Tuesday Review: unChristian – Chapter 8: Judgement

I’m perplexed at how anyone can hear the story of Jesus dying in our place and rescuing us out of our helplessness and have it produce arrogance in their life (201).
- Rick McKinley (pastor, Imago Dei, Portland)

They believe we are more interested in proving we are right than that God is right. They say Christians are more focused on condemning people than helping people become more like Jesus (184).

A critical distinction for Christians is the difference between condemning people (i.e., being judgmental) and helping them become soft-hearted—aware of, and sensitized to God’s standards (184).

Our research with Christians confirms that often we miss the point of reflecting Jesus to outsiders because we are too busy catering to the expectations of other believers (186).

He (C.S. Lewis) notes that there is someone I love, even though I don’t approve of what he does. There is someone I accept, though some of his thoughts and actions revolt me. There is someone I forgive, though he hurts the people I love the most. That person is me. There are plenty of things I do that I don’t like, but if I can love myself without approving of all I do, I can also love others without approving of all they do… I don’t think of Vegas as Sin city anymore—I think of it as Grace City (198-9).
- Jud Wilhite (pastor, Central Community Church, Las Vegas)

Anyone who calls anyone judgmental, well, er, is inherently judgmental (199)

…One of our weaknesses is that we’re far more concerned with being right than being righteous. We become like the Pharisees whenever we focus on issues rather than people (200).
- Margaret Feinberg (author and speaker)

I’m not sure how it happened exactly, but it seems that grace, which is Christianity’s most core issue, is struggling to survive… Our culture doesn’t look at us as a faith of second chances but rather as a religion of judgment.

…it appears at some level that the secular world is capable of “doing grace” better than we are.

Christian insulations and a safe life are not what you and I signed up for when we said we would follow Jesus. He was never insulated from people’s pain, and he sure didn’t keep to safe places (201-2).
- Mike Foster (president of Ether, founder of XXXchurch.com)