SPEAKING WORDS OF CENSURE: THE CASE OF ISRAEL

A Messianic Jewish minister had written:

• Antisemitism has one cause – Satan.

I responded that antisemitism is not simply Satanic:

“Understandably, you do not want to blame the victim. Nor do we want to give additional ammo to the anti-Semite. Besides, we do not want to give needless offense to the Jewish community and to further alienate them from the Gospel by suggesting that they have played a role in bringing misfortune upon themselves.

However, we cannot deny the reality of Israel’s rebellion either and betray the Word of God in the process. Moses had attributed anti-Semitism to Israel’s unfaithfulness:

• Deut. 28:58 If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law… 28:64-65 Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations… Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart.    
• Deut. 28:37 You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you.

The Prophets of Israel also attributed anti-Semitism and the resulting misfortunes to Israel’s unfaithfulness. We must do likewise and warn Israel for their own good:

• Ezekiel 2:3-5 And He said to me: "Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. For they are impudent and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse--for they are a rebellious house--yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

Sometimes, we misunderstand the nature of biblical love, thinking that it requires us to only speak comforting words. However, God sending the Prophets with His accusing words was also a reflection of His love for Israel.

Peter, writing to the Jews living in the Diaspora, even went a step further, accusing his people of rejecting their promised Messiah:

• 1 Peter 2:7-8  So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” [Quoting Psalm 118:22] and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense” [Quoting Isaiah 8:14]. They stumble because they disobey the word.

Peter didn’t make such accusations because of any disdain for his own people. Instead, he evidently knew that Israel needed to hear these words of censure, perhaps to shake them loose from their rebellion.

There are also other verses that my people should have considered about our rejection of our Messiah:

·           Isaiah 53:3-6 He [the Messiah] was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

·           Isaiah 49:6-7 he says: "It is too small a thing for you [the Messiah] to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." This is what the Lord says--the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel--to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation [of Israel], to the servant of rulers: "Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

These might sound like harsh words, but they are also words of love from God, who is trying to call Israel to repentance. However, God will do more than call. He will also open Israel’s eyes to the One whom they have pierced:

·           Zech. 12:10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they [Israel] have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”

As He has promised, He will also save His chosen in the end:

·           Hosea 1:9-11 Then the LORD said, "Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God." Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.' The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited...

·           Isaiah 49:14-17 But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me." "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Your sons hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you.

·           Romans 11:25-29 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so ALL Israel [even rebellious Israel] will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins." As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they [Israel] are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.

Nevertheless, if we love, we will not withhold the necessary words of censure, even if our people has suffered so much already.

Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR) and what it should Look Like

The following is a presentation I will be making at a non-Christian discussion group on the subject of the "unconditional positive regard." The psychotherapist Carl Rogers had popularized this terminology, insisting that our relationships required that we regard the other with a positive regard that transcended their performance or any other material consideration: 

UPR provides a vital component for meaningful relationships. However, it is not the only component.

I had worked for the New York City Department of Probation for 15 years and enjoyed  relationships with many of my probationers. I tried to show them that they were important and valued. To demonstrate this, I’d offer to make them a coffee or hot chocolate when they’d enter my office. I also made it clear that I was willing to take the time to listen and provide feedback.

I hope that they were able to see that my regard for them wasn’t merely a manipulation to get them to comply and reform so that I could feel that I was doing a good job. I genuinely regarded them as precious human beings despite their poor moral and vocational performances and the pain that they had caused others. As God’s highest creation, humanity bears a moral and intellectual resemblance to our Maker, and I feel that God had enabled me to see this resemblance in them, despite the destructiveness of their lives.

However, there was also another reason that I could see a different side of them – a side that transcended their dismal performance. I knew what God had done for me to lift me out of shame, self-contempt and dysfunctionality, and I knew that He could do the same for them. He might not make them all into Harvard grads, but He could convert their lives into something beautiful.

My God had enabled me to accept myself despite my many failings, and this enabled me to also accept others, even to be drawn to them. Consequently, instead of running from them in disgust and contempt, I found I was drawn to them, wanting to bring out the best in them, despite my own long list of inadequacies.

I began to see them through the eyes of my God, who pleads with broken people in this manner:

• "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29)

As a counseling student, I had learned about the therapeutic necessity of UPR. However, for a long time, it was no more for me than a useful technique to elicit positive responses from the client. I acted out the UPR but didn’t really believe that someone who looked so negative and pathetic to me could actually be an unconditional positive. Therefore, I didn’t believe that all of my clients were worthy of my positive regard.

I also observed psychotherapists as they used this technique in a counseling setting. However, they were not sincere about it. I knew what they really thought because we would have professional processing sessions during which we’d discuss the cases.

Consistent with their materialistic assumptions, they considered the counselee a basket case. Therefore, for them, UPR was no more than a necessary manipulation, which they cynically used as one of many tools. Meanwhile, there were other therapists who were genuinely compassionate. For them, UPR complemented their natural empathetic inclinations, although they might have had difficulty philosophically justifying UPR.

However, UPR should never become an excuse to enable or indulge immoral behavior. Instead, it was because I regarded my probationers with UPR, that I also regarded them as responsible moral beings, culpable before the law. Consequently, I also confronted and even threatened them. From the start, I laid out the law for them – their conditions of probation – explaining to them that I would not hesitate to send them back to court if they failed to fulfill their conditions. I feel that I dignified them by taking the stance that they were responsible for their conduct, and this was something about which I never received an argument! However, I assured them that, if they were trying to go in the right direction that I’d be there for them, and if they weren’t, I’d be posed against them.

UPR doesn’t mean that relationships should only be about soft-fuzzies. There are objective behavioral standards to which we must conform. This is because there is an objective moral reality supported by a righteous creator God. Without such a God, we cannot have coherent moral or legal standards. Otherwise, these standards would then be no more than socially created, mutable, moral conventions – relative standards to which, in good conscience, I wouldn’t be able to require anyone to follow.

However, this raises an important philosophical question – “How can we regard someone positively and negatively at the same time?” In order to reconcile this paradox, there has to be two different perspectives – a material, performance-based perspective and a transcendent perspective. With only the material perspective, we can only judge someone based upon performance. With only the transcendent perspective, we cannot engage their behaviors as we must.

Occasionally, I’d receive a report that my probationer was harassing his girlfriend. I would have to take action in a way that wouldn’t compromise my principles - UPR, justice and the need to protect the innocent. Happily, there is no essential conflict between these principles. If I regard the probationer with UPR, this doesn’t mean that I can’t criticize or punish their behavior. If I regard them positively, I will speak the truth to them and hold them accountable. We should not give into the temptation to regard them as a mere product of their environment. This is to demean them.

If they’ve done wrong, they require a punitive response, not only for the good of society but also for their own good. I found that once they understood that I was trying to be fair, I rarely experienced any hostility from them. In fact, the younger ones would welcome a firm disciplinary hand.

I had derived a deep joy in doing this work. There was partly because I believed in what I was doing. I believed in justice, and I also believed in the value of the people who had been committed to my oversight.

True UPR requires humility – accurately seeing our inadequate selves apart from our denials and self-promotion. If I regard myself as a superior human being, it becomes almost impossible to not look down on others. But the Lord had painfully revealed to me that if it wasn’t for His protection, I could have easily ended up either behind bars or as a suicide statistic. This self-realization changes the way we regard others.