Sunday, June 28, 2015
Courage or Compromise
It's one thing to be a narrow-minded, self-righteous delusionary and quite another to be a coward. To be clear, I cannot support compromise in theology. The minute we try and "water down" the Bible to make it acceptable to the world, we have lost our witness, our testimony, our "light"!
There are reports of Christians, so-called Christians who are nothing but vile hypocrites, who make racist, completely bigoteous, or statements and who are so repulsive to the world that many turn away from God altogether. Such people are those who are concerned and obsessed with being "right", in drawing lines and closing themselves in from all the pollution and corruption in the world, but whose doctrines are poison and whose gods are themselves.
On the other hand, there are so-called Christians who cannot be distinguished from the world altogether, who think the Bible must reflect the changing times and who think it is their place to "accept" and "celebrate" what God calls abominations and wickedness, who rewrite the Bible under the slightest of pressure so that they may be lauded by men.
It all boils down to two things - do we love God and love our neighbour, even when those two commandments are in seeming opposition?
I'd completely recommend the following article:
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/in-the-line-of-fire/read/articles/what-do-we-do-when-loving-god-conflicts-with-loving-our-neighbor-16316.html
Unless we struggle with the issues ourselves, unless we are confronted by conflict, our words are empty. We must overcome these struggles so that we walk can in the grace, mercy and love of God and yet not compromise even a foothold to worldly deception.
For Judgment Begins in the House of God
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
(1Pe 4:17-18 KJV)
I'm not saying that the world won't be judged, but I've been reading many articles of Christian after Christian condemning the world, which is odd, to say the least. "God will judge society for allowing such-and-such a perverse, immoral practice," they say, but we forget that sin in the why is precisely why the gospel is needed, and, furthermore, it what is far more abhorent is the corruption, greed, immorality and licentiousness in the church.
1) Jesus told us to look at the planks in our eyes before pointing out the speck in others' eyes.
2) Paul said that we do not judge those who are outside, but those who are inside (believers).
Yes, it's to easy to point out everything that's wrong with the world. We should, however, be quicker to examine ourselves.
It is no point being shocked at "sin" and "degeneration". It is no point taking the moral highground.
3) Jesus said He did not come to condemn the world.
We don't need to say, "Society is doomed", because it is. We don't even need the Bible to condemn the world, as its standards are already clear. People do not need us to feel "judged", we are all judged self-condemned because of our sins. We don't need to preach the law in a sense, for the law and our consciences are innate in nature and human nature.
If anything, it should be clearer than anything that we are be lights in the world. We don't need to point out that the world is sinful and unsaved and dark, but we need to make sure that we are witnesses.
I would point out that Christians are in general so quick to impose their standards on society, but are reluctant (read: self-preserving) when it comes to condemning sin in Christian leaders, especially leaders they idolize.
We aren't supposed to be perfect, in a way, to cultivate a perfect church in which the impure and imperfect cannot enter. Jesus, after all, attracted the most sinful in society, the most condemned, not the righteous.
In fact, the way our Messiah came was through an unwed, virgin mother, a "smack-in-the-face" of the godly, the conservative, the "righteous". Jesus said that the sick need a doctor, the sinful need forgiveness, etc. etc.
The new developments in the definition of marriage should teach us that WE as disciples of Jesus need to (more than ever before, perhaps) uphold amongst ourselves the sanctity of Biblical message. We shouldn't be shocked by the polygamy, adultery, fornication, licentiousness and sodomy of the world. We are all capable of the same sin because we all have the same tendencies and the same sinful nature. We shouldn't fight to make the world "Christian", but should strive to be lights in the darkness, the salt of the earth.
After all, judgment begins in the House of God. We must live by the Word if we indeed want to judge the world by it! How can we overcome challenges and live peaceful and godly lives? How can we cease from immorality. After all, the same God who abhors immorality abhors divorce, fornication, lies, hypocrisy, etc.
More than ever before, we need to realize that humanity needs Jesus, salvation, and everything he has done for us.
More than anything, we need to love God with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves. This includes loving those who do not "deserve" it. How many of us can love prostitutes, tax collectors, even religious Pharisees the way Jesus did, and how many of us would lay down our lives for them? How many of us would carry our cross? That is the question.
(1Pe 4:17-18 KJV)
I'm not saying that the world won't be judged, but I've been reading many articles of Christian after Christian condemning the world, which is odd, to say the least. "God will judge society for allowing such-and-such a perverse, immoral practice," they say, but we forget that sin in the why is precisely why the gospel is needed, and, furthermore, it what is far more abhorent is the corruption, greed, immorality and licentiousness in the church.
1) Jesus told us to look at the planks in our eyes before pointing out the speck in others' eyes.
2) Paul said that we do not judge those who are outside, but those who are inside (believers).
Yes, it's to easy to point out everything that's wrong with the world. We should, however, be quicker to examine ourselves.
It is no point being shocked at "sin" and "degeneration". It is no point taking the moral highground.
3) Jesus said He did not come to condemn the world.
We don't need to say, "Society is doomed", because it is. We don't even need the Bible to condemn the world, as its standards are already clear. People do not need us to feel "judged", we are all judged self-condemned because of our sins. We don't need to preach the law in a sense, for the law and our consciences are innate in nature and human nature.
If anything, it should be clearer than anything that we are be lights in the world. We don't need to point out that the world is sinful and unsaved and dark, but we need to make sure that we are witnesses.
I would point out that Christians are in general so quick to impose their standards on society, but are reluctant (read: self-preserving) when it comes to condemning sin in Christian leaders, especially leaders they idolize.
We aren't supposed to be perfect, in a way, to cultivate a perfect church in which the impure and imperfect cannot enter. Jesus, after all, attracted the most sinful in society, the most condemned, not the righteous.
In fact, the way our Messiah came was through an unwed, virgin mother, a "smack-in-the-face" of the godly, the conservative, the "righteous". Jesus said that the sick need a doctor, the sinful need forgiveness, etc. etc.
The new developments in the definition of marriage should teach us that WE as disciples of Jesus need to (more than ever before, perhaps) uphold amongst ourselves the sanctity of Biblical message. We shouldn't be shocked by the polygamy, adultery, fornication, licentiousness and sodomy of the world. We are all capable of the same sin because we all have the same tendencies and the same sinful nature. We shouldn't fight to make the world "Christian", but should strive to be lights in the darkness, the salt of the earth.
After all, judgment begins in the House of God. We must live by the Word if we indeed want to judge the world by it! How can we overcome challenges and live peaceful and godly lives? How can we cease from immorality. After all, the same God who abhors immorality abhors divorce, fornication, lies, hypocrisy, etc.
More than ever before, we need to realize that humanity needs Jesus, salvation, and everything he has done for us.
More than anything, we need to love God with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves. This includes loving those who do not "deserve" it. How many of us can love prostitutes, tax collectors, even religious Pharisees the way Jesus did, and how many of us would lay down our lives for them? How many of us would carry our cross? That is the question.
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