Become New with John Ortberg 30. Can you be a good person and condemn others?
Mar 9, 2026
A reflection on why condemnation feels so common today and how cultural shifts prize correct opinions over character. A look at historical moral frameworks that valued love and virtue instead of ideology. A critique of polarization, profit-driven contempt, and the moral cost of treating hatred as a virtue. An invitation to seek compassion, forgiveness, and humble trust illustrated by Kierkegaard’s lilies and birds.
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Good Person Defined By Virtue Not Position
- Our culture shifted from judging goodness by love and virtue to judging by ideological positions.
- John Ortberg contrasts Jesus/Aristotle's virtue-centered definition with today's focus on 'holding the right position' on issues.
Ideology Became The New Moral Meter
- Moral status today is often decided by ideological stance on hot-button issues like guns, immigration, and LGBTQ.
- Grace Hammond observed these labels have 'atomic capacities' to mark who is good or evil in American discourse.
Right Beliefs Don't Prove Right Character
- Holding the 'right' ideological position doesn't guarantee moral character or goodness.
- Ortberg cites James 2 and warns you can hold a correct position and still be a bad person; character matters more.
