Ames, Iowa, home to Iowa State University, has made a bit of news this week. Thousands of people are descending upon the city for a big event, and so to "help out" the university student newspaper thought that they would give tips and info about the community. And the headline they chose played off of the popular "Dummies" books. But the reason this is making the news and blog sites is because the event is the Special Olympic National Games.
The students from the paper claim it was an innocent mistake, and even the event organizer has recognized it as such. But some people won't give it up, making assumptions about the motives of the students, harshly criticizing them over this mistake, calling them "insensitive" and implying the newspaper editors are the "dummies".
In other news, a 4 year old boy was stripped of his pageant crown as "Little Mr. Apricot" in California for flipping off the crowd with his middle finger. Organizers were outraged and gave the title to the runner up. Mom says he was trying to say he was #1, but he often confuses his index and middle fingers. Just recently my 6 year old daughter innocently kept pointing with her middle finger, and we kept correcting her - so I buy the mom's version. But again, as public opinion weighs in, negative assumptions are being made about the heart of the mom, the kid, and the pageant authorities.
These two stories clashed in my mind today with my own heart. As I felt sad about the quick judgment people were rushing too, I realized that yesterday I had done the exact same thing.
Due to an email I received, I investigated online a clash between prominent Christian figures. Assumptions about the motivations of one pastor caused a second pastor and his network to make sweeping judgments against the first pastor as well as take a hard stand against another movement within the Church. But this first story led me to another sort of unrelated story about a church where the transition from one pastor to another hadn't gone too well. I made all sorts of judgments against the outgoing pastor, assuming negative things about his heart and motivations.
Perhaps I was right - maybe the outgoing pastor really is as conniving as the online evidence seemed to support. But I am not involved in the case one bit and my opinion won't change a thing - so why was I so quick to assume the worst about a man's character?
As I read blogs and stories yesterday about the first incident concerning one pastor's strong stance against another pastor, I read tons of comments that other readers left. They rushed to judgment, typing sweeping statements of condemnation against the first pastor, assuming the worst about his heart, intentions, and motivations. I found myself extremely dissappointed in the Body of Christ yesterday. But then when I realized I did the exact same thing about the failed-transtion story, I was dissappointed in myself.
My silent prayers both last night and this morning were that God would give me a pure heart and that through the Holy Spirit I would operate with a clear conscience. In the past year I have felt like my heart and motives have been judged and negatively assumed by some. I want to live my life in such a way that these people would lack evidence to support their opinion. And I want to live my life in such a way that I don't judge others so quickly and that I am a man of grace.
Mankind makes mistakes because he is sinful. But last time I checked, I was part of mankind. That God for the cross of Christ!
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