Don’t Fall Into ‘Us vs. Them’; Practice ‘Us Helping Them’

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘<Jesus said,>“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”’ (Matthew 6:1); ‘<Jesus said,> “Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”’ (Luke 6:26)

Lately, there is a rash of ‘Us versus Them’ news items reported.  Boundaries between race, age, politics, policies, and religion are drawn in both events and opinion pieces, and depending on the author of the article is biased on one side or the other.  While this is something since the beginning of news reporting (possibly as far back as the days of the ‘Babel Babbler-Tribune’ or the ‘Ur Post-Gazette’), it seems the ‘Us versus Them’ reporting has increased over the last year, especially in 2025.  It could be a media response to the current administration, or it could be the accuracy in reporting of such divides that are growing in our society today.

The bias is written to attempt an acceptable of the belief of the author.  If the author is liberal and woke, the article is written to portray those attributes as positive.  An author who is conservative will write articles to reflect and encourage conservative points as positive.  Both will often portray the opposite stance as negative or wrong.  In writing this blog, I certainly want to write, unashamedly and unapologetically, in a Biblically-pointed manner toward Jesus and His Gospel, so my bias is obvious. 

Everyone has biases that they will reflect in thought, speech and writing.  However, I must also write to allow those who may not have a Biblical-focused perspective to read this blog and (hopefully) gain an understanding of what I believe and perhaps after consideration decide the viewpoint I bring, the Godly, Biblical viewpoint is the proper viewpoint.  Some do not write or report the news or their opinion with this in mind. 

Instead, they provide their reporting in a confrontational manner, that ‘Us versus Them’ style that retards the consumer to consider their thoughts and reject it.  If I write confrontationally, a ‘Believe in Jesus or else’ style of writing in this blog, all it would serve to do is to be an ‘echo chamber’ for the Believers and do nothing for those are curious and want to learn more about Christ, though their viewpoints may be counter at this moment in time. 

There is a line, though, that I will not and cannot cross; I cannot conform to a secular viewpoint or stance in order to win over those who do not yet believe.  1 John 2:15-17 states that we who are Christians are not of this world, though we live in it, but are to be in and of God.  So though we interact with those in the secular world, and must consider the viewpoints of those who are not of God, we need to stay conformed to Righteousness while not denigrating those who are not. 

To do that, we must accept the things we cannot easily change, especially hearts and minds of those who are of Christ.  We must not be a Crusader and punish them for their non-belief, but be that missionary who shows the patient yet firm love of Christ in spite of the paganistic acts and thoughts of their audience.

Acceptance is not to tolerate beliefs countering those of the Lord, but to also allow those who believe incorrect viewpoints the ability to change.  Jesus, with one notable exception, graciously and lovingly allowed those who were involved in sinful activities to repent; the Samaritan woman at the well, the adulterous woman about to be stoned, the thieves on the cross. 

All of these (and more) Jesus accepted them as they were, gave them His Gospel message of forgiveness, and allowed them the opportunity to accept Him as Lord.  The exception was when Jesus showed anger was in the Temple courtyard, where Jesus showed His displeasure in righteous anger over the illicit moneychangers (aka ‘the brood of vipers’).  In a sense, while He did beat them with a whip, He allowed them to live and gave them the opportunity to learn from His displeasure and repent, as well.

We all want to be accepted, and loved by others.  Some take Romans 15:7 (‘Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.’) in an improper context of ‘Acceptance = Approval’, and seek approval from all by ‘going with the flow’ and jumping on themes that appear to be popular, or well-intentioned to show our ‘love’ of others.  But if you do so, you are then going against Matthew 6:1, as you are trying to be righteous to gain the approval of other people and falling into the ‘woe’ of Luke 6:26, which is a warning of gaining popularity by ‘pseudo-righteousness’.  I personally do want everyone’s acceptance, but not at the cost of having God’s approval.  I want to gain God’s approval with what I do, and thus must let go of gaining the approval of other people. 

I can accept someone who is LGBTQ or who is pro-abortion as a friend, as I can accept someone who is agnostic as a friend as well.  But I cannot approve of their actions and I must make it clear that I do not approve of their lifestyle choices, and if a decision of ‘them or God’ must be made, I will choose Jesus 100% of the time.  I accept when loved ones may live counter to the Lord as their choice, but I also let it be known that they are wrong and that I disapprove, and will not reward behavior that runs counter to the Lord’s precepts.  That does not mean I turn my back on them; on the contrary I maintain open communication with them and will help in areas outside of promoting their countering actions. 

When one improperly applies Romans 15:7 which goes against Matthew 6:1 to gain the approval of others, you commit the ‘two evils’ as described in Jeremiah 2:13; you first go against God and His ways (‘the Fountain of Living Water’) and then attempt to establish your own set of righteous behavior (‘digging a well that can’t hold water’).  That is an attempt to usurp God’s Holy precepts with your own unholy precepts.  When Desmond Tutu stated ‘I can’t worship a ‘homophobic’ God’, he is doing exactly this.  He first is going against God’s Word by approving LGBTQ actions (Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11) and he is attaching to God an attribute that God does not have (being ‘homophobic’). 

God not accepting the sin of LBGTQ actions is not homophobic, but is Him being Holy.  God, with the person accepting Christ and repenting of their sin, can accept the person, but He can never accept or approve of their sinful nature.  This is the true context of Romans 15:7; Jesus accepts us as who we are but does not accept our sinful nature.  We must repudiate our sin (and our self-proclaimed ‘righteousness’) through repentance and acceptance of Jesus’ terms of righteousness and precepts to live by, and seek approval from Him alone.