This episode expands on the previous episode, emphasizing the appropriate posture of believers to non-Christians, based on 2 Timothy 2:22-26. "The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to ALL, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition," who "are held captive by him [the devil] to do his will." The present culture war mentality of many evangelicals in the United States is evidently not informed by Pauline theology, where the devil is the real adversary and unbelievers are his hostages. The episode bluntly confronts the quarrelsome posture of culture warrior Christians whose mission and hatred are misplaced. More informed by the vitriol of Fox News than the liberating imperative of the Great Commission, these believers make worldly power an end, and some version of Christian nationalism the means, resulting in, not surprisingly, further alienation and mistrust from non-believing hostages. Their mission is misplaced and is tantamount to shooting prisoners that Christians are commanded to liberate. The culture war mentality contradicts the winsome mission-oriented focus of Paul, in which believers are admonished to "pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." (2 Timothy 2:22)
Man-made Distinctions Devoid of Righteousness
Many of the "good" works of unbelievers rest on the assumption that good works don't have to come from a good heart. They dichotomize between works themselves and quality of the person producing them, often overemphasizing outwardly "good" works. Christ however insisted that good works can only come from a good heart: "first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, SO THAT the outside of it may become clean also." (Mt 23:26) Christ also took aim at false dichotomies in the man-made distinctions made by Pharisees, who said a man was obligated if he swore by the gold in the temple, but not if he merely swore by the temple itself. Christ exposed many such false dichotomies among the Pharisees (Mt. 23:16-22), and essentially concluded that hypocritical man-made religion exchanges God's standards for man's, in an attempt to justify men just by doing outwardly "good" works.