In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck chooses to help Jim, a slave, knowing that he is going to go to hell because of it.

In that one line, Mark Twain exposed some of the foolishness of the Christian religion of the time. The reader knew right away — this religion made it’s cultural understanding the standard of right and wrong.

I am currently reading a biography about Martin Luther. When Luther died the people waited with baited breath to see how he died. It was common knowledge back in the 16th century that if you died suddenly, maybe of a heart attack, that Satan snatched you. So Luther’s friends took pains to explain that Luther’s death was a gradual weakening of strength.

We look at a situation like that from a 21st century perspective and think that is ridiculous. Maybe we don’t believe anymore that sudden death is a sign that Satan “got” you, but we have our own religious and cultural biases that condemn others. And this is so difficult to see.

But usually others can see it.

For instance, and this is a small matter, some people evaluate the health of a church on how many people bring their Bibles to a weekend service. If they see alot of Bibles, then it is thought that people must really care and read their Bibles. And they condemn churches where nobody brings Bibles, and *gasp* put the Scripture up on a screen.

Bringing your Bible to a weekend service is fine, but not to be a major evaluation point on the spiritual vitality of a congregation, because the Bible certainly doesn’t make it a point of righteousness. But if we make this external evaluation it will only be a matter of time where someone has to decide to be condemned in order to do the right thing.