When this is the case, some will argue that if another person truly were a follower of Jesus, they would agree with you on this particular point. I’ve seen Christians question the legitimacy of other people’s faith just so that they can lambast them with impunity more times than I can count.
But this “no true Scotsman” fallacy betrays the fact that we don’t have the right to adjudicate someone else’s salvation.
And this isn’t to say that you can never hold a view that causes any other believer to think of you as their sworn enemy—only that you shouldn’t view them that way.
Sometimes, your faithfulness to Jesus will cause others to despise you. That’s a major theme all throughout the New Testament. But what I’ve learned is that, unfortunately, those people who despise you are just as likely to be other believers as they are unbelievers.
However, while they may despise you, you can never be willing to refuse them an olive branch. As Paul says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18). Guard your heart to ensure that you are doing everything that depends on you, but realize that it’s not always possible.
At the same time, the Christian response is to never give up hope that things could change. If you do, then you’re dying on a hill that Jesus never asked you to.
Be Careful With the Rhetoric You Perpetuate.
Unlike many of the early Christians, it often doesn’t actually cost us much to pick a hill to die on. They’re more like hills to retire on. Perhaps that is why we’re so quick to do it.
What we often don’t realize is that while it might not cost us very much, our stubbornness may end up being incredibly costly to others.
I recently wrote an article about a woman who has been denied a kidney transplant after refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Doctors will not perform the surgery, because the mortality rate of unvaccinated transplant patients who contract COVID-19 is between 20 and 30 percent. The reason the woman is refusing the vaccine is because she’s a Christian and believes it would violate her religious convictions.
This dear woman is quite literally dying on a hill that Jesus didn’t ask her to. And I don’t blame her or want to shame her for it. But I do want to highlight that because so many Christians have been unwilling to move from their hill of vaccine misinformation, she is the one who is dying on it. And she’s dying on it because she has been led astray by others within the Christian community.
My point is this. Life is challenging enough without needing to manufacture a sense of embattlement. As Jesus said, in this world we will have troubles. But that doesn’t mean that literally everything in the world is up against us. When we choose to believe that it is, it’s toxic for our souls, and it’s detrimental to the lives of those around us.
This article originally appeared here.
