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"Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that the Lord has once for all entrusted to us, his people" (Jude 3).

Roy Ratcliff is a preacher in Wisconsin. One day, he was invited to meet with a fellow who was in prison for life because he had murdered a number of people. During the coarse of time, Roy studied with this fellow and baptized him into Christ. Most of us would have thought that he did what many have done before, teaching Christ to a lost man. And most of us would not have heard about this except the murderer’s name was Jeffrey Dahmer, the serial killer. God’s grace had been extended to this murderer.

Yet in a recent interview, Roy has found a mixed reception to his actions. Many thank him for what he did in presenting the good news of Jesus. But others have shunned him, implying that he did something wrong, that Jeff Dahmer does not deserve or belong in heaven (1). A quick look at scripture would find this view wrong. God stated that David had murdered Bathsheba’s husband after committing adultery with her, yet David asked for and received forgiveness (see 1 Samuel 11 and 12). Paul called himself the worst of sinners and by implication a murderer in the stoning of Stephen; he received the grace of God (see 1 Timothy 1:13-15 and Acts 8).

Back in 1968, a fellow named David Reagan reported on a survey among Catholics. The question asked was whether abstinence from meat on Friday’s was more important than loving one’s neighbor. More than sixty percent thought the meat question was more important. He then went on in his article to ask several questions of churches of Christ. What is more important, abstinence from instrumental music or loving one’s neighbor as ourselves? How about weekly attendance or neighbor? Or the weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper or neighbor (2)?

Maybe it is not an either/or question, maybe it is. The question centers on priorities. Love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. Isn’t that what Jesus taught? Or all men will know that we are His disciples if we love one another (John 13:34-35)? To love God means that we want to do what He says to do or commands us to do, right? And isn’t attendance and worship important in our lives?

One would think so but how we treat others plays an important role as well. Just mention Max Lucado, Rubel Shelly, Joe Beam, Rick Atchley, and any number of others and the reactions vary from progressive to liberal to a change agent to those who have "left" the church. Why? Because we do not agree with everything they teach? I don’t agree with everything I teach and I certainly do not understand everything God is attempting to teach me through His word and life.

I really do get tired of seeing people judged the way Roy Ratcliff is judged. And I really get tired of being told that brothers who challenge me to look at scripture in a different way are some type of force for evil in this world. What exactly are we contending for? Traditions I fear are the priority of some. The Pharisees had their traditions that they confused with scripture, and we often do the same. If we gossip about and slander fellow believers, what are we accomplishing? If we misrepresent others or think the worse about them, then what are the consequences? Many have seen this contradiction between being Bible believers and then abusing people contrary to scripture, and have left for other groups, or none. And the abusers often claim a defense of the faith. Reactions can be just as bad with ridicule of cherish ideas and joking about the legalism of others. Christ-likeness prohibits this.

Singing, attendance and the Lord’s Supper are being looked at again. There are those challenging us to look at these areas with a better understanding of scripture. We should not be afraid of this. Our attitude should be that there are those who love their neighbor and want what is best for them. That doesn’t mean that we have to accept everything they teach. We might find ourselves challenging them from various texts, but we also might be seeing in texts something we had not seen before (3).

In all of this, people are watching and seeing how we treat one another. If they see us beat others up, then they really will want no part of us. If they see us ridicule and label are fellow travelers, there might be a fear to have anything to do with us. Too often I have heard of judgmental attitudes without knowing or reading the people we are talking with or discussing. It is easier to talk behind someone’s back or to write some article based on what someone else has said about a person. I have read a number of book reviews of books I have read that had nothing to do with the subject of the book, but the perceived ideas of the author of said book, or to say it another way, preconceptions of the reviewer.

One preacher had his teenage children listen to a tape of a person he did not agree with to see if they could pick out the "errors" in the lesson. His kids came back and said that they did not hear what their dad heard. He told them to listen to it again, which they did, and a third time as well. Finally the preacher listened to the sermon again, and found that the speaker did not say what he thought he had said.

Love certainly does not ignore sin or false teaching but there is a way to approach and speak to someone we disagree with. We need to be willing to listen, to ask questions, and to restudy. We are going to be challenged throughout our lives to what we believe. We are also going to find that others can open our eyes and hearts to a better understanding of scripture, if we will allow that to occur.

I for one appreciate what Roy Ratcliff has done. We should thank God for such men who are willing to go to "sinners" just as God was in Christ willing to come to a sin filled world. May we understand that we all have neighbors and that there is a Christ-like way to treat them, one that seeks their best.

George B. Mearns

(1) Dan Berry interview, Houston Chronicle, 3/11/2007.

(2) Bobby Valentine, Voices from 1968: A leaf from the Pages of A "Subversive" Journal, http://stoned-campbelldisciple.blogspot.com

(3) I recently had this happen from a text in Psalm 55 which I will look at in a later article. How many times have we read a text and then something strikes us that we had not seen before?