Humility is not the Enemy of Discernment

There's a simple reason why evangelicals lack discernment these days: we think its more humble to be naive.

Why do they think this? Because discernment requires making moral judgments, and we've been told it's self-righteous to do that. So we think we can avoid pride by being naive. But it doesn't work that way. Naïveté is just a different form of self-righteous pride.

The Bible is often misread to support this idea. For example, "judge not" is taken to mean "never make moral judgments." It seems more humble to assume the best about others and the worst about ourselves. This is actually false humility.

And this kind of thinking can be disastrous. We blind ourselves to real evil in the world with pious nonsense.

Jesus said, "do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment" (John 7:24). Humility is all about an accurate assessment of yourself and others before God (Rom 12:3).

One particularly rotten fruit of false humility is moral equivalence, where people refuse to confront real evil in the world because they think "all sins are equal." No, all sins are not equal.

The Westminster Larger Catechism says, “All transgressions of the law of God are not equally heinous; but some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others” (WLC 150).

Discernment may be uncomfortable, but it's necessary. Don't suppress your moral reasoning because you don't want to be judgy or proud. Being naive might feel like a virtue, but that's just a pious excuse for self-deception. Don't do it.

Jesus told us to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Humility is not the enemy of discernment.

This Newsletter is now called “Plain Speech”

I co-host the “Current Reality podcast” with my friend Wade Thomas. I started a separate podcast called “Plain Speech Podcast” since then. To avoid confusion, I decided to rename this Substack “Plain Speech” to avoid confusion.

King’s Domain Conference: Gendered Virtue

The King’s Domain conference is less than a month away and all the details are coming together. I’m excited that a good number of people signed up for the single’s mixer.

Being a smaller conference, one of the biggest benefits will be the opportunity to connect with other like minded people in a comfortable setting. You’ll also have a great chance to interact with the speakers and ask them questions. We’ve got Michael Foster, Joe Rigney, Toby Sumpter, Shane Morris, Matt McBee, and myself as keynote speakers.

Here’s a quick explainer video for why we’re doing it and why you should come. If you’ve been considering this conference, go ahead and register now so we can save you a spot!

More details and registration info are available at www.genderedvirtue.com.