Go Easy on Them?

There are a few passages of Scripture which might seem to be at odds against each other, as for example:

First Kings 12:6 Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, "How do you advise me to answer this people?"
7 And they said to him, "If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever."
8 But he rejected the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.
9 And he said to them, "What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, 'Lighten the yoke that your father put upon us'?"
10 And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, "Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but do you lighten it for us'; thus shall you say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's loins.
11 And now, whereas my father laid upon you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.'"
12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, "Come to me again the third day."
13 And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel which the old men had given him,
14 he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."
15 So the king did not respond positively to the people; for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that He might fulfill His word, which the LORD spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
16 And when all Israel saw that the king did not go easy on them, the people answered the king, "What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel! Look now to your own house, David." So Israel left for their tents.

Contrast that with:

Job 5:17 Hey, happy is the man whom God reproves; therefore despise not the chastening of the Almighty.
Proverbs 3:11 My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline or be weary of his reproof

10:17 He who heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof goes astray.
12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.
13:18 Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but he who heeds reproof is honored.
15:10 There is severe discipline for him who forsakes the way; he who hates reproof will die.
23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
23:14 If you beat him with the rod you will save his life from Sheol.
27:5 Better is open rebuke than hidden love.
29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

Second Timothy 3:16 All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness

Hebrews 12:11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

See if the following premise lines up with how Jesus reacted to and communicated with people:

You know, no one is perfect. It's better to be positive than negative. Why criticize people needlessly? Most often it's not that big of a deal if they choose to do their own unique and special thing. If you tell them off, they will neither attend your church anymore nor give anything into the offering plates. You might even get into trouble with government statutes and restrictions, and maybe even become liable in lawsuits for illegal intimidation and inciting suicidal depression.
Instead, God's ambassador should always be complimentary, courteous, polite, respectful, and patronizing - reflecting Jesus who created the humans He loved so much that He died for and because of them as He was never rude, judgmental, abrasive, condemnatory, mean-spirited or hateful, nor violent.
No one who truly is a Christian and has experienced the grace of God is confrontationally intolerant with anyone, and no true Christian believer would like anyone to be harsh against them. Why impatiently drive them away? They might eventually come around and become saved. The love of God should be always be evident in dealing with people in words and behavior, even when thinking about giving what seems to you to be helpful suggestions or probably differing opinions, so they are not offended.


Now, here is what the Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples actually said to people:

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8 Bear fruit that befits repentance,
9 and do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Matthew 4:4 But He answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
7 Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"
10 Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! for it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'"

Matthew 5:48 You (not simply "Christ in you"), therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 7:3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
6 "Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you.
11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and throw out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'
23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.'

Matthew 8:21 Another of the disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."
22 But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."
24 And hey, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but He was asleep.
25 And they went and woke Him, saying, "Save, Lord; we are perishing."
26 And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, men of little faith?" Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

Matthew 9:4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?

Matthew 11:16 But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates,
17 'We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.'
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon';
19 the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Hey, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by her works."
20 Then He began to upbraid the cities where most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.
21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
22 But I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.
23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
24 But I tell you that it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you."

Matthew 12:7 And if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.
34 You brood of vipers! how can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you."
39 But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41 The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and hey, something greater than Jonah is here.
42 The queen of the South will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and hey, something greater than Solomon is here.

Matthew 13:13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14 With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says: 'You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive.
15 For this people's heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.'

Matthew 14:3 For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison, for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife;
4 because John said to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her."
31 Jesus immediately reached out His hand and caught him, saying to him, "Man of little faith, why did you doubt?"

Matthew 15:1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,
2 "Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat."
3 He answered them, "And why do you transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
4 For God commanded, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die.'
5 But you say, 'If any one tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is given to God, he need not honor his father.'
6 So, for the sake of your tradition, you have made void the word of God.
7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'"
10 And he called the people to him and said to them, "Hear and understand:
11 not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a human."
12 Then the disciples came and said to Him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?"
13 He answered, "Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.
14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
15 But Peter said to Him, "Explain the parable to us."
16 And he said, "Are you also still without understanding?
17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on?
18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a human.
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication (including homosexuality), theft, false witness, slander.
20 These are what defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man."
21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
22 And hey, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon."
23 But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and begged Him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying after us."

And this is only the first part of the gospel of Matthew. I haven't even quoted the remainder of it. Then there are the entire gospels of Mark and Luke and John . . . not to mention other books of the New Testament such as the often scathing epistles of Paul, Peter and John.

So how would you like to be around the real Jesus? All that from a mis-portrayed effeminately-mopheaded "Jesus" wimpishly carrying a lamb on His shoulder somewhere out in a field? Would you find Him pleasant, according to what you read above? And who knows if He is going to change for those who continue on eternally with Him in the afterlife?

Notice how generally complimentary and easy going Jesus was in His discourse with people - and (sarcastically-speaking) notice that the sun rises in the west each morning.