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To Snark Or Not To Snark
If you’ve been reading my stuff for a while you’ll know that I can be pretty snarky towards my fellow Christians. I love Jesus, and I try my best to live by the Word, but I don’t really like Christians that much. Especially Christians of the fundamentalist persuasion.
A few days ago I got to talking with some one, and this person said that Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize is “getting ready for the Antichrist.” She then went on about the Rapture and the seven year Tribulation and all that jazz. Now I personally don’t think the President should have won the award, or at least not yet. But the more this person talked, the more I wish I had a pamphlet with me about amillenialism. I also should note that when I told her I went to a Lutheran Church, she asked me what Lutheranism was.
Then there’s the dreaded e-word: evolution. Now since I went to a crappy public high school, we didn’t really go over evolution. But from what little bit I’ve gathered here and there, I think there’s some truth to it. Even Augustine and Calvin said that Genesis chapter 1 probably was not a literal account of the creation of the world. But if you suggest that to a fundamentalist, his or her head will explode with rage. To question the literalness (is that a word?) of the Genesis 1 is to question the literalness of the entire Bible.
But yesterday morning I got to thinking about Romans 14, where Paul writes about how one man’s faith allows him to eat anything, while another person’s faith allows him only vegetables. “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand” (verse 4). So by being snarky, am I judging God’s servants? Am I being too slow to listen and too quick to speak?
What do you think? Can snarky comments lead to judging others?
Tags: fundamentalism, snark
On first read, I am going to have to say I don’t like your post, far too convicting. But on the good side I now understand what snarky means. I am going to have to think about it for a bit and get back to you.
I am a pretty snarky person myself, and I can say from my experience that snarky comments don’t lead to judgment of others, they result from it. I constantly have to examine my own motivations for being snide with other people’s beliefs. In my church I am surrounded by people I often disagree with on issues like politics, the end-times, and evolution. That has actually helped me a lot, because it enables me to see the human, day-to-day side of them. Exposure to the true good in people, beyond their views on a few narrow issues, makes it easier to fight snarkiness.
I am no better than anyone else.
This makes it really hard to be snarky about snarky people.
Only the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus could free me from my snarkiness toward people I judge.
Only when He is the only Judge, who has mercy on my sorry self, am I free from my urge to snark.
So I think that this is great thing to think about. Sadly, I think that most of the divisions in the church are due to people not being loving especially to their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t construct strong theology and practice apologetics. This isn’t even to say that we shouldn’t talk to all people about our beliefs. The problem ultimately comes to pride and as a result, lack of love. As a sinful broken person, I should always be careful stating that my interpretation of a Biblical principle is the “correct” way of viewing things. This isn’t to say the reformed theology take on something isn’t supportable by Scripture, but if I abuse my fellow believer or even non-believer with this understanding, I have violated a larger rule.
I Cor 13 is awesome on this stuff, especially verse 2.
1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.
Matthew 7:1 is probably a familiar verse to everyone. “Judge not lest ye also be judged.” but I beleive there is a difference between judging and discernment. If you happen upon someone whose beliefs are so far out there they border on damning that person’s soul, then we have the obligation, according to what I understand about Christianity, to help them back to the path. As for the differences between fundamentalism and less rigid interpretations of the Bible, I think there’s room for differences, and hopefully, healthy discussion. That’s how we learn, isn’t it?
[...] first, it was just a couple of posts (here and here) on FS. Then we reached the chapter on “The Greatest Sin” in our study on Mere [...]
I think this Judge Not stuff is misused and abused as most Christian Bible Quoters love to quote individual verses out of context.
If you read Matthew 7:1-5
Jesus clearly says do not judge so that you will not be judged, but to whom is He speaking? He identifies His audience in verse 5 with the words “Thou hypocrite.” Jesus is not forbiding Christians to judge (unless He is calling every Christian a hypocrite). He is warning that we will be held accountable for what we know. In other words, if we know enough about sinful behavior to tell others that it is wrong, then we have no excuse as to why that sin would be present in our lives. This is consistent with Paul’s advice in I Corinthians 11:31-32 that we judge ourselves first so that we will not be judged. As Jesus says in verse 5, we should cast the beam out of our own eye and then we are in position to point out the fault to others.
In truth, God does not forbid us to judge, but He sets up conditions wherein we must judge.