Christian Compassion
January 17th, 2010 . by CaryOn my Friday night show, The “O” Word, the topic of discussion was a poseur, who went by the handle of “Tigerbo” and claimed to be a 30-year combat veteran and a retired Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel who was suffering from PTSD and successfully fighting off a harrowing case of bone marrow cancer and had suffered through the death of his wife “in his arms.” Turns out that John Dawson was none of those things – and, in fact, his (now ex-)wife had not died in his arms, but in her owns words had nearly “died at his hands.” He washed out of Marine Corps boot camp and never served a day in the military.
During the show, a listener (Patriotgreg, a fine man, naturalized American Citizen, Christian, and all-around good guy) got pretty heated in the chat room and kept trying to bring “Christian Compassion” into the discussion of whether or not what John had done was deserving of our pity, or what path we should take when dealing with him. It was Patriotgreg’s position that until we heard from John directly, we should not judge him. Another guest, Pastor Ed, had in fact talked to John about the whole thing and John had denied any wrong doing.
I want to focus on the “Christian Compassion” part of Patriotgreg’s statement. He is sure that we need to have more compassion, and give John the benefit of the doubt. I and several of my listeners disagreed, and unfortunately Greg left the show in a huff.
I believe that “Christian Compassion” is not, as Greg asserted, giving someone a free pass when that person has transgressed. I believe that “Christian Compassion” is, instead, holding that person to the standards that are found throughout the Bible. That is, it is more compassionate to hold each other to Christ’s standards than to let a fellow Christian slide away from Him. By allowing a brother or sister to slide away, you would be helping to condemn him or her (and yourself!) to eternal life apart from Christ. By holding your brothers and sisters to the high standards of Christ-like living, and expecting them to hold you to the same standards, you are confirming your faith in Christ and (helping to) ensuring their eternal life WITH Christ.
For more on the story, please listen to the podcast (ignore the first several minutes where I once again couldn’t get audio to work) and chime in in the comments below.
Chat ya later…
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Several years ago, when my journey led me back to the Lord, I was attending a Saturday morning Men’s breakfast/bible study. There were quite a few fellas who also attended; all of which were at various levels of maturity.
There was one Hispanic guy who went by the name of Elias. His English was a bit broken, but he seemed to understand well. One morning during an open forum time, Elias decided to share his history with us. Turns out according to Alias, he was a former angel who had been with God during the creation of the world, and new far more than what the bible included.
Stunned at this revelation, we all sat, looking at each other and scratching our heads. After the study, a couple of us wanted to clear things up a bit and had a quiet discussion with Elias, trying to show him the error of his ways. He would not budge from his position. The next Saturday, Elias once again spoke of his heavenly nature, and again, a couple other brothers took him aside with no results. The leader of our study was a kindly gent, and I asked him what he thought, but lacking in leadership skills, Paul didn’t have an answer so I told him I’d like to discuss the situation with the Associate Pastor.
After sharing the events from the last couple of studies, the AP confirmed my belief that Elias was a bit out of plumb. His instructions were to continue allowing Elias to attend, but no longer give him the opportunity to participate. The next week, proved quite interesting. Having a bit more boldness now, Elias once again began to speak. I looked over at Paul who seemed a bit frozen an unable to follow through with the Associate Pastor’s instructions, so I stood up and interrupted Elias. I told him that he was welcome to attend, but since his proclaimtions didn’t align itself with the bible, he could no longer participate.
The point to my story is I understand where Patriotgreg is coming from, and indeed he is correct that as Christians we must always show the compassion of Christ, and if we cannot forgive those who sin against us, how then can we expect God to forgive us? In our forgiveness however, we cannot compromise the gospel and the standards laid out for us in the Word of God. In Corinthians, Paul told the Church to eject the sexually immoral from their body, but later told them to reach out to them.
By the way, about 2 years later, in a church membership class and in front of the Senior Pastor, Elias once again shared his story. The Senior Pastor said he was glad that Elias was attending, but he would not be allowed to join the body because he was professing something other than the gospel. Elias decided it would be wise to threaten the Senior Pastor, to wit a restraining order was issued against Elias. A few weeks later, Elias was spotted entering the church, the sheriff’s dept called, and in the middle of service, Elias was escorted out of the sanctuary in hand cuffs. I don’t think he returned after that.
I understood where Greg was coming from, I just didn’t think that where he was headed would edify the outcome of the issue.
If we, as Christians, do not have a standard or set of standards to adhere to, hold to, hold one another to, then we are a ship without a rudder. It is very clear throughout the Bible that we must love and support one another, and hold each other up – not just from a “moral support” standpoint, but from a standards of action point.
Good illustration, Gary. I appreciate your input.
Agreed, Cary.
I guess my point was that for ‘tigerbo’ to say and do what did would indicate a clear imbalance… in other words, he too, is a bit out of plumb. But unless the knucklehead professed a strong belief in Christ, he can’t be held to a standard he doesn’t consider noteworthy.
That means, though we are to show compassion, we don’t compromise our own standards for fear of also falling into sin.
I didn’t mention it in the post, but on the show he professed to be a born again Christian and sure did talk the talk. So, yes, he is to be held to the standards.
Yep, you’re right.
Actually, he sounds a lot like Elias from my first post, LOL!
You just gotta be careful around folks like that.