THE COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT
by Richard Burkard
To borrow from the comic strip literary genius Snoopy, it was a dark and stormy evening. Severe weather erupted across my area, damaging several homes and businesses in the north side of my city. Giant directional signs above a freeway were ripped down by high winds. About 60 miles south of my city, a tornado took several lives and left a town's only hospital in ruins.
Yet as I worked at a television station on that memorable night, I found myself taking one phone call after another - of complaint. The staff meteorologists were providing continual updates on storm warnings and watches in the middle of a live American Idol "results night" broadcast. For people presumably not in the storm's direct path (but for all I know, perhaps some were), their favorite show was not on the air - and they were angry, some to the point of cursing in my ears.
It reached the point where I asked a few callers if singers in Los Angeles were more important than whether people lived or died in our area from tornadoes. A couple of them actually answered, "$%*& yeah!" To my knowledge, our station only received one e-mail in the following days which apologized for being so upset, after seeing the full extent of storm damage.
Some could say that night reflects the mistaken priorities many people have nowadays, but that's not my point here. These callers were exercising their right to complain to a station with a federal license to "serve the public interest," and they felt their interest wasn't being served. While some callers were reasonable in offering possible compromise ideas for seeing their show while the storm raged, others were nothing short of abusive.
Whether the callers were courteous or not, were these people wrong to phone the station and complain? The issue resurfaced in my mind a few weeks later, when a Pastor quoted Philippians 2:14 during the Spring Holy Day season: "Do everything without complaining or arguing" - or in the King James, "without murmurings and disputings." The verse admittedly convicted me much more than the American Idol fans. I considered the times I've complained under my breath about bosses, neighbors, panhandlers -- and even church ministers.
If Church of God members are intellectually honest with themselves, they should realize their movement is one born out of complaint -- in fact, just as the Protestant Reformation was. Herbert Armstrong concluded the Church of God-Seventh Day was unwilling to accept new truth, so he went a separate way. How many Worldwide Church of God spinoff groups have, well, spun off in a similar way over disagreements of some sort, whether it is doctrine or leadership?
Yet it's a common cliche for Church of God members to answer a "how are you" greeting at a worship service by saying, "I can't complain." They may well base this comment on the verse we mentioned above. But have you ever stopped to consider what the entire Bible has to say on this matter? This article will do that, based on a study of "complain," "murmur" and related words.
Moses vs. The People
While it's probably fair to say Cain was the first recorded human complainer in Scripture (Gen. 4:9-14), that sort of word first appears after Israel comes out of Egypt. "So the people grumbled (KJV murmured) against Moses, saying, 'What are we to drink?'" (Ex. 15:24) Moses appealed to God, and He provided an answer. But new complaints emerged from the people in Exodus 16 and 17 - not long after Israel received deliverance at the Red Sea.
Did the complaints get results? Through God, they did. He appeared in glory and said, "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites.... At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread." (Ex. 16:11-12) Note in this case, Israel was not punished for complaining - only for disobeying God, by hoarding manna during the week or trying to collect it on the Sabbath (vs. 19-20, 27-29).
So hmmm - could it then be possible then that it's OK to complain to God? My Bible indicates in some cases, the answer is yes.
Consider a grieving woman named Hannah, who had to explain her silent praying to a priest named Eli. "Count not your handmaid for a daughter of Belial," she said. "For out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto." (I Sam. 1:15-16, KJV) Other translations avoid the word complaint, or try to find something better for it. The King James margin has "vexation," the NIV "anguish" - and the Contemporary English Version simply says, "I do feel miserable."
Other familiar Old Testament names come to mind when it comes to complaining. Job actually accused God of adding to "my complaint" with dreams and visions (Job 7:13-14). David admitted complaining to God during difficult times (Psm. 142:1-2; 55:1-2). Jonah vented about Nineveh's repentance and God's mercy (Jnh. 4:1-3, 9). And my thesaurus indicates one synonym for complaining can be "lament" - as in the Biblical book of Lamentations.
We can't really say any of these men were punished for complaining. But at other times in the Old Testament, complaining annoyed God - and that's not exactly something a human should do. "All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron," Numbers 14:2 says. Trouble was, God took it personally: "How long will this wicked community grumble against me?.... In this desert your bodies will fall -- every one of you 20 years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me." (vs. 27, 29)
The complaining actually began before this, with death by fire in chapter 11. Yet the anti-Moses murmuring resurfaced not long after that, and the rebellion of Korah ended with more than 14,000 people dead (Num. 16: 11, 41; I Cor. 10:10). God eventually said Aaron's budding rod was designed "as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die." (Num. 17:10; see also verse 5)
Tell It To Jesus?
Move on to the New Testament, and you'll find Jesus came face-to-face with complainers. "Stop grumbling among yourselves," He told a group of Jews when they didn't grasp His statement about coming down from heaven (Jhn. 6:41-43).
