LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT STEP 10
STEP 10 “KEEPING OUR MOUTHS SHUT” part one
Proverbs 10:18 ESV The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool.
Psalm 101:5 ESV Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.
Proverbs 16:28 ESV A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.
1 Peter 2:1 ESV So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
John labels the tenth step On Slander. His introduction explains the connection with the steps which went before:
1 I imagine that no one with any sense would dispute that slander is the child of hatred and remembrance of wrongs.
2 Slander is the offspring of hatred, a subtle yet coarse disease, a leech lurking unfelt, wasting and draining the blood of charity.
We are all aware of the nature of slander. To slander someone is to speak evil of them behind their backs; it is to criticize them and to malign them to others. Slander, he points out, is covered by “pious” intentions…
4 I have rebuked people who were engaged in slander, and, in self-defense, these evildoers claimed to be acting out of love and concern for the victim of their slander.
For St. John, it is spiritually dangerous for two reasons.
First, it is hypocritical… It puts on the appearance of love and is the ambassador of an unholy and unclean heart.
Very often when we slander others we practice the worst kind of deceit. The person whom we are slandering knows nothing of our dislike or disagreement. We say nothing to them. Yet, when they are not around, we speak of them negatively to others. This is duplicity. Putting others down can also be a way that we "build" ourselves up. It makes us look good (pious, intelligent, etc.) to be able to point out the bad in someone else. It often puts us into the good graces of others when we join them in their slander.
Notice how we use others for our own gain when we act this way. Our concern is not for them (we would speak to them first if it was), nor is our concern for the safety of the ones to whom we speak . . . Our concern is for ourselves. We look good at the expense of someone else. How far have we strayed from the path of divine love and self-sacrifice. The Bible says:"Love covers a multitude of sins."(1 Peter 4:8)… True love covers the “nakedness” of sin… We, with a malicious spirit, often delight in exposing the mistakes and weaknesses of others. The worst part of this is that we most often do this with regard to pious and holy things. With our tongue,
“….we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude (image) of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, those things ought not to be so” (James 3:9-10).
16 A good grape picker chooses to eat ripe grapes and does not pluck what is unripe. A charitable and sensible mind takes careful note of the virtues it observes in another, while a fool goes looking for faults and defects…
Secondly, St. John condemns slander because of the attitude which lies behind it. Slander is the fruit of a judgmental spirit. The Apostle James identifies the connection: "Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?" (James 4:11-12).
When we judge others we make ourselves equal to God. In so doing, we invite His strict judgment. When we refuse to judge others, we make ourselves His inferiors. In this position, we invite His mercy and compassion. We make no claims for ourselves, but confess ourselves to be equal to the greatest of sinners. In this position we emerge as victorious.
To encourage us to refrain from judging others, John points out how very often our judgments are incorrect. Do not condemn. Not even if your very eyes are seeing something, for they may be deceived.
Given the finitude of our minds and knowledge, we see all things not as they are in fulfillment, but as they are in process. And things in process often look very different than they do in fulfillment. Some of the world’s greatest masterpieces looked very ugly halfway through! This is why we are ALL works in process.
4 Do not start passing judgment on the offender – Judas was one of the company of Christ’s disciples and the robber was in the company of killers. Yet what a turn-about there was when the decisive moment arrived!!
We do not know the end to which a person may come and we certainly cannot read their hearts.
Jesus then answered, "That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him." So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, "What you do, do quickly." Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him.… (John 13:26-28)
6 I knew a man who sinned openly but repented in secret. I denounced him for being lecherous (having or showing an excessive or disgusting interest in sex) but he was chaste in the eyes of God, having propitiated (gaining favor, for something that had been wrong) him by a genuine conversion.
Only God knows the heart of man. In fact, when we judge others, we often condemn those who have already repented and been forgiven by God. We oppose God's mercy with our own justice.
“Judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).
14 To pass judgment is to usurp shamelessly a prerogative of God, and to condemn is to ruin one’s soul.
9 So listen to me, all you accountants of other people’s faults, listen well; for… whatever sin of body or spirit we ascribe to our neighbor we will surely fall into ourselves.
A judgmental spirit also carries with it a spiritual boomerang. "Those who pass speedy and harsh judgment on the sins of their neighbors fall into this passion."
10 It is the murdering demons who push us into sin. If they are balked here, they get us to pass judgment on those who are sinning, thereby smearing us with the stain we are denouncing in others..
There are certain "laws" which govern the spiritual realm even as "natural laws" govern the physical. One of these is that what we judge others for we will soon be guilty of ourselves in some form or another.
For all of us who struggle with this dangerous sin, John’s advice……
7 Do not allow human respect to get in your way when you hear someone slandering his neighbor. Instead, say this to him, “Brother, stop it! I do worse things every day, so how can I criticize him?” You accomplish two things when you say this. You heal yourself and you heal your neighbor with one bandage.
17 Do not make judgments and you will travel no quicker road to the forgiveness of your sins.
This is the tenth step, and he who succeeds in it has practiced love or mourning.
