On Throwing Stones and Noticing Specks
I have a dilemma. Maybe you can help me. I have been wanting to write a blog about faith, politics, and life for some time. However, when I get ready to write, I find myself gravitating to a couple of things that Jesus said:
“Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8)
This statement was in reference to the Pharisees who brought to Jesus a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. The law indicated that she was to be stoned to death.
The other thing that Jesus said:
“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” (Matthew 7)
This statement was in reference to judging others.
So the dilemma: When is it okay to criticize others? Certainly all of us have our faults. All of us sin. All of us have some debris in our eyes. So, when do we criticize? When do we speak out against another’s behavior or speech that seems egregious to us?
If you have watched the video that I labeled “Where Politics and Faith Collide,” you will see and hear firsthand the dilemma to which I am referring. I will go ahead and say it. I am no fan of Donald Trump. I respect the office but I do not in any way respect the person. I agree wholeheartedly with what is being said in the video.
At the same time, I recognize my own faults and shortcomings. So what is the person of faith to do? I would love to hear from anyone, whether you are a Trump supporter or not.
Let’s talk.
Hello, Chuck. Your question is an interesting one, but one with no easy answers. Not that there are no answers, it’s just that sometimes the answers are not readily apparent, or if they are, we won’t always have the courage to act on them. I had a conversation just a couple of days ago with a friend who recounted an incident that happened to him a few years ago but still haunts him today. He is a retired middle school science teacher and he told me of being in the teachers’ lounge one morning listening to, but not really participating in, a conversation in which a couple of other teachers where making some very racist comments and jokes about some of their black students and co-workers. My friend said he sat there uncomfortably for a few minutes and then left. He told me that it’s one of the big regrets of his life that he did not “call them out” for making such insensitive remarks. I understand why he didn’t. This notion that we should ourselves be blameless before we “cast the first stone” is deeply embedded in our Christian upbringing, but I think it would be a mistake to interpret that admonition as an absolute warning against speaking out against certain social wrongs and societal ills of other types. No one is without sin, and we have our own hypocrisies to deal with, but surely we have a duty and a responsibility to speak out on matters of moral and social justice, particularly when to passively sit by and say or do nothing is tantamount to condoning the wrongness of it.
I applaud you for wanting to start a blog that promises to be a platform for adding common sense and faith-based wisdom in an attempt to process, and hopefully counteract, the toxic rhetoric that is so much a part of today’s political climate. I look forward to being a part of that dialog.
Russ
P.S. Speaking of “common sense,” where would we be today had Thomas Paine not had the courage to speak out against Great Britain during the early days of the American Revolution?