Do you remember the great debate that came up in Jesus’ day, when some men brought a woman caught in adultery in John 8:1-11, of course, the men dragged her into the streets of Jerusalem to stone her for an act which no doubt, many of them probably enjoyed secretly.
Let me hasten to ask, how can you threaten to stone a woman caught in adultery and ignore the man/men she had the affair with? The truth is, when men judge, they often do it with a double standard. Back in the eighties, a classmate was caught trying to break bounds to town without due procedure. It will interest you to know that those who insulted and chastised him the most were his fellow boundary breakers.
My point is, this is how religion can become if we allow it. It can be riddled with double standards and hypocrisy. Too often, institutions, including the church and political bodies love principles more than people, ceremony, and rites more than service, condemnation more than mercy.
Unfortunately, this judgmental attitude of loving principles more than human beings that the Pharisees exhibited towards this adulterous woman still exists in the hearts of many self-righteous Christians in the modern day. I am talking about Christians who see evil in others – while being blind to evil in their own heart and lives.
I sincerely think you have no moral right to try to point out a moral evil in me when you have the same moral evil, and you are refusing to deal with yours. This is the reason why we have a lot of Christians in this country, but we are so unlike Christ. It is also the reason why most of our churches are not converting people. For instance, if I know you are having extramarital affairs and you come and stand to tell me to stop womanizing, I won’t take you seriously, I might simply laugh at you.
If we want to change the world, then we must first accept change, most of us have not converted yet, we are just churchgoers and not Christians in the sense of the word. We must preach the gospel with our lives and actions; these speak louder than words.
We must first remove the log in our eyes so we can see the straw in another’s eyes. Till then we must shut up and work on removing the log in our eye and allow those who are without reproach to do the stoning. But even if you are righteous and you feel like stoning, remember Jesus who was beyond reproach, didn’t stone, he reached out and saved the adulterous woman. That is our calling as Christians, to save the lost, but we can only do that when we have been saved.
