Discovering Light, Hiding Behind Reputation
Christians do much good at a lot of good things. The problem comes when they become good at a lot of bad things. This principle is illustrated vividly in the case of Aaron Dean, the police officer who shot and killed 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson in her home, in front of her 8-year-old nephew. The situation is certainly tragic, and we mourn with Jefferson’s family. And yes, it is an example of a Christian being good at a bad thing: Mr. Dean murdered a woman in her home, and policing in America has a well-established goring-ox problem. The entire authoritarian nonsense we see in the political sphere has spilled over into the way we view police. The systemic ox will gore again.1
After releasing this article we at Lamb’s Reign received a lot of great feedback, which should be the case every time we discover new light. That is, whenever illumination comes to a situation—like the revelation that Mr. Dean had defended his views of unjust police brutality on social media long before this incident—we should rejoice that God’s law is shining its flashlight on injustice. As people of God’s Word, we should also readily acknowledge that maybe a goring ox is allowed to run free because the owner doesn’t care about proper fencing.
As is usually the case, we have also received some otherfeedback which aptly illustrates the point I’m making. One example will suffice:
You are putting the members of this church in danger, please remove the church name.
In Joel McDurmon’s original article, the name of the church which Aaron Dean had claimed to be a member of—at least as of 2014—was mentioned. If you open up the New Testament epistles you’ll notice the writers openly discussing the churches of those engaged in sin. Those churches were to have no part in the evil committed by such individuals. New Testament epistles were for public circulation among all the churches to give warning and instruction on how to handle various situations. On this particular point of the timeline, Mr. Dean is out on bail which means that churches should be aware that a man who murdered a woman in her own home could possibly be among them. Whose “safety” are we really concerned about here? Just our own?
The specific details revealed by Joel McDurmon were only those revealed by Aaron Dean himself via prior social media usage. He made no claim that Mr. Dean was a current member of the church. When a staff member from Redeemer Fort Worth contacted Joel to ask him to remove their church’s name (while no expression of concern for the victim was conveyed), McDurmon asked whether Mr. Dean was still a member of Redeemer and the staff member declined to answer that question.
The hard pill to swallow here is to the degree that any church fails to speak up on behalf of the victims of members in their own congregation, that church is already in danger because King Jesus brings sanctions against churches who cower in the shadows instead of basking in the glow of the light that is God’s law (Psa. 18:28, 37:6, 119:105, 130). There is a truckload of freedom when we walk in the light, when we reveal that which is dark. When churches fail to state publicly where they stand on the issue of the goring ox that may be their members, like an Aaron Dean, they are opting for the tactics of darkness, rather than light. “But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
There is no need to fear for one’s reputation, not when the blood of Jesus has cleansed you. We invite all churches, including Redeemer, to speak up on behalf of the victim of Aaron Dean whether he remains a member of that church or not. Perhaps there’s a sermon from Exodus 21 which examines the goring ox case law and demonstrates how to apply it to policing, the use of lethal force, etc.? A lesson on principles of lawful biblical self-defense which make clear that trespassing on property in the middle of the night without warning and then shooting the inhabitants on a guess that they are up to no good? Perhaps there’s a statement that’s been released by the church or pastor? Either way, the church has every right to denounce Mr. Dean’s actions, and they should do so immediately.
There are several reasons why someone would call for the concealment of the name of the church in a situation like this, and while I don’t know who made this particular comment, I do know that the desire to conceal such things is a perfect example of why authoritarian abuse runs rampant in our churches, homes, and society. Speaking more broadly about the problems we have churchwide in America, we have pastors with ego problems, and elders who think it’s their job to dictate everything instead of pouring their lives out in service to others (there are, of course, many who get this, so this is not a sweeping generalization). We have sex abuse scandals plaguing our churches, all in the name of, “Let’s handle this in-house.” Translation: “Let’s hide this because our reputation is at stake, and if our reputation goes down, the world won’t like us, and we won’t be able to afford our coffee, programs, and mortgage payment.” The point is rather clear: “Hide the church’s name” = “Keep them in the shadows.” Too often, however, it includes, “Hide the perp’s name.” Police departments, politicians, and governments all do the same thing: “We are currently conducting an investigation.” Translation: “We investigated ourselves and found we did nothing wrong. There is nothing to see here. Please move along.”
