAND forgiveness and they DON'T ALLOW anybody to forgive someone THEY don't think should be forgiven. And also, let me point out: Deciding for yourself who should be forgiven and who should NOT be forgiven, is judging.

You are making the judgment call that X is permissible and Y is not. You are making the judgment call that X is forgivable and Y is not. You are making the judgment call, without any evidence, without any knowledge of the situation save what you read on facebook, without any idea whether or not This Person has truly repented and That Other Person has truly healed, that X is a funny little story and Y needs to be dealt with through years of major counseling and hard jail time. Is that not judging?

If it is absolutely %100 wrong for me to judge you, does it not then follow that it is absolutely %100 wrong for you to judge Josh? And if it is absolutely %100 wrong for Josh to be a hypocrite, does it not then follow that it is absolutely %100 wrong for you to be a hypocrite?

I'm not saying that what Josh Duggar did wasn't wrong. And without knowing any of the true story, I refuse to make the judgment call on whether or not he is a hypocrite. But if I were you, I would be very careful about what you judge to be the case, no matter how "inexcusable" you think it is. Because as Paul the Apostle says in Romans:

"You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else. For at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, for you who pass judgment do the same things."

You Have Wearied the Lord with your Words

Grace. It's a beautiful thing. As all have sinned, and all have fallen short, we believers in the Lord hold a blessed hope: that God, in His wisdom and His love, was merciful towards us and has wiped the slate clean. We are free, we are saved, we have been given grace. Beautiful.

But something has been going on, something has been building up under the surface of the American church, and it's something that I think needs to be addressed. And that is, quite frankly, the increase of sin justified by the forgiveness of God.

More and more, Christians are becoming complacent in their faith. They prayed a prayer, sit in a church pew every Sunday (give or take) and tithe the required ten percent of their biweekly income (give or take).

And there they sit; a seemingly perfect Christian doing seemingly perfect Christian things. And then, after service, when they've penitently prayed at the alter call, they go home and return to their lives.

Lives of excuses, petty sin, and all the while the safe and secure thought in the back of your head that hey, you're covered. God's got your back. He'll snatch you up out of any mess you land yourself in, that's what He's there for. After all, He loves you, and you love Him, so that's that, right? There's a verse that has become the battle cry of those who believe in a complacent faith, and that is the ever famous "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

I have heard this verse used over and over as an excuse for sin. Even people who otherwise have seemed like the strongest of Christians have fallen for this twisted trap. "It doesn't say 'if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is lord and burn all your Black Sabbath CD's you will be saved,' does it?" They say. "If you confess with your mouth and don't watch dirty TV shows you will be saved. That's not in the Bible at all, is it?"

What of Paul when he says, in Romans 6:1, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

A new life doesn't mean a life wherein you are now allowed to do that which you needed saving from in the first place. That's not what salvation means. Salvation means that what once enslaved you binds you no longer, and you can walk away. You're free. Salvation does NOT mean that you can choose your poison and know that you'll be partyin' in heaven once it kills you.

"God is pleased with us, no matter what we do!"

It has been said by many, and it has been said by some of the most popular and influential Christian leaders of our time, and it has been mindlessly parroted by thousands as justification for their sin. "Lying to my mom about where I was last night doesn't matter because God loves me and is pleased with me no matter what I do." "Stealing from my workplace doesn't matter because God loves me and is pleased with me no matter what I do." "Cussing out the guy who cut me off in traffic doesn't matter because God loves me and is pleased with me no matter what I do."

If you turn in your Bibles to Malachi, you will find God's answer to those who say He is pleased with us no matter what. I encourage you to read it through, but for now, I'll simply quote some of God's words as spoken through Malachi.

Malachi 1:10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands."

Malachi 2:17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”

Malachi 3:13 “You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ 14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”

And finally:

Malachi 4:1 “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. 3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty. 4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel."

I bolded verse 4, and I want to address it before I finish up this blog. You see, there is a huge and fatal flaw with American Christianity; and that is in the diminution of the law.

If God is a perfect God, who created a perfect universe, and established perfect order within it, why then do we disregard His law as anything less than perfect? Just think about this for a second: The One True God who created everything actually sent us a written law to instruct us in how we are to live.

If we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord over our lives, and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, thus confirming and sanctioning Jesus' claims that He and God the father were one, than why do we still LIVE as if we never were saved?

Jesus says in Matthew 25, starting in verse 31:

 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

"Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Don't let yourself fall for the lie that God is pleased with you no matter what. For your actions are a reflection of your heart, and if you do not truly believe, your actions will betray you. Confessions are easy for those with lying tongues; but nobody can fake what they truly believe in their hearts.

And the Lord God, who knows all men's hearts, will deny you with His words, just as you deny Him by your lifestyle.