The Liberation of Detrimental Systems of Belief
Churches are constantly faced with ethical or moral issues that seem to require total consensus. These issues and the sort of conversations and decisions that usually follow should not be taken lightly. More often than not they require an “official declaration” of position or stance that is delivered by the pastor or leadership. “What is our policy on this issue?” is the inevitable question that reverberates throughout the community and seems to demand an answer. Unfortunately, many members of the community think the answer or answers to such questions can only be found in unanimity; fortunately, the Kingdom of God thrives neither on static uniformity, nor exhaustive unanimity. Therefore, the role of any leader(s) within the community revolves around the need to raze the dividing walls of existing concepts of “like-mindedness” and then help community members see that like-mindedness can, does, and should include a divergence of opinions, convictions, and positions. Said differently, a Gospel-centered community can in fact be in agreement – or like-minded – as concerns the potential of divergent positions on any number of issues within the community. A community that embraces divergent opinions, stances, and positions is a “like-minded” community! We can agree to disagree on any number of issues and still be a unified community!
That said, being an active participant in a community dedicated to the Way of Jesus is extremely helpful in these often divisive circumstances concerning moral and/or ethical issues. In fact, Jesus’ Way challenges all who would follow to not only prioritize ethical and moral situations, but also to go well beyond our personal and corporate stances concerning ethical and moral situations so that we may become a living and active part of God’s solution for them. Jesus’ Way does so by challenging us all to literally get over ourselves and focus upon the real people involved in the situation(s). Jesus’ Way challenges us all to rise above our limiting systems of thought, neatly organized doctrinal systemizations, and our own very personal thoughts on moral and ethical issues so that we can authentically: (1) Participate in God’s mission of transformation in the real world of life and living; (2) Move beyond the lazy reduction of biblical “like-mindedness” to a definition or concept derived solely from individual opinions, convictions, and positions and thus experience corporate unity befitting of the Kingdom of God.
Sounds easy, right? Well, as simple and obvious as all of the above sounds to those of us who have been baptized in common sense, not everyone sees it so plainly. There are more than a few of us who are far more fond of the prioritization of overly-systemized systems of belief than we are with the idea of a unity that is founded upon and celebrates diversity. This misguided fondness of ours has less to do with the overly-systematized systems of belief themselves and more to do with the thin sense of self-security such systems impart to their creators, on an individual basis. Unfortunately, when issues of morality and/or ethics arise in the midst of shared community, we default to our existing systems of individualization, or, at the very least, we default to our detrimental habit of creating more systems to “deal with” the insecurity created by whatever perceived ethical or moral issue we are facing. We do all of this at the expense of people, transformation, and unity, because: (1) Relationships are not nurtured through abstract and relationally-disconnected debates and policies about relationship issues; (2) The Spirit works through people engaged in relationship with other people and everything and everyone is transformed in the process; (3) Policy doesn’t transform or unite anything or anyone! In fact, a policy does nothing but draw exclusive circles around communities to alert all who would read it as to who is “in” and who is “out” before they (the ones reading it) even arrive. All of this makes it extremely difficult to authentically participate in Gospel Community and engage others in deep relationship.
So, all of that said, and admittedly it is a lot, the big question for those of us who are leading communities these days has to be one of practicality and application. Where do we start? How do we nurture communities towards a unity that is bigger than our individual opinions, convictions and positions concerning ethical and moral issues while we simultaneously respect people’s divergent expressions? We need to do both! While we are busy trying to accomplish those things, we also have to keep in mind that our reversion back to systems of belief must cease too, lest we kill the whole process in the thin name of personal self-security! Jesus’ Way is a call and challenge to die to ourselves and to give ourselves away and to look for the back of line so another can be first! Self-security and self-preservation has nothing to do with it! So, how do we do it? Where do we start? We’ll let’s walk through a mock scenario.
Let’s pretend your community is suddenly faced with a perceived ethical/moral issue concerning a hot-button social, moral or ethical issue that seems to require community-wide consensus or some sort of official policy.
