On arguing about the Church

Yesterday, I finished my post by saying, “You see, in order to be able to put forth that argument, one has to engage in a self-deception that, in the long run, can leave one open to self-deception in other areas of one’s life.” If you remember, I was talking about the dangers of citing the weaknesses of another group in order to point out that they are not really a true Christian group. Now, I am not talking about pointing out doctrinal weaknesses. That is appropriate, and is used quite effectively by Our Lord himself. Nor am I talking about pointing out a mistaken ecclessiology or a weak anthropology, etc. Again, those are all appropriate points to bring up to challenge a group about their beliefs.

No, I am talking about the attacks that have to do with their behavior. Thus, as I quoted yesterday, one points out the that Catholic Church burned people, or that the Orthodox supported pogroms, or that the Lutherans did not object to the mass slaughter and torture deaths of Anabaptists, or the Anglicans burned Catholics, then kept them from holding high office until the late 1800’s, or that the Puritans hung and/or drowned witches, or of pointing out the number of Episcopalians in the southern USA who call themselves “recovering Baptists,” etc. So, what is the problem with pointing those events out?

The problem is that behind that type of “pointing out” there is a philosophy of perfection that few, if any, actually hold in practice. That is, when addressing “those” other groups, we speak as though we believe that a church is not just a group of called out people, but is a group of called out people who are living clearly Christian lives. While there are still a few fundamentalists, Amish, and Mennonites who would formally agree with that, most of us neither agree with that nor believe that it is actually possible in practice. In other words, we are holding those other groups to a higher standard than the standard which we normally profess for our group. Most of us do not actually expect something near perfection from our groups. In fact, we love to use that saying about, “If I ever found the perfect church, I could not join it, because it would immediately become imperfect.” That saying points to the fact that the Kingdom of God is a mixture of both wheat and tares until the Lord returns to complete the separation.

But, something worse happens when we begin to call other groups on their historical behavior, as though that proved that they were not a true Christian group. Sooner or later, the focus will come back onto our group. And, so, in order not to be labeled hypocrites, we unconsciously begin to minimize the bad behavior of our group and begin to excuse it so that we do not get caught in the contradiction between what we profess about others and what we profess about our group. And, we usually start building a knee-jerk reaction that responds to any criticism of our group by swiftly attacking some perceived fault in the other group, even if that fault is from many years ago, and even if the other group has long repented of that fault and changed their behavior. And, yet, when someone attacks our group for something that happened years ago, we are often swift to reply that we are not responsible for what those mistaken people did back then.

Once the process of self-deception has gone far enough, we become incapable of seeing the true depths of the sins that are present within our group while becoming quite adept at picking out the surface sins of other groups. Our Lord spoke about the results of that process when he commented, “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”

But a worse thing happens. There is no sin that is an isolated sin. All sins are connected together in rebellion against God the Father. Once we allow self-deception to creep into our view of our group (while maximizing the sinfulness of other groups), it is but a short time until we begin to deceive ourselves in other areas of our lives. And once that happens, a network of silent sin will spread that will affect every part of our lives, both individual and communal.

 Am I saying to never argue with other groups? Certainly not! But, I am saying that our argumentation needs to be based on those issues about which there is a true disagreement and not on ad hominem arguments, that is, arguments that are directed against a person’s or group’s supposed character faults. Be very very willing to not only accept the faults of your group but to even examine your group (and yourself) so that you can better see your group’s (and your personal) faults. The more you are open about both the ancient historical mistakes of your group and the current mistakes of your group, the more likely it is that those whom you are seeking to convince will listen to you as an honest person. Here is a secret. They can already see all those faults that you are now willing to admit. They simply wondered if you saw them also!

Finally, participate in the ancient Christian practice of self-examination. As St. Paul said, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?-unless indeed you are disqualified.” This was advice that was particularly followed by the Desert Fathers and the monastics. Set about finding out what the log in your eye is so that you and the Holy Spirit can deal with it. Look at your group with fresh eyes, and freely admit its faults before the Lord in prayer, then be willing to admit those faults when you talk to others. Confession is truly good for the soul.

And, I cannot resist asking you to become Orthodox. Come to a Church that has ample years of experience in self-examination, in dealing with sin, and in working with the Holy Spirit. All our sin, as a Church, has led to much experience in how to go about the process of self-examination and finding those pesky planks in our eyes.