“But You’re Even Worser!”

While sharing life as kids, I was always in the company of my little brother. We found all kinds of ways to get into mischief and to get away with it. I often worked the age-advantage and tried to sound morally superior when Mom began to investigate a problem we had created.

At one of those times when Mom had cornered us with the evidence of some misbehaviour, I was describing to her how Sanford had done such wrong. As best he could, my 4-year-old brother tried to set the record straight by declaring to me, “But you’re even worser!”

I’m sure he was right. Even at a preschool age, I already knew how to try to minimize my “lesser” sins by exaggerating his “greater” crimes.

It is so disturbing to me when I hear public figures try to shift attention from their own character flaws, their moral failures, and their disgusting hypocrisy. It makes me stop and notice the many ways in which I do similar things inside my head, or expose my dark side with my critical comments of these very people.

Why is it that we feel so much better about our own failings when we compare them to others?

Why is it that we join in dismissing the disgusting actions and character traits of those from our own tribe, as we harshly condemn some similar pattern in those whom we consider to be from the enemy tribe?

A culture of selective judgmental-ism has been adopted by our society, and by the majority of Christians, as well. It is considered a normal and approved function of society. Just look at the ways that Christian ministry agencies have covered for their star ministry figures, trying to control the damage to their corporate image and story.

What do we do about this?

We can begin right within our own hearts. We can determine to call our own sins what they are, without any comparison to those who do “worser” things.

How do we know when we are already in a rut that violates the premises of Biblical and Godly responses to the behaviours and character displays of our leaders?

It’s our starting point that matters. We can choose to set aside loyalties to parties, to viewpoints, to denominations, to family biases, to racial identities. We can then determine to begin our judgment of ourselves with the values and the boundaries that Jesus Christ taught and lived–and that the Apostles affirmed.

Once we have the integrity to judge ourselves impartially–without comparisons to others–then we are in a much better frame of character to consider the qualifications of those leaders to whom we assign authority. We will modify our loud talk and our uncritical support of those who have made a mockery of their spiritual authority roles in our society and our religious institutions.

And maybe the world will regain some respect for the integrity of the Church and the Christians who claim to live by the values and the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. And maybe the youngest generation will regain some hope that the Church actually matters, after all.