It takes only a cursory glance on the internet to see that we tend not to agree. Especially when it comes to controversial subjects like religion or politics or day, I say Covid! All you have to do to spice up your day is click on a YouTube video, warm your popcorn (or low carb snack) and watch the fireworks in the comments section.
While it can be funny at times to see strangers tear into each other, when it starts to get personal and downright disrespectful it really does show the lack of common decency that has been lost in modern day society. To be fair there are pockets on the internet that aim to have civil dialogue but any Twitter user knows that any wrong tweet could potentially start a cyberwar!
I digress, the main point of this article to highlight that even though there are many that claim to love Jesus and follow his commandments, there is sadly this disposition among older Christians that is overly critical, lacking mercy and thriving in judgment.
Now to provide balance, I believe there are some things that we as Christians should be critical about; the abuse of the poor, clear mishandling of power, corruption in society and dare I say in the church. Talking low level and this may sound blunt but it stands with scripture and the testimony of the church, is continual devotion to God should produce a growing hatred of sin (Sin being wilful disobedience against God’s law in thought word and/or deed). It logically follows that this would include its manifestations in other people; the “ancient” bible word is ungodly (not considering God in your life and acknowledging him for who he is).
The reality is that Christians who take seriously the commands laid out in the scripture they will undoubtedly grow to love Jesus more and hate the sin in their lives.
So, what happens with the Critical Christian?
People are different with varying temperaments and life experiences so it’s difficult to come up with a definitive response on how people develop a critical spirit.
Some argue it stems from bitterness from a violation, or a disappointment in life from a valued figure, or even God.
Others argue it’s cynicism. Some even say it’s an inversion of the gift of discernment. In any case I’ve seen it manifests itself in three ways:
1) The Constant Need to correct others
If I got a pound for every time I heard, “we shouldn’t be doing it this way, we should do this”- I’ll be a millionaire. Sadly, I don’t and so I still have to work, but you get my point.
Many times, I’ve been involved sharing my faith with my local church to other people and Christians (yes Christians) have come up to me to start talking about my view on the order of salvation!
I actually remember a Christian saying that your gospel is false and so we don’t think you’re Christians. This was the first thing he said to us! Shocking. What I’ve learned from dealing with these type of people is simple : Their need to be correct trumps everything else. Wouldn’t it be better to wait and become friends with me first before correcting, if that is what you cared about (the person)?
It flows from the first point that these types of people aren’t those who live a peaceful life (forgetting Romans 12:18) Why? Because their need to be the “bastion of truth” often costs them relationships, because of their blatant lack of social skills.
People like that will always say that Jesus laid it out plan and “said it how it is “, Paul addressed false teachers in the church, who can forget the OT prophets (mic drop); but a selective amnesia comes upon people when they’re asked for the scriptural and historical contexts of these events . Let’s not get into the Levitical laws (do you wear mixed fabrics?)
I will say that truth must be declared but it is the whole truth as it relates to the testimony of scripture.
3) Lacking mercy/ delight in judgment
This is probably the modus operandi of the critical Christian.
Devoid of any real care or concern towards people and a warped sense of God’s judgment. It should bother any tender-hearted Christian to see people living lives that are not God honouring, and our prayers should be that God grant these people mercy so that they come to faith in time (see Romans 2:4, 2 Peter 3) ,not rejoice and sneer about alternative communities or people with differing theological perspectives to you (within the range of historical Christian orthodoxy), because isn’t that why you’re a Christian?
Wasn’t it Grace or were you the special one?
There is hope!
It’s extremely tough to manoeuvre through this experience but the great resource that the Christian has alongside scripture is the history of the Church. Thank God, there are people who have spoken about the censorious spirit (fancy talk for being critical).
Three scriptural principles that will help you to heal from this spirit:
It’s so interesting that Paul in his letter to Timothy juxtaposes immoral lifestyles with the preaching of sound doctrine (see 1 Timothy 1 :8–11) which tells me that people who become critical just don’t know their bible well enough.
Anyone who’s had a car for some time will tell you that eventually their steering will need to be aligned because the car will start to veer to the left or right. To fix it you have to take it to a garage who will realign it for you — the point of this is every now and again we will need a theological aligning with scripture.
An example, a scriptural truth is that God reveals himself in the Old and New Testament to be merciful and you can draw many texts to support that but at the same time God is also just and so there is always that tension. My point is- seek to be a theologically sound Christian.When I started I though I knew it all; Now I know it really is by his grace not by my intellect. My advice would be to find an older Christian or speak to your elder/Pastor and go through scripture/theology to find balance.
2) Seek the Reality of God’s Love
Love has either been tossed aside by the theologically astute , or morphed into sentimentalism without concern for the other attributes of God outlined in scripture. No rabbit holes today, so I say this, a person who radically reaches for the love of God, despite the problems that they may see (and some may actually be genuine) will be changed into a special type of Christian. People that can see the reality of a fallen world and the brokenness of men and can still love will make impact. I’d suggest reading some books on this — Crazy Love by Francis Chan is really good (this does not mean I am in complete agreement with his theological views)
The problem with critical Christians is that ultimately, they lack faith. They don’t believe that God can do anything. And sometimes they may feel justified in their position. But to be blunt , it’s a terrible place to be in and before long you’ll just end up hating God and leaving the faith.
One of my favourite miracles of Jesus is where he heals the young boy and before that the father says:
“I believe, help my unbelief “
Powerful. This man showed that you can come to Jesus, as you are about your faith and he will not only hear you, but may answer you. You may not like the answer, but Jesus will speak to you if you genuinely seek Him.
We’re not at liberty to allow our past problems (despite how devasting they may be) to stop us from being a people of faith.
I think it fitting to close with the following verse which is so relevant to this topic:
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
NB: I’ve noticed that Critical Christians tend to have an incorrect perception of two biblical doctrine: Holiness and Judgment.
I’ll just touch on Holiness today.
Jesus obeyed the 613 provisions of the Sabbath Law (which were given to distinguish the Children of Israel as God’s chosen people) by speaking to Samaritan women and chastising the religious elite, healing on the Sabbath. So, Holiness to Jesus was radically different to what was being espoused by the teachers in essence, remember he said he didn’t come to abolish but fulfil the law (Matthew 5:17–19). Holiness was loving God with your heart, soul, strength and mind and loving your neighbour as yourself — on a different level in terms of difficulty. Some may even say impossible. You read on from the gospels to the letter of Paul and you see that God’s way of reckoning someone righteous (morally perfect, in right standing with God) is not from obedience but from grace through faith. It’s believing on the person and work of Jesus (who was completely righteous) that a person is saved. From that foundation, a person seeks holiness, good works, living clean. It stems purely from who they are in Christ.
Put simply your faith in Christ sets you apart and now you are indebted to live in submission to the spirit (Galatians 5).
Ciao