Judgment, Diagnosis...

          Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. (Romans 14:13)

          This verse has two of my favorite Greek terms in it. The first, not surprisingly, is the term I’ve been translating as “one another of the same kind.” The second, transliterated into English, it’s skandalon. It’s the word translated “stumbling block.” Say it aloud. Hear the English term? The Greek term refers to those things which cause people to stumble, fall, or… metaphorically, to sin.

        Today’s passage, then, is Paul’s instruction to do two things. The first is to stop judging one another (of the same kind.) In I Corinthians, Paul makes it clear that we are to judge what our brothers and sisters do, and if they refuse to repent, we’re even to disassociate with them. There is a difference, then, between judging one another and judging sins. There is also a difference between looking down on others in judgment and staging an intervention or otherwise trying to rescue someone who needs it. One might also describe it as the difference between judging as a judge, and judging as a physician. The goal of the judge is to punish. The goal of the physician is to heal.

        The second instruction is to make up our minds about two things. The first is to not put a stumbling block (skandalon) in the way of a brother or sister. We’re not to cause them to stumble, to sin. Where Paul talks about stumbling blocks, it usually involves things we do that we don’t consider sin, but “another of the same kind” does, like eating meat sacrificed to idols.

          That’s not something we deal with much today, but a good parallel might be either drinking alcohol or even eating food. Some folks can have a glass of wine, or a dish of ice cream, and that’s enough. Stopping is no problem. Some folks even maintain that it is the restriction from these things that causes the person who can’t control himself/herself, that if that person indulged now and again, they’d be fine.

          Those are probably the same folks who can’t stand leftovers. If you ate chicken yesterday, you don’t want it today. I’m the sort of person who may eat nearly the same lunch every day for three years before I get sick of that lunch. I don’t over-indulge only when I don’t have it in the house to do so. Putting a treat before me results in my eating in a way that I know I shouldn’t. I stumble. Food’s not a problem for you? More power to you. I should just exercise some self-control? You’re right. But are you loving me if you make it harder for me to do so?

         The other thing we’re supposed to make up our mind not to do is to put an obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. Are people excluded (or made to feel excluded) because of their sex? Age? Skin color? National heritage? Wealth? Poverty? Lack of education? Wealth of education? Profession? Trade? Because they raise their hands in worship? Because they don’t raise their hands in worship? Because the do, or don’t speak in tongues? Because they do or don’t like modern worship music? Because they do or don’t like the old hymns? Because they aren’t married? Because they are? Because they’re divorced? Because they’re immunosuppressed? Or Autistic? Or intellectually challenged? Or handicapped?

         What would you do with a pedophile who came to Christ but still struggled with pedophilia? I know some folks who can’t handle perfumes. The church has set up areas that are supposed to be scent-free, but how do we not ostracize the folks in that section while still caring for them? Going scent-free is hard (shampoo, conditioner, soap or shower gels, deodorant, lotions, detergents, fabric softeners, smoke or vapor from cigarettes, cigars, and essential oil diffusers…. Yes, we have a right to the scents we love, but could we go scent-free if someone we loved had that problem?

          Many of the things I listed as obstacles don’t have to do with sins. They are things that – whether we mean them to or not – exclude people from fellowship. What would be an obstacle to you? What obstacles are you likely to build? Tough questions today.