Skip to main content

"As Long As No One Gets Hurt"


Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. (I Timothy 3:14-15) 

One of my Sunday School classes is going through a DVD series by Andy Stanley, called “Right In The Eye.”[1] It’s a study of the book of Judges, which tells the history of Israel in a time in which everyone did what was right in their own eyes. As he describes it, people considered it their right to do what they want, when and where they want, with whom they want, and how they want, “as long as no one gets hurt.” Sound familiar?
In today’s passage, Paul said he wanted Timothy to know how people should conduct themselves in the household of God, (AKA, the Church.) In other words, there was a way in which people should conduct themselves. Too often, I hear people who claim to be Christians proclaim that it’s their life, they’re going to live it the way they want to and anyone who disapproves can just get out.
The thing is, how do you know whether something is going to hurt the participants? Of course, no one is meant to end up in the hospital. Any harm that does take place wasn’t intended. No one is meant to end up in jail. No harm, no foul, right? All it takes is good intentions, right?  Andy asked a question that I think needs to be answered even more than “Who is it going to hurt?”: Who is it going to help?
That caught my attention because I’ve asked it a different way. As I’ve shared before, I had a supervisor who said that because something wasn’t entirely unethical, it was OK. If what you are doing is only 99% evil, is it evil? If it’s only 80% evil…47% evil…13% evil? What if it is 0% not evil. Does that mean that it is good? I don’t pry your fingers from the ledge. That’s not doing evil. If I grabbed your wrists and pulled you to safety, that would be good. What if I don’t do anything? Doing good is more than not doing evil. In the same way, I think that “helping someone” is more than “not hurting” them.
A classic example today is sex outside of marriage. The science is pretty settled on this one. The best, most helpful, most healthful, most prosperous model for a family is one man, plus one woman in a legally and socially defined relationship, plus children. A single mother household, or a single father household, or multiple fathers or multiple mothers (for whatever reason) is not as beneficial to a family. There are exceptions, of course, but in general even if the parents are good parents, any other set up is not as good as one man plus one woman, plus children in a legally and socially defined relationship plus children. Those other set ups may not intend to do harm. They may intend to do good, but how much less than 100% good can something be without doing harm?
This means that when Paul wrote about how we should behave in the household of God, he wasn’t writing about something optional. Any other way of behaving, even those that supposedly don’t harm anyone, will ultimately not be as good – will ultimately be less beneficial to the participants. This is why he needed to instruct Timothy.


[1] http://rightintheeye.org/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more