Step One: Gather your community leaders and influential people for a conversation concerning whatever the issue may be.
Step Two: Ask everyone in attendance to honestly and openly share their personal thoughts, opinions, convictions and position on the issue. There will undoubtedly be a divergence of opinions and stances shared. This is good! As people share, the diversity within the group will be evident. It’s important to reaffirm the individual expressions and positions of all involved, regardless of the obvious disagreement. In fact, if disagreement did not exist, unity would be shallow. Unity only happens when people with divergent opinions, convictions, and position rally around something bigger than their differences. So, affirm and celebrate the differences in the group!
Step Three: Tell everyone in the group that their personal opinions, convictions, and positions concerning the hot-button social issue does not matter, ultimately! What really matters is that we move beyond our divergent personal opinions, convictions, and positions towards something that is so much bigger. This movement towards something bigger than our divergent personal opinions, convictions, and positions not only affirms the group’s differences, but also unites the group in spite of its differences. This move also serves as a healthy reminder of the limitations of our little systems of belief that ultimately prevent us from participating in God’s bigger transformation process. So, tell everyone in the group that while their personal opinions, convictions, and positions are important, they ultimately do not matter in light of God’s bigger plan of transformation, unity, and compassion.
Step Four: Tell everyone that the Kingdom of God is all about compassion. Compassion is the key that will unlock the door to community unity, transformation, and honest expression that is liberated from detrimental systems of belief that only create obstacles that make conversations concerning perceived moral and ethical issues nearly impossible to accomplish without division.
In fact, Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan is all about doing away with any system of belief that clashes with compassion. We all know the story. Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus told the following story in response.
Luke 10:30 Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. 31 And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, 34 and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’ 36 Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” 37 And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
When we read this parable, many of us immediately think that the Priest and Levite were heartless bastards. We think, “The Priest and Levite are tools! How could they just walk by a person in need like that? Heartless bastard tools!” I think that’s a terrible interpretation of this story. I think both the Priest and the Levite really, really wanted to help, but they could not. Why? Bluntly: their systems of belief prevented them from helping their brother. Their help would have rendered them “unclean” and would have – in their minds – separated them from their God.
Jesus, in the story, celebrates the Samaritan whose system of belief did not prevent him from showing compassion to another person in need. Jesus’ Jewish brothers and sisters despised Samaritans and considered them to be unclean. Jesus, however, made the Samaritan the hero of his story because the Samaritan did not create a system of belief that prevented him from being compassionate to others.
Ultimately, the Parable of the Good Samaritan is a story that de-emphasizes the question of “who is right and who is wrong” (clean vs. unclean) and instead emphasizes a compassion that is liberated from detrimental systems of belief. It doesn’t matter who is right and who is wrong, what matters is that we all focus upon compassion and get involved with what God is doing in all of our lives. Everyone is transformed when the dividing walls that support detrimental systems of belief are torn down. In fact, when these systems of belief are torn down, even lowly Samaritans can become heroes!
Step Five: Help those who just can’t live without a policy or a position see that what you just laid out is a policy or position! When the “What is our position on this issue” question is asked, simply say: “Our policy on this issue is simple. We respect everyone’s opinions, convictions, and positions on the matter, but ultimately it’s not a question of who is right or who is wrong; the big question is will we rise above divisive systems of belief and be compassionate to everyone for as long as we are called to be compassionate people? Jesus’ Way calls us to be liberated from any system of belief that prevents us from showing compassion to the other. Our position on this matter is clear! We think people can have divergent opinions on whatever issue and that these divergent opinions are important in that they actually create the need for us to search for something bigger and unifying! The search for something bigger and unifying leads to compassion and the experience of giving and receiving authentic compassion will reveal the fact that personal opinions and convictions ultimately do not matter! What matters is compassion, friendship, and the journey we all promise to take together. In the midst of all of that, we are all transformed and we are all introduced to a unity that is bigger than we can comprehend. Everyone is transformed!”
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