If All You have is a Hammer... (A Warning to Those Who Warn)

One summer years ago, I worked doing finish carpentry. Another summer, I worked for a fence installation company. Over the years, I've done at least a thing or two in most of the building trades. I can say with confidence that at no point was a hammer the only tool I was given. Had that been the case, I might have looked for a better-equipped employer! Also, I'm fairly certain that if all I had was a hammer that not everything would look like a nail and thus warrant me hitting it. That's a good way to get fired. It's important to have more than one tool in your toolbox.

Enter the "Discernment ministry". I have known of a number of these ministries, each with its particular flavor. Let me say at the outset, that I am in full support of discernment, such as is it. But as with many helpful things, there are pitfalls. So to those who make it their duty to warn others, here are some warnings for you, in the spirit of brotherly love of course.

1) A desensitized audience

Though not exactly analogous to the boy who cried "wolf", ministries of warning similarly can suffer from a desensitized audience. If all the readers ever hear is warning about this and warning about that, what happens when something extremely serious comes along. Everything is "red-line" serious, or it is pointless. They seem to see nothing in between. It creates people who are either numb to warnings or explosive about every single wrong they see in Christianity and the world. This may not characterize every warning ministry, but the potential is there.

2) The pride of being the rescuer.

I have been personally spared from being caught unaware regarding some things all thanks to discernment ministries. They keep me informed. I have yet to write in and sing their praises, but I know that quite a lot do. How do I know that? The discernment ministries often publish all the gushing and sometimes sycophantic letters of its avid readers. Somewhere in there, there must be a danger of pride stemming from being the rescuer and having people throw their praise-laden emails at your feet. These writers may not all become proud, but the potential is certainly there.

2) The pride of militance.

I appreciate toughness. But there is a certain pride that may come with being the spiritual leader out in front of others, taking the first swings at the devil. This is because their personality of being militant makes them see everyone else as being not militant when they're simply just the most outspoken, most aggressive, or the loudest. Others are fighting just as hard if not more so. Those people just don't feel the need for everyone else to know about it. To the discernment writer, perhaps the biggest sin you can commit is not being as outspoken about things as they are. You may speak out about things, but if you do not do it their way, or with the same fervor that they do, then clearly you are in league with the compromisers. They are proficient in making the no-true-Scotsman fallacy, e.g. "You may be crying out against CCM, worldliness, and the like, but only the true and faithful do it exactly in the same way and with the same tone that I do. Otherwise, you're not TRULY taking a stand." Are discernment ministries all proud of their militance? No, but the potential is there.

3) Inadvertent undermining of pastoral authority

Weak church members get a hold of these sites and blogs and because they are immature, they begin to speak as loudly and boldly as the discernment ministry, and yet they do not know many of the reasons for those arguments. They are suddenly a "voice crying in the wilderness" (If I hear that one more time...). Their immaturity leads them to now take pride in taking a more "bold" stand than their own pastor when it comes to music, attire, separation, etc. Little do they know, their pastor is taking a bold stand, it is just not an obnoxious or authoritarian one. And yet, the discernment ministry has taught them to believe that being outspoken is equal to being principled and strong. Yet their pastor knows that words "fitly spoken" beat ones that are outspoken every time (c.f. Proverbs 15:11).

Inevitably, the immature believer becomes too "righteous" for even their own church and their own pastor. They then bite that hand that feeds them, attempt to take the moral high ground, and leave the church. While it does not seem like the discernment ministry has this intent, they don't often seem too careful about preventing it. They use language to hint that any pastor whose stand doesn't look exactly like theirs is weak and powerless. What is an immature believer to think about his pastor after reading that? Do these ministries set out to undermine good pastoral authority? Probably not, but the potential is there.

4) They call the potential to sin the sin itself.

To the discernment ministry, you may not be involved in some sin, but if you in any way show the potential to do it, you must be warned. Take this exaggerated, fictitious example: "You mentioned Nike without giving a disclaimer that you are against it, and Nike is a woke corporation promoting transgenderism. Thus, as a pastor, you're on the slippery slope to wearing skinny jeans in the pulpit." You see, the very potential to do something wrong (by anything that reminds them of the sin) earns you a warning from them... as if they have no such potential for doing anything wrong themselves. At a certain point, the discernment writer can simply become a micro-managing, ego-maniacal, control freak trying to create every Christian in their own image. Perhaps not all of them are like that, but I'm here to warn them that the potential is there. See what I did there?

Correction and warning are good things. I certainly correct and warn when needed and have learned from receiving such. Those are tools in my toolbox, not the only tools I have. I also try to sharpen my tools of encouragement, mercy, love, long-suffering, gentleness, and peace as well. Coupled with correction, those tools are just as effective. Bearing the image of Christ does not mean being a "one-trick pony". But perhaps it might mean not mixing metaphors.