A Broken Nation: Answer 1b

As stated in Question 1 it is absolutely OK to question leadership, but the real issue centers around how we do this. What actions are appropriate for criticizing our leadership, and what actions are over the line? Obviously, as we can see from the Aaron and Miriam story there's some line to be crossed, it's just not always easy to see it.

Thankfully I believe the Lord has given us some tools/guidelines to use in dealing with confrontation with others. (The specific reference deals with a brother sinning against you, but the lesson is applicable to all human conflict.) Jesus tells us that if a brother sins against you:

"Go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church..." (NIV Matt. 18:15-20)

Like I said, specifically this reference deals with a brother sinning against you, but I believe the process is helpful and can be followed in order to keep us from crossing the line with our leadership. (No, its not a God given commandment, its simply a helpful guideline.)

If you have a problem with a leader, go to him/her and talk with them. Don't go to everyone and their mother to get their opinions. Go directly to the person. If you don't have access to them, use the available resources at your disposal, i.e. writing a letter to the president. If this doesn't work, gather a few more people who are in agreement and go through the same process. As you continue to increase your numbers always keep in mind two things:

1. If you (or anyone with you) is not willing to be part of the solution, than you have no business talking about it! I'm not saying you have to be able to be part of the solution, just willing. If you have no intention of helping the matter, than you are simply complaining and gossiping, and the Lord will not bless that.

2. Ask yourself, "Am I critiquing or am I criticizing?" I believe those two words can accurately define the condition of the heart within your actions. If your heart is clean, than you are more than welcome to critique your leader's actions. However, if your heart is angry, jealous, judgmental, bitter, etc.; you are more likely to criticize that person, which is where we cross the line into sin.

If you can faithfully question your leader's actions with a right heart and right actions, the Lord will honor you, and you'll have a much better chance of succeeding in producing change in that person's leadership. But what if that person still won't change, what do you do then? Find out more in Question 2...

Technorati tags: leadership, criticize, sin, government

A Broken Nation: Answer 1a

(There is so much that scripture has to say about criticizing leadership that I've had to split this answer into multiple blogs.)

Throughout scripture there are examples about verbally apposing leadership, Godly or ungodly. One of the earliest Biblical recounts that clearly draws the line for us is that of Aaron and Miriam's criticizing of Moses for marrying a Cushite woman. The Lord heard their criticism of Moses and called them out to the tabernacle. At the tabernacle the Lord appeared in a cloud and spoke these words,

"If there were prophets among you, I, the Lord, would reveal myself in visions, I would speak to them in dreams. But not with my servant Moses. Of all my house, he is the one I trust. I speak to him face to face, clearly, and not in riddles! He sees the Lord as He is. So why were you not afraid the criticize my servant Moses?" (Num 12:6-8 NLT)

There are two things I find amazing about this story:

1. The clarity with which God speaks to this matter is uncommon. God leaves no room for misinterpretation or failure to hear His voice. He speaks directly, loudly, and then backs it up by giving Miriam leprosy.

2. The reality is that, to a certain extent, Aaron and Miriam were right about Moses's marriage. Throughout the rest of the Old Testament, God is very clear that He doesn't want his people to intermarry with other nations. Yet, that's not what God gets angry about.

God's anger aims at the heart behind their criticism. They criticize out of a heart of jealousy and judgement. The question then becomes, "How do they criticize Moses without rousing God's anger?" Thankfully, scripture gives us guidelines that we'll discuss in part "B" of this answer.

A Broken Nation: Question 1

Some people may think by reading the intro to this blog series that I advocate blind followship. Let me put your mind at ease that if you knew me, you would know this is the last thing I'm saying. When it comes to analyzing leadership, I'm usually first in line. But the reality is that as a Christian who believes in what the Bible has to say about this issue, I find some things in the scriptures to be challenging and they force me to ask questions about how we deal with leadership and followship in America.

The first question may not be in the right order, but it's one of the the biggest questions I always get from people. That is, if we're not called to follow blindly but we can't criticize our leadership, how do we follow in a Godly manner? When people ask me this there really asking, "Is it OK to question leadership out loud?", and the answer is absolutely, yes!

It's not only OK to question leadership, but I believe Godly followship requires inquiring minds. The catch is, there's a way to do it and a way not to do it. Doubt and disagreement are part of life. God created us as individuals who are not independent, and that means we have to interact with others. When you interact with other completely separate individuals, you will get differences in opinion. That's part of the beauty of God's creation. But we've got to learn how to question, doubt, and disagree in a Godly way.

For more on this, see " A Broken Nation: Answer 1"