This culture of authoritarianism obviously has varying degrees to it, but the root problem involves two crucial errors: 1) Pietism and 2) Statism.
First, Pietism is the rejection of God’s law and the embrace of some form of dualism. It’s the idea that only the pious, spiritual acts of going to church, praying, and reading one’s Bible are what matters. Your job, politics, money, matters of jurisprudence—none of these things pertain to truly spiritual Christianity. Much of this is the unfortunate leftovers of dispensationalism, but even the Reformed church has given herself to this terribly debilitating disease.
Second, Statism is the elevation of the State beyond its God-given jurisdiction. It’s the idea that the State has no obligation to King Jesus and thus the State ought to be given as much power as it wants. Statism, or what the Bible shows as “Moloch Worship,” is also a terribly debilitating disease, but one that continues to grow unabated when the Churches remain silent on matters of systemic injustice.
When God gave his covenant law to Israel, the surrounding nations were expected to see it as unparalleled wisdom (Deut. 4:5–8). They were to take the statutes and judgments of God (for example, the goring ox case law) and dothem. When Israel was faithful to God’s law, the nations would say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people” (v. 6). Nowhere was Israel instructed to keep things hidden in the name of “reputation.” No one was to conceal the teaching and testimony of God and keep it for themselves. This law-keeping evangelism, something pietistic Christians today simply do not understand, was going to be the very means of illuminating the nations.
This is all to say that Redeemer Church in Fort Worth, Texas (indeed, all churches) now has an opportunity to stand upon the law-word of God and declare that Mr. Dean’s actions do not line up with Scripture. They have an opportunity to discover light for themselves and refuse to hide this brilliant law from the world, all in the name of “reputation.” They have the attention of the entire nation right now, in this very moment, and they can declare with Psalm 19:7, “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.”
Every church should follow such an example. Every pulpit should ring with lessons on justice and the administration and execution of it! It is part of the whole counsel of God, and our society rarely hears it at all. That it does not come from the place we should most expect it should make us fear that the judgment of God may be near.
Don’t take the light and keep it for yourselves, put it out there. Walk in it. Bask in it. Revel in the glory that is the wisdom of God in his law-word. But by all means, don’t waste this opportunity. We’re fools for Christ–don’t adopt the power religion tactic that the world uses, denounce it altogether and walk in the light. That’s where Jesus is.
[1] The goring ox case law can be summarized accordingly:
In Exodus 21:28-29 we read, “If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished. If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.”
This portion of text is what we call ‘case law,’ which is an application of the sixth commandment, thou shall not kill. But what happens when an image bearer’s life is unjustly taken? The victim is dead, and thus the “victim” is God, the Creator whose image he reflects. Therefore, the man’s life has been forfeited and the civil magistrate has, after due process and a jury trial, the responsibility to put him to death for murder.
There are two key transcendent principles we can draw from the the goring ox example:
The first is that recklessness towards human life resulting in the death of another image bearer constitutes an act of hatred so vile as to warrant the death penalty. God’s law doesn’t require or demand that the perpetrator be proven to have malice or hatred in his heart (this scenario has relevance to the incident of the axe head flying off in Deuteronomy 19:5 in which evidence of prior hatred is required. It is an accidental death where gross negligence is not present). The owner of the ox acted recklessly and hatefully towards his brother resulting in his death and so he is to be executed.
The second principle to glean is that those who repeatedly put the lives of others in danger in a reckless fashion are also culpable. This would have relevance to the Dallas Fort Worth Police Department which now has established a track record of murdering its citizens. The track record of irresponsibility and reckless behavior has already been established. The ox is already in the habit of goring, the owner has already been warned, and he does not take the necessary precaution to confine the beast. The owner, of course, does not wish that his ox will go and gore people to death—far from it. However, the issue here in Exodus is with regard to liability, not malice. The owner has the responsibility to keep track of his animal to make sure he does not cause harm to others. When this ox gets loose, we have a problem. Repeated incident after repeated incident makes it plain that the use of police force is largely out of hand. It’s not about malice, or vindictiveness, revenge or petty crime; this is about a track record of harm being well established and the owner needing to see to it that it stops. Recklessness with human life is not permitted.