Do We Shoot Our Own Wounded?

[ZAB]

I was reading in Lamentations and realized something sad:

Lam 1:8 "Jerusalem hath grieviously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth an turneth backward..."

Does the body of Christ shoot its own wounded?

Jerusalem sinned, and was exposed. The ones who once honoured her now depise her. Why do they despise her? Because they have seen her nakedness. And what is the result? "Yea, she sigheth and turneth backward..." How sad!

Jerusalem's backsliding was the result of ungodly condemnation. I believe it to be the same with believers today.

It would seem that the psuedo-pride of men seeks to destroy those who need the most help. But I dont think we need any reminders of our sinful state:

Rom 7:18a "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing..."

Jer 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"

Our response should be like that of the Lord Jesus:

Mic 6:8 "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"

Gal 6:1-3 "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself."

Jn 8:10-11 "When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more."

However, we are to possess righteous indignation too:

Eph 4:26a "Be ye angry, and sin not"

Matt 21:12 "And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves."

So, my question for you all is this: What is the balance between righteous indignation and loving mercy? Jesus seems to display both.

[Firefighter]

Do we? Yes. Should we? No.

The balance is in having indignation towards the sin while having loving patience toward those that sin.

[David Taylor]

Would this be the difference?

Jesus could act in righteous indignation because Jesus:

Matt 9:3 "And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?"

Mark 12:15 "Shall we give, or shall we not give? But Jesus, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them"

I Kings 8:39 "Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men"






However, we do not have Jesus' depth of knowledge; therefore we are told to:

I Thess 5:15 "See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men."

[Firefighter]

But we cannot forget this part either...

1 Corinthians 5

1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife. 2And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? 3Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. 4When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature[a] may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.
6Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

9I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

12What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."

[RabbiKnife]

Sadly, sometimes the church does shoot its wounded.

More often, however, it merely eats them alive without the dignity of a coup de grace.

[ZAB]

Thanks urbanmissionary and david taylor for your responses. Both are very good. They both actually proved my point. There is evidence for both points of view in Scripture: mercy and intolerance.

However, is the balance found here?:

Matt 18:15-17 "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican."

Jesus isn't tolerable of our "continuing in sin". Though He was merciful to the woman caught in the act of adultery, He still told her to "go and sin no more".

But to what extent of tolerance does the statement "love mercy" imply?

[Partaker of Christ]

I love the wonderful way, the Lord Himself speaks to the seven Churches:

Rev 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
Rev 2:3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Rev 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Rev 2:6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Rev 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

First the Lord brings out all the things that please Him. They have not gone unnoticed.
Then He says 'Nevertheless' I have this against you. The things He wants them to correct.
Then He finishes with the rewards for the overcomers.

[crossnote]

Not only do they shoot their wounded but often wound their healthy ones.

They also give law to the trembling and give gospel to the self satiated.

[ZAB]

1) So what's the solution? And,

2) To what extent of tolerance does the statement "love mercy" imply?

[Emanate]

On the flipside, I have been to churches where love and mercy were so prevalent that the "wounded" were allowed to spread their infection which hurt other believers very badly. These "wounded" that had hurt others very badly were then given a higher regard than those whom they wounded because they would dare not show 'love' and 'mercy'. Yes, and they did continue in their sins and contine wounding others.

[Firefighter]

Good point. Sometimes "Love" is a swift kick in the butt, but the church tends to forget that.