The King James says "murmur not." Yet murmur people did, at other things they saw in and around Christ's life:
* The woman anointing His head with expensive perfume - which didn't bother Jesus at all (Mk. 14:3-6).
* Jesus and His disciples visiting and dining with tax collectors and "sinners" (Lk. 5:30, 15:2, 19:7).
* Even the disciples disputed ("argued" in NIV) over which one was the greatest (Mk. 9:33-34).
Yet look at the example Jesus set, at an emotional moment in the Gospels: "....he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.... Jesus therefore again groaning in himself came to the grave." (John 11:33, 38, KJV) Christ was surrounded by people mourning the death of Lazarus, only moments before Christ would resurrect him through God's intervention. Yet here our Savior did something which Strong's Exhaustive Concordance says can mean "to have indignation on.... murmur against."
No "right-thinking Christian" would dare say that Jesus was terribly upset (as CEV translates it) with His Father at a time like this. So Church of God groups have tended to say He was groaning about the lack of faith in the crowd. After all, Lazarus came out with new life (vs. 43-44). But it leaves a question: does this explanation minimize the humanity Jesus had while on earth?
There's one point in Jesus's earthly ministry where some people actually seem to murmur in a positive way. It's also in the book of John: "Many of the people believed on him, and said, 'When Christ comes, will he do more miracles than these which this man has done?' The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him...." (Jhn. 7:31-32, KJV) This murmur is described as a whisper by NIV and "muttering" by NASB. While some in the group seemed to doubt Jesus's messiahship (v. 12), others made statements of faith about Jesus - though the emphasis seemed to be more on a future appearance.
N.T. T.N.T.
Complaints also came up in the shadow of Christ's resurrection, as the New Testament church was forming: "the Grecian Jews complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food." (Acts 6:1) We're left to conclude from the wording that there were ethnic factions struggling at times to get along -- just as Pharisees and Sadducees disputed doctrinal matters (23:7-10).
Paul had moments of tension on several occasions after his conversion. He disputed with the Jews directly (Acts 9:29, 19:8), and even with God-fearing Greeks (17:17). So it was no wonder that some Jews brought up their own complaints in court, seeking to have Paul killed (25:7).
But the best-known moment of complaint involving Paul probably involves his going after fellow apostle Peter. "I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong," Paul writes in Galatians 2:11. Peter tended to cling to Jews (presumably in the church), and Paul considered that hypocritical. To defend "the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all... How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?" (v. 14)
Paul seems to give Peter a "dressing-down" in a different way from the "going to your brother" approach Jesus outlines in Matthew 18.15-17 - although for all we know, Paul may already have taken the first two steps in that process. (It's tempting to suggest from II Peter 3:15-16 that Peter might not have completely gotten the message.)
This relates to perhaps the biggest dispute the early church (and even the Churches of God in recent years) faced - the issues of Acts 15. The demand of some for circumcision of new converts "brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them." (v. 2) Even after apostles and elders came together to settle the matter, "there had been much disputing...." (v. 6-7, KJV) It's quite revealing to see that even at top levels of the church, there can be disputes and complaints about things.
But note what else Paul recommends, after disputes break out and hopefully are resolved. "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." (Gal. 3:13) Other apostles indicate long-term grumblers risk the judgment of Jesus (Jms. 5:9) - and might be found to be godless (Jude 4, 16).
Summary
It's easy for Christians to conclude that complaints and disputes have their origins in the devil -- and the Bible offers evidence of that in Jude 9, with a dispute about the body of Moses. But what conclusions can we draw about complaining at a human level, based on the Bible? Here's what comes across to me:
1. God can take complaints against His leaders and servants personally -- but He also accepts complaints at times, if they will help bring godly results (Isa. 29:24).
2. Complaining can lead to disobedience and rebellion (Deut. 1:26-27; Psm. 106:25-26) -- but it can also lead to mighty works of God.
3. While some people quarrel and dispute to promote false doctrines (I Tim. 6:3-5), sometimes a complaint rooted in God's word can lead to truth.
4. Once a complaint is out in the open, it should be settled quickly. As that complainer Paul wrote: "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor.... be put away from you, with all malice." (Eph. 4:31, KJV)
Isn't it fascinating to realize that the Paul we quoted in the beginning for being against "complaining or arguing" engaged in it himself -- even in his dealings with fellow Christians? But it seems he knew how to keep things under control, and within limits.
I write this shortly after seeing video of a fistfight between groups of Buddhist monks, outside a temple in Cambodia. May you have the wisdom to exercise moderation, when you feel a need to complain. There's NO blanket ban on it from the Bible - as long as you keep our points in mind, and "disagree without being disagreeable."
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© 2007 Richard Burkard, All Rights Reserved.