Anonymous Tip: The Proselytizing Lawyer

A Review Series of Anonymous Tip, by Michael Farris

Pp. 107-109

And now we have arrived at lawyer Peter Barron’s much awaited meeting with his Christian mentor/accountability partner, Aaron. Aaron, as you will remember, is a regional computer expert and the father of four homeschooled children.

Peter and Aaron met at their usual spot—The Red Lion Coffee Shop just off the Pines Road exit from Interstate 90. It was about a fifteen-minute drive for each of them and allowed them to hop directly on to the freeway and head to work afterwards. The waitress gave them a back table, where they could read the Bible, talk, and pray without too many stares.

Peter is officially more worried about getting stares for reading the Bible in a restaurant than he is about someone listening in while he takes a disposition in a restaurant.

Peter and Aaron are reading through Proverbs and have reached chapter 21.

It was one of Peter’s favorite chapters in all of Scripture. When he was a young Christian in his senior year of college, trying to decide whether it was God’s will for him to go to law school, Peter believed that God and directed him to Proverbs 21:15: “When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.” That verse was the turning point in the process of prayer, counsel, and Scriptural meditation that made Peter conclude that becoming an attorney was truly God’s will for his life.

Yes, this is a way that evangelicals make decisions.

“Well,” Aaron began when they had finished reading the entire chapter, “did any particular verse stand out to you?”

“Verse one got my attention in light of my upcoming hearing on Tuesday. ‘The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases.’ I have been praying that God will direct the judges heart and that my client will get her child back.”

“Peter, have you given your client any opportunity to come to know Jesus?” Aaron asked.

Well, that was unexpected!

So I have to wonder. Is this a usual thing? I mean Aaron says it as though it’s standard procedure. Does Peter’s law office have a sign on the front door saying “Prepare to be Proselytized”? Honestly, though, this is standard fare for evangelicals. You’re supposed to present the gospel to everyone you come in contact with, because if you don’t, well, you may well be sending them on their merry way to hell. There are many workplaces where you would not be allowed to do this—you might get fired from your job at local grocery pharmacy if you preach at your customers as well as serving them—but then, Peter runs his own business, so that (presumably) isn’t an issue.

“Not really. I made it clear to her that I was a born-again Christian, but I didn’t really explain what that means,” Peter explained.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that it’s not typical for a lawyer to make his client aware of his religious beliefs. Peter’s actions in that restaurant, back on Tuesday when he explained to Gwen that he’s a born-again Christian and therefore he can’t marry her because she’s divorced, were just weird. And that, of course, is what Peter is referring to here.

Seeing Aaron’s unblinking stare, Peter hastily added, “But I’m looking for the right opportunity.”

“Good. Remember, for him who knows to do right and doeth it not, to him it is sin,” Aaron said, quoting James 4:17.

I know the term “clobber verse” is usually used to refer to anti-gay verses, but seriously, James 4:17 is a clobber verse. It’s used to shame evangelicals who don’t do enough preaching and converting. It makes not doing good just as bad as doing wrong. Because of this, it’s used to scare kids who aren’t bad into think they are bad, just because they don’t voluntarily offer to set the table or switch the laundry.

Regardless, Peter is now anxious for Aaron to change the subject.

“You know, verse two is one that lawyers convicts me,” Aaron said. “‘All a man’s was seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.‘ I think this means that even when we think that our motives are pure, we often deceive ourselves. I find that I constantly have to make myself look deeper and deeper into my motives to examine if anything I’m doing is really being done for a motive that God would find to be wrong.”

This is another evangelical scare line—if you do the right things, but for the wrong reason, it doesn’t count. In fact, I have very clear memories of being taught that you need to do the right thing for the right reason, and that doing the right thing for the wrong reason, or the wrong thing for the right reason, and doing the wrong thing for the wrong reason are all bad, bad, bad. On some level, I get this! If you’re only volunteering at the soup kitchen to make yourself look like a good person, well, that’s really unfortunate. But at least you’re still helping people! And besides, the amount of introspection demanded vis a vis this verse is enough to leave anyone in doubt. Am I sure I have no selfish motivations for doing X thing?

Peter felt that slight burning on his face that often accompanied a pricking of his inner spirit. He began to ask himself, Are my motives really pure in trying to help Gwen? Am I just being a good lawyer for her by trying to win her case? Or is there something more?

Good question, Peter. Sounds like something to talk to your mentor/accountability partner about, and guess what, he’s sitting right here!

With that, Aaron looks at his watch and says “I guess we’d better pray if we are going to keep to our schedule.”

Wait! Not yet, Aaron! Peter has something he seriously needs to talk about!

Peter was glad Aaron didn’t ask any probing questions about applying verse two to his life.

Accountability fail.

And truthfully, Peter wasn’t sure whether he had anything to confess. He knew for sure he would have to guard his heart more carefully toward Gwen, but for the moment he concluded that he was doing her case out of a pure desire to be a good lawyer and a good servant.

Sure, Peter, sure. You’ll keep telling yourself that all the way to the altar!