Grace

Recent events (the resignation of the Speaker of Parliament etc) and today's (21st July 23) installment of the Love Singapore series (or the Wesley 40 days of prayer and fasting) got me to think about grace and why it is difficult for many.

Even in the website Salt & Light, amidst the mostly positive messages of understanding and support, there were comments by some that there is too much talk about grace and not enough about accountability and punishment. And of course it goes without saying, in the social media space and in chatgroups, there are the inevitable jibes and unkind remarks.

Why do people feel the need to judge or at least publicly pronounce judgement? I was especially curious about the call for punishment - to be honest I was more annoyed but I was prepared to listen and learn and so I asked the person making the comment what he meant by that. No reply so far.

I understand the point about accountability (which is linked to punishment in a sense) though I suspect often we do not think deeply enough on an issue and rely on a term or phrase that might sort of capture what we feel. This is a sort of digression - there is a video of Jordan Petersen being accused of 'toxic masculinity' by a member of an audience, and he then asked her what she meant by that term and she hesitated and stumbled over her attempt to define it.

This is deeply ironic. In a society that constantly harps on why we should not label people, the extreme liberal left is quick to label anyone that does not agree with their views. Disagreement is labelled as hate. We should not fall into the same trap of taking positions without understanding what it means and the implications. And the lesson of where the left has led us to is key. God has taught us there is only one way and history has shown us that no matter how attractive a man-made proposition appears at the time, only time will show its true worth. (That's probably a very long discussion for another day)

Our pastor Ray made a comment about accountability as well in Wesley Tidings because people were upset by the events regarding our public figures, and asking for guidance on how to respond, what they can do and what should they even be thinking? Pastor said the person who sinned needed to face the consequences, own up and account for why it happened. To whom does he owe this duty?

So why do people call for this accountability? I differentiate this stand from those who say it needs to happen. It may seem similar but there is a difference. I believe those who call for it, and especially if they link it to punishment, somehow feel a sense a of moral superiority. It is again pride at work and leads to even more egregious sin than the sin they are moralising about.

Pastor referred to this when he also spoke about anger and how it was understandable but warned against it leading to sin.

I believe what he meant was something CS Lewis referred to in Mere Christianity. "All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual; the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronising and spoiling sport, and back-biting; the pleasures of power, of hatred. For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worst of the two. That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither."

In my reflection recently about why grace is sometimes difficult, why we are attracted to the idea that we should condemn and ridicule sin, I thought that it comes from two main sources. First, and I think this is something more instantly recognisable, is that we often forget what the correct posture for a Christian should be. It is the recognition that we are sinners and unable to save ourselves.

When we forget we are sinners, we automatically take on a self-righteous stance. Perhaps not in the morally superior sense (though this is also common), but at least we think we are ok ourselves, and thus qualified to comment on another's transgressions. This is where I think Pastor's guidance is helpful. We can call it out as a transgression but ought not to speculate on causes or disparage the person's character. That is the sin he warns about.  Perhaps it is best not to say anything at all if we do not trust ourselves. If we do want to say something, maybe we should restrict it to how it made us feel. And the helpful corollary to that is to ask why it makes us feel that way. Which might lead us to greater insights.

I think the second source of why we find grace difficult is a more insidious one. Maybe I should rephrase that. Not that it is more difficult. I think sometimes it is a form of denial? By focusing on others, on external issues, we avoid focusing on ourselves. We want to avoid it because it is painful. Jesus did warn us against it.

Matthew 7:3-5

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

You could read this a number of ways. The easier interpretation is similar to the first reason I mentioned earlier about the origins of a lack of grace. We may not even be aware we are being hypocritical. The second might be a more specific interpretation. We may be guilty of even greater sins than our brother. We have a plank! He only has a speck! A more generous (and I think, helpful) way to look at this is that unless you have experienced something similar, in almost the same circumstances, maybe it's best to not speculate or comment. And if you really think about it, you would almost certainly not be able to claim that you knew exactly how it happened.

And so how should we act?

Show compassion. Love. The second commandment, which is so fundamental, but which is so easily forgotten, or difficult to act on when it comes to people we don't feel like loving or want to love - as Jonah felt when he was asked by God to go to Nineveh. He'd rather not go. Guard against this, especially when people we don't like or love, have sinned and it is so easy and tempting to pile on, to take joy in their suffering and humiliation.

A final thought. Back to Salt n Light. They explained why they had temporarily pulled previous articles by or about the Speaker because they wanted to see how they should handle the issue in the meantime. They said the articles were "published before the allegations came to light, and trust that the articles will now be read in the appropriate context."

I think that explanation was a little vague, though later the editor did clarify that we are all fallen, and share that we should pray for them, which is the most important conclusion. I think when we highlight good things people do, as Salt n Light does, we need to remember that we are calling attention to their good testimony but we certainly do not forget they are fallen as we are. The flipside is when people sin, we call attention to their sinning, and not engage in savaging them. I guess I was a bit surprised that they had to pull the articles first before deliberating the issue, and then coming to this conclusion. We must not idolise people, no matter how impressed we are with them.

I think we are called to show love for all, because we are all fallen ourselves. This love needs to be shown to believers and non-believers, ordinary people and high-profile people alike.