Being stupid might not be a sin, but that does not make it a virtue by default.
As a Christian, there are few things that frustrate me more than the actions of fellow Christians. I recently heard a pastor say something along the lines of, "conduct yourself in a manner that will contradict the prejudices of non-believers." Essentially, he was acknowledging that we have a poor reputation that has been hard-earned by many who like to use the Bible as a bludgeon against others, rather than a source of knowledge as a guide toward a better relationship with Christ. He was pleading, in very diplomatic terms, for people to stop repelling people with stupidity. Prejudice toward Christians is not problematic because of what others think of us; only God's judgment matters. The prejudice is problematic because it deters those people from ever opening their hearts and minds (COIN reference!) to Jesus. Much of the disdain for Christians is borne of irritation at obnoxious behavior that is justified with self-righteousness. People behave rudely and stupidly and then, out of pride, defend their behavior by an appeal to authority and attack others by asserting others' failures to abide by God's law. Pot, meet kettle.
The
recent revelation (I couldn't resist) that Trijicon prints shorthand notation for biblical references on their optic sights has caused a bit of a stir because it can feed the suspicion in the Mideast that our Soldiers are Crusaders (see also comments
here and
here). This, in turn, can undermine the mission that our military was sent to accomplish. This seems pretty straightforward to me…
Hebrews 13:17 (NIV)
Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Romans 13:1-2 (NIV)
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
Now, some will ignore this and justify their actions by asserting that they need to raise up the Lord's name at every opportunity and to do the opposite is a sin. Well, no, it's not. It is a sin to deny the Lord. Not spending your every waking moment proselytizing is not a sin. Proselytizing in a manner that directly disobeys and undermines the just and lawful orders of those appointed over you is a sin. When we were invading Iraq, should we have been blasting praise music from speakers, rather than 25mm from our Bushmasters? Should we have been dropping Bibles instead of artillery? Of course not. That would have been stupid because it was not faithful to the mission that we were ordered to execute. Likewise, a manufacturer of optics used almost exclusively in missions in predominantly Muslim locations, where there is suspicion of our motives, should not be "spreading the word" in a way that undermines the mission. In fact, when the manner in which you choose to "spread the word" simply hardens peoples' hearts against hearing your message, then you are achieving through incompetence and recklessness the same effect of denying the Lord.
I can already anticipate the assertions that some will make that blasting praise music and dropping Bibles would have worked great because anything is possible with God. I agree that anything is possible with God. But just because something is possible, that does not make it His will.
It bears repeating. You cannot single-handedly accomplish the mission. But you sure can screw it up.