8-Balling and the Best Construction
In the Small Catechism’s explanation of the Eighth Commandment, we confess with Dr. Luther that we are obliged under the Law to “alles zum besten kehren” (German) and “in meliorem partem accipiamus et interpretemur” (Latin). Our current translation renders this as “explain everything in the kindest way,” while the earlier translation from the 1921 Triglot reads: “put the best construction on everything.”
It’s not easy to render these idioms into English, but the gist of the “best construction” is that we are obliged to offer as sympathetic a reading or interpretation as possible to a situation involving another person. And this makes sense, given our natural limitations (unlike God, we are not omniscient and omnipresent) as well as our sinful inclinations (a fleshly desire to harm our neighbor instead of helping him).
The idea behind the sympathetic interpretation or the best construction of what is seen or heard is that we can easily misconstrue or misinterpret a set of circumstances, and thereby harm someone’s reputation.
Examples are easy to demonstrate, and a lot of tragic or comedic tales hinge upon the results of a simple misunderstanding: a misinterpretation of the facts. An example might be your next door neighbor’s husband goes away on a business trip. The next day, you see a strange man appear in your neighbor’s driveway. She runs out, throws her arms around him, kisses him, and drags him by the hand into the house.
What might you conclude? Could this be an illicit affair by the neighbor cheating on her husband? That is possible. Might it be her brother, and this is an entirely innocent event? That is also possible. Lacking omniscience, the default position is to construct the situation in a way most sympathetic and friendly to your neighbor. Of course, the devil, the world, and the sinful nature would rather fill in the gaps with the worst constructive assumptions, and then get on the phone and start gossiping - especially if you and your neighbor don’t get along.
So the idea of the “zum besten kehren” or the “in meliorem partem” is sound and wise, and is a godly interpretation of the Law that shows love to our neighbor.
But what if there is no ambiguity? And what if the situation is within our sphere of responsibility? What if the question isn’t whether or not my neighbor is having an affair, but the question is whether or not a church body that publicly uses the name “Lutheran” (and may reflect upon our own reputation) is, in fact, Lutheran, or even Christian? What if the question involves a congregation’s open and public practice of Word and Sacrament ministry that is scandalous (and that congregation is, in fact, a member of our synod)?
In response to my recent blogpost “Not My Kind of Lutheran,” an anonymous person contacted me and said, “This is the opposite of best construction.” He or she did not elaborate. In the article, I brought up the example of the ELCA. It is objectively not “my kind of Lutheran.” I also brought up a recent sermon series by an LCMS pastor that focused on video games. I made it clear that this is also “not my kind of Lutheran.” Others are free to disagree. The ELCA and the King of Kings congregation (LCMS) may well be your kind of Lutheran. They are not mine.
These are both objective truths not based on speculation nor on what could be a misleading appearance - but on what is clearly observable on the internet, posted by the people themselves. The ELCA makes no bones about its acceptance of goddess-worship, female “ordination,” “transgenderism,” homosexuality, and abortion, etc. and such things that render the ELCA “not my kind of Lutheran.” King of Kings (LCMS) with the video games sermon series put all of this online, just as they put their “consecration” by the female musician online. This is all public. All of these links are their own. There is no room for ambiguity or misinterpretation. There is no visiting brother to misconstrue as the next door neighbor’s paramour. There is no isolated line or word to be taken out of context. The practices of both the ELCA and of King of Kings are open and manifest and visible to anyone on the planet who has Internet access. I’m not obliged to give the impression - whether tacitly or positively - to the contrary.
There is simply no way to deny that the ELCA confesses all of these things, nor to deny that this LCMS congregation is preaching video game sermons and engaging in female-lay “consecration.” There is no way for me to say, “These are indeed my kinds of Lutherans.” They’re not. It would be a lie to say that they are.
And this attempt to turn the truth in a public matter into an Eighth Commandment violation is a popular gambit in the great LCMS game. I call it 8-balling. Even casual billiards players are familiar with the strategy of putting your opponent “behind the 8-ball” in order to limit his mobility on the pool table. In the LCMS, 8-balling is the weaponization of the Eighth Commandment to try to bully someone who disagrees with you into silence.
Our bylaws are partially to blame for creating a friendly atmosphere for 8-balling. For we seem to pit the Small Catechism’s Eighth Commandment against the Large Catechism’s Eighth Commandment by requiring public and openly-known matters to be treated as if they were private. This is obviously an attempt to be nice, but there is an unintended consequence. This has the practical effect of gagging members of synod regarding public matters (falsely giving the appearance of tacit approval), and intimidating them from confessing the truth - lest they offend someone and get 8-balled - formally or informally.
Synodical 8-balling is similar to the “Judge Not and Love Thy Neighbor” tactic used by leftists and general unbelievers against Christians who confess that homosexuality is a sin. Since this is “judging” and Jesus said, “Judge not,” therefore you are not “loving thy neighbor” if you don’t accept his public and manifest actions - or at very least, shut up about it.
To say that we must call the ELCA or King of Kings “my kind of Lutheran” because not doing so is not the “best construction” is yet another form of 8-balling. And 8-balling cheapens the true value of taking seriously the confession that we are indeed bound to “explain everything in the kindest way.” For we do so out of concern for reputation. What of our reputation when people confuse us with the ELCA, or see Divine Services under the auspices of the LCMS turned into train-wreck spectacles in both Word and Sacrament? I have no power over what these people do. But all of us have the ability - and the obligation - to confess the truth and to defend the reputation of all of us who share our confession.