Multiple Choice Christianity
When was the last time you tried to argue your way out of trouble?
Growing up I was a big fan of the Brady Bunch, probably because I had an equally big crush on Marcia. There were lots of memorable episodes. Peter’s voice changing. Bobby running away. The mystery of Kitty Karry-All (whatever happened to Tiger anyway?). So many memories. One lesson that stuck with me from the show was in an episode called “Greg Gets Grounded.” Oldest son Greg nearly crashes the family station wagon because he’s reading the jacket cover of his new album while driving and ends up getting grounded from using the car for a week. But Greg, who has a big date that weekend finds a loophole and borrows a friend’s car instead. As usual, Mr. and Mrs. Brady find out, but Greg argues with his dad and says, “I didn’t disobey you. Your exact words were that I couldn’t drive OUR car, but you didn’t say anything about driving someone else’s car.” Mr. Brady says, “Greg, you knew what we meant when we grounded you.” But Greg argues, “Yeah, but Dad those weren’t your EXACT words.” Mr. Brady, in a very sly move, decides to let Greg off the hook by instead making his son live by “his exact words.” Needless to say, after doing chores at 11:00 at night, Greg finds out VERY quickly that living by the letter of the law isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and admits he was wrong.
Living by “exact words” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
And like Greg, we use it as an excuse for not doing the right thing. A very sad and tragic story happened about a nurse in Bakersfield all the way back in 2013 but one that drives this point home. Colleen, a nurse in Bakersfield, used the excuse to sit by while an elderly woman died.[1] Literally sat by and watched while a woman was dying on the dining room floor of a senior living complex. Apparently, an 87-year old woman named Lorraine Bayless collapsed to the ground and Colleen called 911 to get help. The operator, realizing the seriousness of the situation, told the nurse that someone needed to administer CPR to Ms. Bayless and the nurse refused citing company policy as her excuse. The operator pleaded with Colleen to do it to save her life and if not her, then to hand the phone to someone who might. Colleen refused. Literally refused. But perhaps the most disturbing part of the call was when the 911 operator asked her, “Is there anyone that’s willing to help this lady and not let her die?” And in what seemed to be a very cold and callous reaction, the nurse said, “Um, not at this time.”[2] Her adherence to the “rules” was so great that she allowed a fellow human being to die right in front of her without so much as lifting a finger beyond calling 911. What’s worse she was a nurse and still refused to do anything because of the “rules.” She wouldn’t even pass the phone to someone else or look for someone who might be willing to do what she wouldn’t and Lorraine died.
Was she following the spirit of those “exact words?”
Too often our “exact words” become weapons or shields against others, but this isn’t their intent. The intent of the law and the intent of rules are to lay down a guideline to better living. But they are NOT meant to be used as instruments or tools to harm others. Yet throughout our history, we have done exactly that – we have used the law as a means to an end instead of adhering to the spirit in which it was made. We hear about one such case in our reading of the Bible today. This will probably be a very familiar story if you’ve been in church for a while. It’s often referred to as the story of the adulterous woman, but that isn’t really fair to her. It should be called “The Pharisees are at it again,” but I guess that happens so much they need to differentiate it somehow. Once again, they try to trip Jesus up – trying to get him to contradict the Word of God so they have a reason to get rid of him. And this isn’t the only time they do this. At various points in the Gospels they try to trap Jesus with their clever questions and arguments. And this time is no different. In this passage they question Jesus about this woman who commits adultery and this is where we pick up in the Gospel narrative.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” – John 8:2-11
Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.
Jesus didn’t sidestep the law. He didn’t contradict the law. Instead he improved upon the law and said, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And they were stuck. None of them qualified and they knew it. They were hoping Jesus would say something they could hang him on, something that showed he really was either a heretic or a lunatic, but instead Jesus turns the tables on them. He doesn’t deny that this woman broke their laws and customs, but instead says in his own way that only someone who is sinless has the right to stand in judgment and if a sinless person was found who thought she deserved this punishment then it would be justified. Ironically, Jesus is the only sinless person. So one by one, they go away and Jesus instead of seeking justice offers mercy. “Neither do I condemn you,” he tells the woman, “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Jesus had every right to throw the book at her.
Or a stone. She violated the law and the law demanded punishment. But as the only one worthy of issuing that punishment, Jesus chose instead the path of love and grace and mercy. As it says in Hosea 6:6 and again in Matthew, “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings.” This is the kind of God we worship. One who is more interested in grace than condemnation, hope instead of harm. He makes it really easy to understand, too. Love God, love your neighbor. Very simple rules. And we twist those rules and use them as a battering ram against people who don’t believe exactly what we believe.
In the past, the Bible has been misused to justify offenses of the worst kind.
It’s been used as a tool to justify racism, sexism, spousal abuse, homophobia, destruction of the environment, destruction of basic freedoms, and other horrific tragedies, and yet it is clear by simply reading the Bible that God wishes for none of these things. They are inconsistent with everything we know about God. So how do they justify it? They engage in Multiple Choice Christianity. They pick and choose what parts of the Bible they like to fit their beliefs. You take a passage from column A and a passage from column B and you come up with some derivation of Scripture that suits your needs. But as H.G. Wells once said, “Satan delights equally in statistics and quoting Scripture.”[3] Because like statistics, you can shape and bend Scripture to say almost anything when you choose to ignore the facts. God doesn’t make it hard to understand and yet too often Christians have done a good job of twisting the message and life of Christ into a pretzel. But the message is simple: love God, love others. Love God, love others. This is the greatest commandment and as Jesus said, all the rest rely on these two things.
When I first moved to Georgia, I had a hard time finding my way around.
Everything was named “Peachtree.” You’d think they could come up with some original names for streets. There was Peachtree Ave, Peachtree Street, Peachtree Circle, Peachtree Battle (I don’t know how you end up naming a street Peachtree “Battle”), Peachtree Road, Peachtree Blvd, Peachtree Industrial Pkwy, and that’s just to name a few. Needless to say I needed a map. I didn’t have a GPS and so I was often driving around the city with one eye on the road and one eye on my map. Well, I guess this particular day my one eye missed the streetlight that was red. There were these two stoplights in a row and the first one was green and the second one, only a little farther away was red. And I just went right through that second light. Completely oblivious, I kept driving and out of my rear-view mirror, I see this police car with its lights on. I pull over like a good driver, not wanting to cause any trouble, and the policeman pulls over with me. I’m totally shocked. That is until the officer comes up and says to me, “Did you notice that you ran through a red light?” I told him, “No, sir. I didn’t see it.” I look back and sure enough there was a second light. I felt doomed. Not even a week in my new city and already in trouble with the law. But then the officer did something completely unexpected. He said, “You’re new around here, aren’t you?” I nodded. “Well, next time be extra careful. That light can be pretty hard to see. Welcome to Georgia. Have a nice day.” Grace is much more powerful than the law. It has an effect that goes far beyond the moment. Remember, it isn’t about adhering to “exact words.” It’s all about doing the right thing. So do the right thing. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/03/elderly-woman-dies-after-nurse-refuses-to-give-her-cpr/
[2] http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/03/04/partial-transcript-11-call-from-calif-senior-living-facility-where-woman-died/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fnational+%28Internal+-+US+Latest+-+Text%29
[3] http://www.quotegarden.com/statistics.html
Craig's Corner 