Judge Not

I am more than a little disturbed this morning by the reaction of the media this week concerning the comments of one Pat Robertson. Mr. Robertson is an American television commentator with a reputation of being a member of what is referred to in the United States as “the Christian right”. His comments are supposed to reflect the opinions of conservative and evangelical Christians. He apparently had the audacity to suggest on national and international television that the disastrous earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12th was a punishment from God. How he came to this conclusion appears to have something to do with his belief that the people of Haiti apparently sold their soul by making a pact with the devil in order to escape the colonial rule of France two centuries in the past. It bothers me to even write down such thoughts. Unfortunately, it does not seem to bother the media to report such unloving thoughts and statements. Indeed, Mr. Robertson provided them with just the kind of anti-Christian ammunition that they love and they have made the most of it.

Pat Robertson represents, I hope, a very small minority of Christians. They are the few that, despite the words of Jesus, continue to judge others. They judge the lifestyles, clothes and perceived behaviour of all those around them including fellow Christians. They are typically very sour in their demeanour in their treatment of others. They may even shun other Christians who do not live up to their perceived ideal of how a Christian should look and act. Personal grooming, the use of cosmetics and fashion accessories, level of education and even personality traits can come under their scrutiny. Every Bible believing church, chapel and assembly has a few such persons. The key word; however, is “few”! The media would have us believe otherwise. The vast majority of Christians at least attempt live up to the words of Paul in Romans 13: 9-10.

9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

We are all so very aware that Jesus admonished us to love our neighbour as we would love ourselves. Unfortunately, a small minority of Christians can mouth the words constantly, but for some reason they never seem to be able to internalize them. They just don’t get it. Pat Robertson, I would suggest, just doesn’t get it. If we are to love, we in turn are to do no harm to our neighbour. Our neighbour is not just the people next door or in the next pew. They are every human being on this earth. We are to love and honour them. The Apostle Paul tells us that "love is the fulfillment of the law". I suspect that Pat Robertson and a certain few are suffering from a form of biblical dyslexia. They must be reading that “the law is the fulfillment of love”.

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