The many faces of self-righteousness

 

I am currently reading Irresistible Revolution and I am really loving every minute of it.  The amazing thing is that God is bringing together my convictions, what I’m learning in my Bible time, what I’m reading in Irresistible Revolution, AND what I’m reading in my Beth Moore Bible study.  Seriously.  Any time Beth Moore and Shane Claiborne intersect, I think it is good to shut up and listen, because that can’t possibly happen that often, LOL.

I have so many things that I’d like to write about from this book, but today’s quote is sponsored by our upcoming presidential election.  I’m so sick of it.  I can’t even tell you how sick of it I am.  I am a fan of neither party, and I am pretty much just dreading this whole thing.  I just pray that the fans and followers of whoever wins (which I assume will be Obama) are able to win graciously.  Ugh.  I’m so not excited.  This whole political season has driven me nuts, because everyone is spending lots of time making villains of the other side, and I think everyone is screwed up.

I think Shane Claiborne agrees  =D

The stuff Jesus warned us to beware of, the yeast of the Pharisees, is so infectious today in the camps of both liberals and conservatives.  Conservatives stand up and thank God that they are not like the homosexuals, the Muslims, the liberals.  Liberals stand up and thank God that they are not like the war makers, the yuppies, the conservatives.  It is a similar self-righteousness, just with different definitions of evildoing.  It can paralyze us in judgment and guilt and rob us of life.  Rather than separating ourselves from everyone we consider impure, maybe we are better off just beating our chests and praying that God would be merciful enough to save us from this present ugliness and to make our lives so beautiful that people cannot resist that mercy.

This quote really gives a very skewed glimpse of what is contained in this book, but I was just reading a bunch of election stuff, and it summed up my feelings quite well.