Causing the “Way of Truth to Be Evil Spoken Of”

When I was a youngster, the King James Version of the Bible reigned supreme. So when I memorized Bible verses—whether of my own volition or because it was a class assignment in the church-run school I attended—the verses always came from the KJV. And I memorized a lot of them.

I readily admit, the words and the syntax of the King James Version seemed cumbersome and archaic even back then. But much like Shakespearean English, the KJV had a gravitas, a potency, a holiness that just wasn’t present in modern English. At least, that’s adults told me.

So I still have many complete verses and many more verse fragments from the KJV floating around in my head. In fact, when I go online to the Bible Gateway to search for a text for which I don’t have chapter and verse, I typically look for it in the King James Version. Then, having once discovered its location, I go check it out in the New International Version or some other modern translation. 

Anyway, the other day I went to get our mail from the mailbox stand that serves our block. It just so happened that a neighbor, whose house is directly across the street from the mailboxes, was working in her yard. So I paused for a bit of conversation. 

Somehow, our brief exchange wandered into religion—which hasn’t happened often with that particular neighbor. She told me about a friend of hers, a woman who always describes herself as a born-again Christian. The born-again woman seems to think that if everyone shared her spiritual perspective, most of the world’s problems would automatically disappear. The woman has repeatedly told our neighbor that she needs to be born again, leave her denomination and become part of “the true Christian faith.”

The fact that the born-again woman can’t stop talking about religion and boasting about the superiority of her particular brand of Christianity is a heavy cross for our neighbor to bear. But what really gets to her is that her super-religious friend doesn’t relate to fellow humans in the way our neighbor thinks should be second nature for any human, whatever their religion or lack thereof.

For example, not long ago our neighbor went shopping with her super-religious friend. When they pulled into a space in the parking lot where they would be shopping, our neighbor noticed that the car parked next to them had a nail in one of its tires. Not wanting the car’s driver to be stranded somewhere because of a flat tire, her immediate thought was to leave a note under the windshield wiper to forewarn about the nail. 

Then she realized she didn’t have either a pen or a piece of paper—which wasn’t her usual modus operandi as she almost always has a pen and a small notepad with her. Undeterred, she asked her super-religious friend if she happened to have something to write with and something to write on. Which, of course, led to the question Why? 

Our neighbor explained what I’ve just described: that she wanted to leave a note so the driver of the car wouldn’t get stranded somewhere. Knowing about the nail would allow preventive, time-saving measures to be taken.

Her super-religious friend acted as if her suggestion was the stupidest idea she’d ever heard of. “Why would you waste your time doing that?” she asked, she asked in an incredulous tone. “You don’t know the person. Besides, I’ve had nails in my tire several times and no one ever left me a note to tell me about it.” And like a dog with a bone, the super-religious continued to belittle and ridicule her for simply wanting to help a stranger.

“Let me tell you,” our neighbor said rather emphatically, “if that’s what it means to be a born-again Christian, and if that’s what being born again turns a person into, I can guarantee you that I will be more than happy to forever remain just what I am—no matter how much she thinks I’m not a real Christian!” 

And this is where my earlier comments about the King James Version of the Bible come into play. We read in 2 Peter 2 about people whose behavior is such that it causes the “way of truth to be evil spoken of.” 

I think my neighbor’s super-religious friend definitely qualifies as a full-fledged perpetrator.