The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise saves lives. If the righteous receive their due on earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner! (Proverbs 11:30-31)
He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. (Isaiah 59:17)
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, (Ephesians 6:14)
Righteousness. Here we go again. What is righteousness? It’s the quality of being morally right, according to the dictionary. Put simply, it’s doing what’s right. It’s a breastplate. If you do what is right, your “heart” is protected from attack. The “bullet” may hurt, but it’s prevented from doing as much harm as it could. But those statements tell us about righteousness, without telling us what is righteous. That’s where the problem comes in. People don’t like to be told what is right or wrong unless they agree. We decide what is right or wrong. This is relativism and self-righteousness. Relativism is self-righteous. If you define what is right, you declare yourself to be righteousness. How can this not be self-righteousness?
Over the years, I’ve been given lots of labels. “Self-righteous” is one of them. I’ve also been called a bigot, racist, homophobe, transphobe, xenophobe, alt-right, and a pedophile. I’m not going to go through the list to disprove them. Now, let me ask you this. Is being a bigot, racist, homophobe, transphobe, xenophobe, alt-right or a pedophile wrong? I would say that most of them are wrong, but on what basis do the people using them claim they’re wrong? Most often, the answer seems to be “because I say it’s wrong” or “because everyone knows it’s wrong” or “because all (thinking, loving, compassionate, tolerant…) people know it is wrong” or “because the majority says that it’s wrong.” The first is self-righteousness. The second is logically fallacious. I dare you to prove that everyone knows any given fact, and I dare you to prove that just because “everyone knows” something that the thing they know is true. The third is a tautology. How does one determine whether a person is thinking, loving, compassionate, tolerant, or whatever? Because they “know” that whatever is wrong. If they didn’t agree that it is wrong, they would no longer be considered thinking, loving, compassionate, tolerant, or whatever. As for it being wrong because the majority says so, that’s called bullying.
Recently, and more than once, I challenged someone who called me racist to prove it, as one would prove something in a court of law. Provide solid evidence that I am guilty of the sin of racism. When the labeler couldn’t, somehow, I was a racist because of my stand on LGBTQ+ issues. When I pointed out that LBGTQ+ were not other races, I was told that I am a racist because the labeler said that I’m a racist. The labeler, who has said that it is WRONG to label labels me as a racist based on the labeler’s own opinion on the matter, apart from any corroborating evidence and declares that I am self-righteous. I’m not making this up. I know of others who accuse anyone of a predominantly European heritage of being racist because they are “white” and somehow, being of the Caucasian “race” makes one racist.
Righteousness requires actively living according to a standard of right and wrong. I submit that living according to your own standard of right and wrong – AKA Self-Righteousness – is either good or bad, depending on the foundation on which that standard is built. If you develop or internalize a bad standard or right or wrong, no matter what its source, then living according to that standard is a bad idea. But what sort of person lives according to a standard or right and wrong that is entirely external? A robot, a slave, a puppet…. The whole point is for us to become righteous, for us to do the right things for the right reasons because what’s inside of us produces right behavior.
Those who argue with me sometimes claim (correctly) that Scripture says that we’re to love everyone. I agree. Based on that commandment, however, they tell me that I should respond differently to issues. I’ve issued the challenge before, and I’ll issue it again. If you can find in Scripture where a behavior that I have said is wrong is right, I will change my perspective. If you can prove from Scripture that my position on an issue is wrong, I will change my position, because, for me, Scripture is the foundation of all righteousness. To me, the one who maintains that they are right regardless of what Scripture says, they are self-righteous in a bad way. And here’s the big problem with that: the fruit of righteousness is a tree of life.
Over the years, I’ve been given lots of labels. “Self-righteous” is one of them. I’ve also been called a bigot, racist, homophobe, transphobe, xenophobe, alt-right, and a pedophile. I’m not going to go through the list to disprove them. Now, let me ask you this. Is being a bigot, racist, homophobe, transphobe, xenophobe, alt-right or a pedophile wrong? I would say that most of them are wrong, but on what basis do the people using them claim they’re wrong? Most often, the answer seems to be “because I say it’s wrong” or “because everyone knows it’s wrong” or “because all (thinking, loving, compassionate, tolerant…) people know it is wrong” or “because the majority says that it’s wrong.” The first is self-righteousness. The second is logically fallacious. I dare you to prove that everyone knows any given fact, and I dare you to prove that just because “everyone knows” something that the thing they know is true. The third is a tautology. How does one determine whether a person is thinking, loving, compassionate, tolerant, or whatever? Because they “know” that whatever is wrong. If they didn’t agree that it is wrong, they would no longer be considered thinking, loving, compassionate, tolerant, or whatever. As for it being wrong because the majority says so, that’s called bullying.
Recently, and more than once, I challenged someone who called me racist to prove it, as one would prove something in a court of law. Provide solid evidence that I am guilty of the sin of racism. When the labeler couldn’t, somehow, I was a racist because of my stand on LGBTQ+ issues. When I pointed out that LBGTQ+ were not other races, I was told that I am a racist because the labeler said that I’m a racist. The labeler, who has said that it is WRONG to label labels me as a racist based on the labeler’s own opinion on the matter, apart from any corroborating evidence and declares that I am self-righteous. I’m not making this up. I know of others who accuse anyone of a predominantly European heritage of being racist because they are “white” and somehow, being of the Caucasian “race” makes one racist.
Righteousness requires actively living according to a standard of right and wrong. I submit that living according to your own standard of right and wrong – AKA Self-Righteousness – is either good or bad, depending on the foundation on which that standard is built. If you develop or internalize a bad standard or right or wrong, no matter what its source, then living according to that standard is a bad idea. But what sort of person lives according to a standard or right and wrong that is entirely external? A robot, a slave, a puppet…. The whole point is for us to become righteous, for us to do the right things for the right reasons because what’s inside of us produces right behavior.
Those who argue with me sometimes claim (correctly) that Scripture says that we’re to love everyone. I agree. Based on that commandment, however, they tell me that I should respond differently to issues. I’ve issued the challenge before, and I’ll issue it again. If you can find in Scripture where a behavior that I have said is wrong is right, I will change my perspective. If you can prove from Scripture that my position on an issue is wrong, I will change my position, because, for me, Scripture is the foundation of all righteousness. To me, the one who maintains that they are right regardless of what Scripture says, they are self-righteous in a bad way. And here’s the big problem with that: the fruit of righteousness is a tree of life.
Father, we all seek our own righteousness. We have all failed. We have eaten fruit from trees that promised us life and delivered death. Help us to find true righteousness, and build it so into us that we are self-righteous with Your righteousness.
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