Charles Barkley Is Wrong
Posted by:
Bible Blogger on
February 27, 2008 at
9:20AM EST
(Listen to the Podcast at http://www.bibleblogpodcast.com )
Recently, former NBA player Charles Barkley said on CNN that
"conservatives are “fake Christians,” that conservatives are
hypocritical because “they’re not supposed to judge other people…They
act like Christians, but they are not forgiving at all.”" Now, I'm not
going to go into the political side of it but Barkley is distorting
scripture by being judicious in his words and trying to tie someone's
actions into the person themselves.
It does raise the question...is a Christian justified in judging the actions of someone else?
There are times in our Christian walk where someone is taking an action
that is against the Word of God. Many times, when you point that out
to them you'll be quoted completely out of context Matthew 7:1 (ESV):
"Judge not, that you not be judged."
While completely ignoring Matthew 7:2 (ESV):
"For with the judgment you pronounce you
will be judged, and with the
measure you use it will be
measured to you."
Basically, what these two verses are saying is not the claims of many
people who don't want to stop a sinful action. It's not saying that
you're not supposed to judge the actions these people are taking. In
fact, it's doing just the opposite. It's saying that if you want to be
judged by God's holy law...meaning you know that you sin and that you
can only obtain forgiveness through Jesus Christ...then you have the
right to look at a sinful act in someone else's life and judge it as
sin. It's saying that you need to have no delusions that you commit
sins every single day and that just like that person whom you're
looking at in judging their actions. You too have things that people
can judge in your life.
When you get to that state that you realize you are sinful then you
harbor no illusions about the one source of forgiveness...Jesus
Christ. You also realize clearly that the person who is committing the
sinful activity needs that forgiveness just as much as you need it.
But here's the key...this does not mean you ignore the sinful actions
this person is taking and it does not mean you let them "have a pass"
on that sin.
It's damaging to Christianity when a Charles Barkley or other famous
person takes the lesson of Matthew 7:1-2 out of context in this manner
in the media. It makes it appear that a Christian is to never say
anything about a sin that another person is committing or they're
judgmental and hateful and as Barkley said "fake Christians."
Many churches and Christian leaders have fallen into the same trap by
claiming that Christians shouldn't say anything about sin in someone
else's life because "Jesus is love" and "Jesus accepted everyone." I
would ask those people this question...did Jesus accept the Pharisees
without calling them out for the actions they were taking that were
against God? No! Jesus called them out for their sinful actions in
front of others all the time. So how can you say that we who are
supposed to be like Christ are forbidden from doing the same thing when
we recognize our sinful state and put our faith in Him who is without
sin?
It's just important to remember we're talking about the actions
a person takes and not the person themselves. When Barkley said that
we're not supposed to judge other people he was literally correct but
the meaning he was trying to convey was incorrect because he tied it to
forgiveness and you can't forgive a person but rather forgive actions
that person has taken.
I know he's a very opinionated man but I hope Charles Barkley will take
some time to look at the whole of that passage and realize what is
really being said there is not about blanket forgiveness of everything
without judging that it's wrong. (In a sense, how can you forgive
unless you deem an action to be wrong in the first place?) In your day
today, before you jump to a judgment, ask yourself if you're judging
the action or trying to tie someone's action into who a person is
themselves. It's hard to do at first but once you start to separate
the sin from the sinner you will find that God can work in your life in
ways you never imagined.
