Have we got it right, yet?

Recently, I read a post that cited a number of examples of people claiming to be Christians and then saying and doing evil or stupid things and using the bible to defend their actions.  The writer ended with the following:

I wish I knew for sure what I would have done...but I don't. I'm humbled, and a little frightened, by how often true justice is only recognized as such in hindsight

This does present the Christian with a problem.  It seems that all of our attempts to apply scripture could be wrong. 


So, take the question from the same writer if your pastor told you that integration was "unbiblical" and MLK was a dangerous, anti-Christian communist, (which is what plenty of white pastors in the South did), which side would you have chosen?

With the communists controlling half the globe, desiring to take my property and religion from them, and pointing nuclear missiles at them, I can see how white people, even those who may not have it in for blacks, would be scared of King if they heard this kind of thing from their pastor.  I don't mean this to justify their actions, merely to explain.

Here's another example from Richard Foster's Challenge of the Disciplined Life, chapter 10: [Hitler] campaigned on a 25-point platform that included...a pledge to improve educational opportunities, a concern for "raising the standard of health in the nation", and a belief in "positive Christianity"

Again, I could see how people still reeling from the humiliation and the loss of millions in WWI and the chaos and hyper inflation of the Weimar Republic, might ignore Hitler's anti-semitic rants and support him (Perhaps the thinking was- I mean after all, Luther was an anti-semite and he was OK, right? Come on, "Germany is a civilized nation".  This is no different than things have always been...)

This inability to see what's really going and to try to fit God into our plans instead of follow his, seems it could lead to despair and frustration which is what I think read in Evans' blog. 

Being a Christian, I think God is just and merciful and guides us.  Not only do I believe the scriptures are a reliable guide, I think that inspite of man's sinfulness, we can still understand them and follow them.