wfn.org | Editorial: Before you cast the first stone…

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>3022 Edition

>January 25~31, 2010

Editorial: Before you cast the first stone…

>Translated by Lydia Ma

The recent earthquake in Haiti left its capital in tatters and the  number of injured people and

dead bodies were astronomical. As Haiti awaited aid from other  countries, we were

flabbergasted to hear one U.S. pastor comment that Haitians  deserved this tragedy because

they had made a pact with the devil in the early days of the  republic.

People often use phrases such as “god-forsaken” or  “he had it coming” to describe places or

people they dislike or find contemptible. Such phrases not only  mask apathy, they could be

construed as a curse on someone else. Oftentimes, they merely  reveal one’s own false sense

>of superiority and self-righteousness.

Regardless of whether there was a spiritual battle raging in  Haiti, or what kind of spiritual

implications this earthquake had, no one should have cast the  first stone or said “they had it

coming”. Such words not only add salt to the wounds of  earthquake survivors, but also hurt the

body of Christ. They are simply inappropriate. In the wake of such  a crisis, we should be

asking ourselves what God wants all of us to learn and do.

In Jesus’ day, Jews had a similar perspective as the  aforementioned pastor. Whenever

something bad happened, they thought it represented God’s  wrath against someone or

something. They believed that if a child was born with a birth  defect, the child’s parents must

have sinned or incurred God’s wrath. However, Jesus clarified  in John 9:1-7 that the issue

wasn’t who had sinned, but rather, if people failed to  introspect first and repent of their own

sins, everyone would ultimately face God’s wrath as well.

Pontius Pilate once massacred some Galileans who were sacrificing  at the temple. When the

news broke out, many people began debating whether these Galileans  had committed some

great sin to deserve such a bloody death. Jesus was very clear  when he corrected this

perspective, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse  sinners than all the other Galileans

because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you  repent, you too will all

>perish.” (Luke 13:2-5).

In this passage, Jesus taught that not all tragedies should be  taken as punishments because

God desires that people take an honest look at the way they are  living their lives and repent.

God also desires that people would look at events from an eternal  perspective and use events

such as the earthquake in Haiti to think about their own eternal  destinies.

We must treat everyone with due respect and dignity, that’s  the bottom line. Even if Haitians

had made a pact with the devil sometime in their history, it is  not our place to curse or

condemn them. Instead, we must learn from their mistakes and lead  them on the road back to

God. After all, they, too, were created in the image of God and  need Christ’s salvation.

If we fail to extend mercy to those who are suffering and begin  acting holier-than-thou, we are

usurping God’s authority to mete out judgment and punishment.  In our pride and self-

righteousness, we also fail to obey God’s command to mourn  with those who mourn and

rejoice with those who rejoice (Romans 12:15).

As Christians, our first priority in the event of a tragedy is to  extend mercy and see if there is

anything we can learn from it. We must also help and pray for  victims. Let us not cast the first

>stone nor act as unaffected bystanders.

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