When asked to do something against your conscience

Some time ago, I was asked to make an apology to a man whom I had not wronged. I've blogged before about not making an apology when one is not in the wrong.

Situation:
I'd made a public comment that I'd observed a man had been displaying arrogance. He felt I should have confronted him directly. Since I was neither the man's father, nor in any position of authority over him, there was no need nor justification for me to confront him.

The man took it before a minister, who advised me to apologize. The very nature of what he wanted me to apologize for kept changing, so based on my previous blog post, I could not make an apology based on that.

The minister gave several passages of scripture as his basis for me to make an apology, and confront the man directly the next time he demonstrated pride.

The purpose of this post is to systematically dismantle that minister's usage - or should I say, misuse - of scripture, as one of my main pet peeves is the use of scripture to prove a point that the verses in question do not, in fact, address.

Matthew 5:23-24

"Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift at the altar and go. First make things right with your brother or sister and then come back and offer your gift. "

Again, this verse was used to indicate that I should have confronted the individual. However,  once again, one must read the passage, and not just the verses. Verse 22 is talking about being angry with your brother (or whomever), so clearly, verses 23 and 24 are speaking about if that anger is coming between you and God. More particularly, it discusses not harboring anger.

I held no anger toward the prideful man, so this verse simply did not apply.

Galatians 6:1

"Brothers and sisters, if a person is caught doing something wrong, you who are spiritual should restore someone like this with a spirit of gentleness."

This verse was used to indicate that I should have confronted the individual. However, read the whole passage. It is not about the confronting, but about when confronting, to do so with a spirit of gentleness so that one is not tempted to sin himself.  

Again, since there was no need to confront on my end, this verse was completely irrelevant to the situation.  


Luke 17:3-4

"Watch yourselves! If your brother or sister sins, warn them to stop. If they change their hearts and lives, forgive them. Even if someone sins against you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times and says, ‘I am changing my ways,’ you must forgive that person.”

 Again, this verse was used to display why I should have confronted the prideful individual. However, the minister was mistaken in meaning of the verses. In these verses, Jesus advises us to be forgiving - we should forgive continually.


Because the verse was about forgiving, and not confronting, this verse simply did not apply.


Matthew 18: 21-35

Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Should I forgive as many as seven times?”

Jesus said, “Not just seven times, but rather as many as seventy-seven times. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle accounts, they brought to him a servant who owed him ten thousand bags of gold. Because the servant didn’t have enough to pay it back, the master ordered that he should be sold, along with his wife and children and everything he had, and that the proceeds should be used as payment. But the servant fell down, kneeled before him, and said, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I’ll pay you back.' The master had compassion on that servant, released him, and forgave the loan.

“When that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him one hundred coins. He grabbed him around the throat and said, ‘Pay me back what you owe me.’

“Then his fellow servant fell down and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I’ll pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he threw him into prison until he paid back his debt.

“When his fellow servants saw what happened, they were deeply offended. They came and told their master all that happened. His master called the first servant and said, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you appealed to me. Shouldn’t you also have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ His master was furious and handed him over to the guard responsible for punishing prisoners, until he had paid the whole debt.

“My heavenly Father will also do the same to you if you don’t forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

 Again, this verse was quoted with reference to confronting the prideful individual. Just like Luke 17, this verse is all about forgiveness, not confronting.

Again, this verse simply did not apply to the situation.


Summary
I really dislike when people twist scripture to try to make their own point. This was a classic example of it. 



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