We're a Society of Tattletales

Lately I've been thinking about two dystopian novels - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and 1984 by George Orwell.

In Fahrenheit 451, owning or having books is outlawed.  When books are found, it's the "firemen" who start the fires and burn the books.

Big Brother and Thought Police control the society in 1984.  And, ordinary citizens report people who break the rules.

Both of these books insist that people should think and act in a certain way.  Those who misbehave are persecuted.

And, day-by-day, we're becoming more like these dystopian societies.  

Our ability to share news and information makes it s0 that every spoken or written word can be disseminated to millions of people.  And then, words get scrutinized and judged.

This month, the CEO of Twitter "tweeted" that he'd eaten at Chick-fil-A.  And that's news?  Apparently.

You see, he's an important person, and he shouldn't be saying anything nice about a place like Chick-fil-A, a place with conservative values, during LGBTQ Pride Month.  And he definitely shouldn't be eating there.

It's like our society has these perfect "standards" that must be kept, including that we think "correctly" about difficult issues, and that we always act accordingly.

Violators of these standards, especially people who are "important" or high profile, bring disapproval and even condemnation on themselves.  

We've become a nation of legalists.  We're a bunch of tattletales.  

Ironically, there were people during New Testament times who thought their job was to set the standard and to point out the failures of others, even and especially about Jesus:

So they watched him [Jesus] and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.  Luke 20:20

These people were called Pharisees.  Jesus said this about them:

You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!...So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.  Matthew 23:24, 28

"Straining out a gnat...swallowing a camel!"  We're a society of Pharisees. 

Of course, the bad news about a society of Pharisees is...none of us can perfectly follow the "standards" of our society.

With a little effort, I can find "fault" with every single food place and every store.  If I were to attempt to obey society's standards, I wouldn't be able to eat anywhere, shop anywhere, or even drive a car.

These perfect standards that our society promotes are similar to God's Ten Commandments.  They're similar in that, again, we just can't do it.  Even if we were to follow the "letter" of God's law, we can't follow His law with our hearts.

But the good news, for the Pharisees, for each one of us...is Jesus.  He obeyed God's law perfectly; He could read men's hearts.  And He always gave them the perfect answer.  Read Matthew chapter 23.

So, what do we do?  How do we respond?  As Francis Schaeffer asked, "How should we then live?"

From Matthew 23:23 - Don't neglect the "weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness."

Know and confess your own failings and sins and:

...Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another,  do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.  Zechariah 7:9-10

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.  Ephesians 4:32

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Galatians 5:14