Proverbs 10:18 ESV The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool.
Psalm 101:5 ESV Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.
Proverbs 16:28 ESV A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.
1 Peter 2:1 ESV So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
John labels the tenth step On Slander. His introduction explains the connection with the steps which went before:
1 I imagine that no one with any sense would dispute that slander is the child of hatred and remembrance of wrongs.
2 Slander is the offspring of hatred, a subtle yet coarse disease, a leech lurking unfelt, wasting and draining the blood of charity.
We are all aware of the nature of slander. To slander someone is to speak evil of them behind their backs; it is to criticize them and to malign them to others. Slander, he points out, is covered by “pious” intentions…
4 I have rebuked people who were engaged in slander, and, in self-defense, these evildoers claimed to be acting out of love and concern for the victim of their slander.
For St. John, it is spiritually dangerous for two reasons.
First, it is hypocritical… It puts on the appearance of love and is the ambassador of an unholy and unclean heart.
Very often when we slander others we practice the worst kind of deceit. The person whom we are slandering knows nothing of our dislike or disagreement. We say nothing to them. Yet, when they are not around, we speak of them negatively to others. This is duplicity. Putting others down can also be a way that we "build" ourselves up. It makes us look good (pious, intelligent, etc.) to be able to point out the bad in someone else. It often puts us into the good graces of others when we join them in their slander.
Notice how we use others for our own gain when we act this way. Our concern is not for them (we would speak to them first if it was), nor is our concern for the safety of the ones to whom we speak . . . Our concern is for ourselves. We look good at the expense of someone else. How far have we strayed from the path of divine love and self-sacrifice. The Bible says:"Love covers a multitude of sins."(1 Peter 4:8)… True love covers the “nakedness” of sin… We, with a malicious spirit, often delight in exposing the mistakes and weaknesses of others. The worst part of this is that we most often do this with regard to pious and holy things. With our tongue,
“….we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude (image) of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, those things ought not to be so” (James 3:9-10).
16 A good grape picker chooses to eat ripe grapes and does not pluck what is unripe. A charitable and sensible mind takes careful note of the virtues it observes in another, while a fool goes looking for faults and defects…
Secondly, St. John condemns slander because of the attitude which lies behind it. Slander is the fruit of a judgmental spirit. The Apostle James identifies the connection: "Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?" (James 4:11-12).
When we judge others we make ourselves equal to God. In so doing, we invite His strict judgment. When we refuse to judge others, we make ourselves His inferiors. In this position, we invite His mercy and compassion. We make no claims for ourselves, but confess ourselves to be equal to the greatest of sinners. In this position we emerge as victorious.
To encourage us to refrain from judging others, John points out how very often our judgments are incorrect. Do not condemn. Not even if your very eyes are seeing something, for they may be deceived.
Given the finitude of our minds and knowledge, we see all things not as they are in fulfillment, but as they are in process. And things in process often look very different than they do in fulfillment. Some of the world’s greatest masterpieces looked very ugly halfway through! This is why we are ALL works in process.
4 Do not start passing judgment on the offender – Judas was one of the company of Christ’s disciples and the robber was in the company of killers. Yet what a turn-about there was when the decisive moment arrived!!
We do not know the end to which a person may come and we certainly cannot read their hearts.
Jesus then answered, "That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him." So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, "What you do, do quickly." Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him.… (John 13:26-28)
6 I knew a man who sinned openly but repented in secret. I denounced him for being lecherous (having or showing an excessive or disgusting interest in sex) but he was chaste in the eyes of God, having propitiated (gaining favor, for something that had been wrong) him by a genuine conversion.
Only God knows the heart of man. In fact, when we judge others, we often condemn those who have already repented and been forgiven by God. We oppose God's mercy with our own justice.
“Judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).
14 To pass judgment is to usurp shamelessly a prerogative of God, and to condemn is to ruin one’s soul.
9 So listen to me, all you accountants of other people’s faults, listen well; for… whatever sin of body or spirit we ascribe to our neighbor we will surely fall into ourselves.
A judgmental spirit also carries with it a spiritual boomerang. "Those who pass speedy and harsh judgment on the sins of their neighbors fall into this passion."
10 It is the murdering demons who push us into sin. If they are balked here, they get us to pass judgment on those who are sinning, thereby smearing us with the stain we are denouncing in others..
There are certain "laws" which govern the spiritual realm even as "natural laws" govern the physical. One of these is that what we judge others for we will soon be guilty of ourselves in some form or another.
For all of us who struggle with this dangerous sin, John’s advice……
7 Do not allow human respect to get in your way when you hear someone slandering his neighbor. Instead, say this to him, “Brother, stop it! I do worse things every day, so how can I criticize him?” You accomplish two things when you say this. You heal yourself and you heal your neighbor with one bandage.
17 Do not make judgments and you will travel no quicker road to the forgiveness of your sins.
This is the tenth step, and he who succeeds in it has practiced love or mourning.
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