Double Your Standard – Double Your Fun

I was out there on Facebook, which requires being out there, when I saw this political cartoon. It really yanked my chain. It wasn’t my view of the issue it’s speaking to that wound me up. It’s the problem of double standards in our culture that burned me.

I should give a caveat here. With the examples I’ve presenting here, I’m not going to speak to my position on any of them. That’s not the point of this blog. My focus is strictly dealing with how so many today hold double standards without even realizing it.

The underlying reason for this is the loss of a moral foundation. When there are no longer any absolutes, we are left with a rudderless ship. Everyone thinks they’re the captain and are so busy fighting they don’t see the iceberg. It feels like we’re just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic and there’s already water on the deck.

So, back to the cartoon. The problem I found is, some are angry because they see an individual whom they believe is ignoring the laws they were hired to carry out. At the same time they ignore the fact that those they support in Washington are doing exactly the same thing. “But they want what’s best for us. So they have to ignore laws that interfere with doing what they know should be done.” (Oh, and by the way, congress exempts itself from much of what it places on us.) So do you think this occurs on only one side of the aisle? Can you say “double standard?”

Now I’m a child of the 60’s. Yes, I know that makes me old. Well, back in the day many young people fought for freedom of speech. They wanted to say what they believed needed to be said, even if what they said was believed to be ugly and hateful by those who opposed them. They eventually won!

Today it is many of these same people who claim to continue to support free speech—that is, unless they disagree with you. It that case what you say is ugly and hateful. So your words are defined as hate speech. And those who fought to say what they wanted now fight to keep you from having the same freedom. Can you say “double standard?”

The meaning of tolerance has been redefined. Where once it meant: I can disagree with you but it’s not my job to change you. Today it means not only do I have allow you to live as you want, I’m not even allowed to disagree with you. In fact I have to embrace what I believe to be wrong. And if I don’t, then you won’t tolerate me. Can you say “double standard?”

I don’t expect things to change. In fact they will probably get worse. So what’s my point? Christians cannot live by a double standard. If we define same sex marriage as wrong, then how can we excuse adultery, fornication, and divorce (without biblical cause) at the same time? If we are going to present a biblical definition of marriage, then we must defend marriage on all fronts, otherwise — can you say “double standard?”

We must not only stand firm for biblical truth but we must live it. We won’t always succeed. But when we fail and sin, then we must repent, that is, ask God’s forgiveness and for forgiveness from those we have sinned against. Otherwise we are living by a double standard. Can you say “hypocrite?”

If we are to not buy into a world of double standards, then we must live by Christ’s words. “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:1–5 ESV).

While we are called to judge sin, we aren’t to so some from a place of arrogance or a judgmental spirit. We must recognize that when we do so, we can easily fall into the trap of setting a double standard, which means living hypocritically. So no matter how much the world lives by double standards, let’s show as believers we can be tolerant, civil, and most importantly, humble and loving. Let us reflect Christ’s love and mercy. Let us remind the lost that God doesn’t have a double standard. He offers the gift of salvation to all and there are consequences to all who reject it.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (John 3:16–21 ESV).