Boycotting Star Trek

Suggested Reading: 1 Corinthians 5:1-13

I became a Star Trek fan in junior high and high school. I loved Star Trek. I even wrote a Star Trek novel during my sophomore year in high school (and then William Shatner wrote his own novel that was similar enough mine would never get published! But I'm not bitter or anything….ahem). I loved the science fiction and the vision of a future where humanity had overcome many of the evils of its past. But at one point, I became disillusioned with it, even deciding to boycott Star Trek. In several of the novels and television episodes a thread developed which ridiculed and mocked religious belief in general and which seemed to attack Christianity in particular. But after a while I realized something. Star Trek had always had those elements within it. Star Trek had never hidden those elements and never pretended to be anything other than what it was - a secular science fiction show. So, I ended my boycott of Star Trek and came back to it with a healthier understanding of both it and myself.

Many of us have experienced similar situations in life, where we decide to stay away from a particular group or product because of the things they support, the ideas they promote, or the lifestyles they live. And while there are certainly times when such "boycotts" are warranted, we often level them at the wrong people.  In 1 Corinthians 5:9-11, Paul wrote, "When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn't talking about unbelievers...What I meant was that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a Christian yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler. Don't even eat with such people." (NLT)

See, both to protect the integrity of the faith and to help straying believers understand the severity of their sinful behavior, we are to avoid people who claim to be Christians but consistently live like they are not. But nowhere are we told to treat unbelievers badly because they act like unbelievers. How else would we expect unbelievers to behave? 

Rather than targeting secular or religiously-other people and organizations for their behavior, we should be more concerned about those who claim to be Christians while presenting an absolutely horrendous witness to the world. But notice, Paul did not say to avoid people whose theology is different than ours or who disagree with us about portions of the faith. He said to avoid those Christians whose behavior is poor. In another example, in 2 Thessalonians 3, Paul warns against associating with Christians who are irresponsible and make themselves a burden for everyone else. 

One of the reasons so many people are turning away from Christianity today is that we allow sin to fester in the Church. We tolerate people who are abusive and greedy and are swindlers. Even outsiders understand that the Church is filled with imperfect people, but they rightly expect us to take a stand when people within our own ranks behave in despicable ways.

We cannot expect people to take our claims of the transforming power of Christ seriously when we tolerate consistent sin from those who claim to follow Christ.  Don't stay away from the sinners. Stay away from the people who claim to follow Christ but don't live like it. 

We'll Take The Murderer But Not The Adulterer

Suggested Reading: James 2:1-13

In the same passage where James warns against showing favoritism based on the benefit we might receive, he goes on to say, But if you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the entire law, yet fails in one point, is guilty of breaking it all. For He who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. So if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you are a lawbreaker (James 2:9-11, HCSB).

Though he doesn't specifically come out and say it, James hovers on the edge of another way we sometimes play favorites in the Church when he compares a person who commits adultery with one who commits murder, as if one might be acceptable while the other is not. That might sound far fetched, but I've known people in churches who are perfectly willing to accept someone fresh out of jail for a violent crime but unwilling to accept a person who has been through a divorce. Going a step farther, I've seen churches accept heterosexual couples living together outside of marriage but unwilling to accept homosexual couples.

My point is not that any of these activities should be condoned or accepted but that far too often we play favorites based on which sins we find acceptable and which ones we don't. Some sins we don't like but will look past because we understand them: robbery (if you're a dumb teenager), pre-marital sex (darn those pesky hormones), gossip (that really is a juicy story), lying (they must have had a good reason). But some sins we immediately use as justification to ostracize people: homosexuality (the perverts!), abortion (you're just being irresponsible and selfish, you murderer!), or gossip (I was just telling a juicy story but you're flat-out lying about me!).

James reminds us that we are all lawbreakers, that all of us have broken the entire law, and that all of us are in need of God's mercy. Speak and act as those who will be judged by the law of freedom. For judgment is without mercy to the one who hasn’t shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:12-13, HCSB). Sooner or later, playing favorites based on which sins are okay and which ones deserve condemnation will blow up in our faces. People will realize that we are hypocrites, the sins that we commit will fall out of favor, and we will face God's judgment for our own lack of mercy.

We can't afford to play favorites when it comes to sin. Eventually, popular opinion will turn against our own sins. Instead, let's remember that we have all received mercy and treat people as if we really believe that.

Lord, Please Knock 'Em Down a Peg

Suggested Reading: Matthew 7:1-5

Not long ago, I found myself making comments about a particular person who was getting under my skin. This person didn't do anything wrong, per se, but tends to just keep talking. This person is fairly intelligent but sometimes just misses the obvious, and (in my opinion) tends to talk about anyone who disagrees as someone who just hasn't thought through their position as well as they should have. The fact that this person also tends to mischaracterize the position he disagrees with simply adds to my irritation. And so I found myself making comments about this person. I know better and, usually, I behave better. But this person always came across as feeling so superior, so much more intelligent than everyone else, that I felt justified in making my comments. I eventually turned my comments to God, praying something along the lines of, Lord, could you please knock that person down a peg and take away that smug air of superiority.

