On the Tragic Incidents Involving Chris Benoit

Chris Benoit was one of my favorite wrestlers. Other than The Undertaker and Kurt Angle, there was no one else I enjoyed seeing in the ring more than Benoit. When I heard the news last night of the death of he and his wife and son, I was shocked and saddened. As I watched the WWE's tribute to him last night, I had no idea what the cause of the deaths were. My sadness only grew throughout the night as I watched his peers talk about how he was such a stand-up guy, one they could trust, and how he loved his son so much. My thoughts were that we truly lost one of the best, inside and outside the ring.

As I'm learning more details about the circumstances of the death, that in all likelihood Benoit murdered his wife and kid and then hung himself, I'm struggling with waning sympathy. The ironic thing is that this is all happening as I'm working on a sermon about refraining from judging people. No doubt what Benoit has done is terrible, and I wouldn't at all try to say it's okay. But it's important to remember in a situation like this that only God is fit to judge. Our knowledge is extremely limited, but God knows people's hearts. Let's leave judgment to Him. It's not our place.

There's a part in the Gospels where Jesus looks out over a huge crowd of people and it says he had compassion on them because to him they were "like sheep without a shepherd." There were probably some thieves in that crowd. Probably some adulterers, too, and maybe even some murderers. And Jesus knew. Just like the Samaritan woman at the well, he knew all about those people. But it did not invoke judgment, but rather compassion. Let us be more like Jesus. It's hard, I know, but condemnation helps no one.

Judgment and Fault-Bound Perception

I had written in a post several months ago about how every time we judge someone we are assuming a role that was never intended for us and belongs to God alone. I'm reading a book now that has been giving me even more insights into this topic. It's called Repenting of Religion: Turning from Judgment to the Love of God, and it's written by Gregory Boyd. To give credit where credit is due, a lot of what I will say here is inspired by this book.

One of the things that's extremely important to remember in considering Jesus's command to "Judge not" is the fault-bound nature of our own perception of things. It is extremely rare, if it ever happens at all, that the reality of something matches up 100 % with the way things appear to us. As Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 13:12, "we see in a mirror dimly." At the time he wrote this, mirrors we're not clear glass like we have now. They were made of steel, and so the reflection was somewhat dark and distorted. According to Paul then, the way we see and understand things now is obscured. Even when it seems like we have enough evidence to have it all figured out, our eyes and our brains our imperfect, and we can never trust that we have the whole truth.

Unfortunately, it seems that we often make judgments even when we are not even close to knowing the full story. For one simple example, say you're eating in the mall, and a very obese man sits down at the table next to you. He weighs about 300 lbs., and he has a big, greasy supersized meal from McDonald's. You notice all of these things, and you think to yourself, with a bit of disdain, "Man, this guy needs to change his diet."

That is what you see, your perception. Potentially, this could be the reality: yes, he weighs 300 lbs., but 6 months ago he weighed 350 lbs. He's been keeping a strict diet and exercising regularly. Part of his diet is that once a month he gets to eat whatever he wants, and McDonald's is his favorite place to eat. You happened to catch him on the one day a month that he gets to indulge, and then you judged him based on that one, single encounter.

This is just one imaginary scenario of a type of thing that actually happens all the time. Constantly we (and I use we to include myself) judge people based on things that are really not our business in the first place. Even for people we know well, we usually don't know all of the various factors, circumstances, and motivations that influence their actions. The Bible is clear that only God can fully know the heart of a person, so not only is he the only one with the right to judge, he is the only one fit to judge. Who the heck are we? Who appointed us judges? Who told us that we get to separate the wheat from the chaff? It is my understanding that only God can do that.

If this subject challenges you and interests you, I strongly recommend Boyd's book. He goes much deeper on a topic that I just touch the surface of here.

Why the Blood Kid is My Hero.

If you haven't seen this video yet, watch it now. It's hiii-larious. (If you're reading this from facebook, I have the video in my posted items).

I've watched this clip many times now and laughed at it over and over again, especially when showing it to friends. But I've realized recently that in addition to the humor of it, there's something quite admirable about this kid. He sees the blood on his baby brother's lip, and in his little heart all he knows is that it's not right. Blood = bad. He cries out to his dad for justice--implicitly pleading with him to DO SOMETHING.

Of course, Dad knows it's not so bad, and thus the situation appears quite humorous to him. But for all Blood Kid knows, his brother is in great danger, and his dad's laughter appals him. "NOT FUNNY!" he screams, "NOT FUUU-NYYYY!" Despite the laughter, despite not being taken seriously, he stands up for what he believes is right, and against what he believes is wrong. He doesn't care what anyone else thinks of him.

It's a complete inversion of the Cain and Abel story; Blood Kid is his brother's keeper. When God confronts Cain about murdering Abel, he tells him, "Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground" (Genesis 4:10). Cain tried to hide his actions from God, but he couldn't. Blood Kid, on the other hand, hides nothing. He himself cries out for his brother, emphatically and defiantly. Let us follow the way of Blood Kid and not Cain. Let us be our brother's keeper. When our brother is hurting, let us cry out to our Father: BLOOOOOD!

Friends XIV: Lane Trahan

I'm sitting in my recliner at the Chi Alpha house. It's 11:00 on a regular ol' weekday night, and school is in session. Class is at 8:00 am. I need to be in my office for 7:15 to do some last minute prep for class. I'm planning to set my alarm for 6. This means I'm already getting less sleep than I'd like, and every minute that I sit there on that recliner is even less. There's one reason why I don't get up and go to bed: Lane Ferdinand Nathanael Trahan.

I love just hangin' out with this guy because I know when we do I'm either going to laugh my butt off or have a good, meaningful conversation of the type that I can't have with most people without someone getting angry or tuning me out. Some of my fondest memories in the XA House are just sitting around with Lane watching funny videos on youtube (such as Frank Caliendo's John Madden Popcorn Popper commercial), or listening to Roll Out by Ludacris and laughing at the ludicrous lyrics.

One thing that's been really cool this past year is seeing Lane exercise his God-given leadership skills. It's been observed by many people that Lane has the ability to get people to do anything. If Lane says, "We should go shoot some pool at White Diamond tonight," chances are that White Diamond will be getting some pretty good business that night. In thepast few months, he has used this gift in spiritual matters as well, rallying people in order to deal with a pressing spiritual issue.

Whether through laughing, debating, or witnessing spiritual growth, getting to know Lane has been one of the best and most unexpected pleasures of my experiences in the Chi Alpha house.