Literally a split second later, God responded, but it was to take me down a peg as Jesus's words echoed in my mind. “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. For with the judgment you use, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a log in your eye? Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye" (Matthew 7:1-5, HCSB). It felt like a punch to the gut that knocked the air out of me. I realized that the primary reason this person's superiority bothered me so much was that it interfered with my own superiority. I was judging this person for doing the very thing I myself was guilty of.

But we do that kind of thing all the time, don't we? We look down on that lazy person over there while ignoring our own laziness. We judge someone's selfishness without realizing that we only notice it because it interferes with our own selfishness. We pity the hypocrisy we see in our co-worker without stopping long enough to examine our own double lives.

When we see a problem in another person's life, before we start pointing it out to anyone or allowing it to change the way we view them, we need to take a hard, long look at our own lives. Jesus said we would be judged with the same standard we apply to others. So before we start measuring other people we need to measure ourselves. If we would fail to live up to our own standard, we should start adjusting our own lives. Let's take care of the logs in our own eyes, then we might actually be able to help others with their specks.

Batman, the Righteous Prostitute

Suggested Reading: Genesis 38

One of the compelling elements of superhero stories is the contradiction inherent in a person who illegally acts as a vigilante in order to fight crime and seek justice. Batman is a great example. Often chased by the police for his vigilante activity, Batman is also the only means of defeating many of the super-villains who attack Gotham City. In some tellings, Batman works with the police but it is often a secret relationship because Batman's work is technically illegal. Technically, Batman is breaking the law but he is trying to do the best he can in a desperate world.

In Genesis 38, Judah, one of the twelve sons of Israel, has three sons. His oldest marries a woman named Tamar but then dies. In accordance with the Old Testament laws of levirite marriage, Judah's second son also marries Tamar. But when the second son dies, Judah puts off giving his youngest son to Tamar, afraid the woman is a jinx. When Tamar realizes Judah is not going to follow through with his obligations of providing his youngest son as her husband, she dresses up as a prostitute and positions herself where she knows Judah will pass. Judah encounters her, propositions her, seals the deal, and then goes on his way, never realizing that he slept with his daughter-in-law. When Tamar shows up pregnant, Judah is furious and wants to have her executed for adultery. But when she provides evidence that she is pregnant with Judah's child, he changes his tone. He proclaims, "She is more righteous than I am, because I didn't arrange for her to marry my son Shelah" (Genesis 38:26, NLT).

At times, we see people in their sin and we want to pass judgment on them. A man leaves his wife and we want to judge him for infidelity or for giving up on his marriage. We see a young woman get pregnant out of wedlock and we want to label her as easy or promiscuous. Our child comes home from school with a note about the disturbance they created in P.E. and we want to jump all over them for being a problem child. And while the things these people have done are wrong, we rarely know when they are only doing something wrong because they don't know how to make a bad situation any better otherwise. Maybe that man is leaving because his wife is abusive. Maybe that young woman was trying to avoid losing the only man who ever showed her any positive attention. Maybe that child was defending himself from kids who know how to strike when the teacher isn't looking. Maybe they're all just being selfish. But maybe they have reasons.

The point is that we never know why people make the decisions they do. We never know if we would do the same thing - or something worse - if we were put in their place. So we should avoid judging people just because they do something wrong. Maybe they are just making bad choices. But maybe they are just desperate and need our help and prayers more than our condemnation. Their reasons never make the actions right but we should take a look at their circumstances before we start bringing the hammer down on people who mess up. After all, we can all wind up desperate.

Giving Away Someone Else's Train Tickets

Suggested Reading: Acts 4:23-37

One of my favorite holiday movies is White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. Near the beginning of the movie, Wallace and Davis go to see a sister-act as a favor to an old friend and intervene  when the sisters are exploited by a hotel manager. In order to help the girls get away, Phil Davis gives the Haynes sisters a set of train tickets so they can leave town. Of course, Davis doesn't tell his partner that he gave away their tickets and Wallace is furious at first. It is one thing to give away your own things to help somebody else. It is another thing entirely for someone else to give away your things for you. In the end, Wallace comes around and is glad that his partner gave away their tickets, but Wallace's reaction displays a line that some Christians don't know how to walk.

At the end of Acts chapter four, when Peter and John have finally been released after their arrest for healing a lame man, the passage shares with us that "All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had." (Acts 4:32, NLT). Sometimes, I think we make the mistake of reading this verse to say, "And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they took from each other what they needed." There is a very big difference between those two statements.

As believers we are called to share with those in need. We are called to disciple new believers and to lead by example. But we are not called to force other people to do the right thing. One of the reasons that religious freedom was written into the American constitution was that a group of God-fearing men realized something very important - noone can force another person to change their heart. History has demonstrated time and time again that we cannot force other people to accept our own beliefs through the use of force, pressure, or intimidation. We may change their behavior, but we can never change their heart.

As Christians, we cannot force people into sharing. We can only teach them by example. We can share out of our own wealth of learning and materials things, but we should not force anyone else to do so. Jesus taught that we are to hold ourselves to a very different standard than the standard to which we hold other people. Jesus gave this advice for judging ourselves. "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters" (Matthew 12:30, NIV) but told us "for whoever is not against us is for us" (Mark 9:40, NIV) when judging others. 

As believers we must have hearts that are willing and eager to obey the teachings of Christ and to lead in generosity and charity by example, not by decree.