I haven’t posted much ’cause I’ve been reading and re-reading the comments from Wednesday.
“Sojourner” commented, “…follow the spirit (of the law) in the moment – being a Christian is about whose you are and not about what you do …”
Nancy said, “Not that it is wrong to see what is going on around me, but it is wrong to take my focus off of Jesus, for He is the way, the truth and the life.”
Pastor recommended Romans 8, which I’m reading again.
And I think Ed is siding with the first camp. “I try to make it easier for them to discover Jesus in their world. For when they come to know Christ, their hearts will begin to change, and ultimately their actions.”
I want to know how this all plays out in the U.S. today. Let’s take Prop 8 and homosexuality, since Ed brought it up.
Part of me agrees that the laws of a nation – especially a nation that insists “God bless America” at every turn – should reflect God’s law. Part of me knows that God judges nations as well as individuals. Wicked societies don’t end well when God shows up – and He’s about to show up.
Part of me goes, “I know that people don’t get this right now – that they think I’m some fundamentalist nut, but they don’t know what’s coming. Someday – someday every eye will see and this will all make sense. My wisdom will be justified.”
Then there’s this other part of me that goes, “Ya, but how many people are you turning away from Christ in the meantime?” This other part of me wants to just love people all the way to Jesus where – as Ed pointed out – their hearts will change like mine did. This other part of me wonders if it’s worth it to push off legalizing homosexual marriage a few more years, because in the meantime a generation of people confused about sexuality think we hate them – that the Church hates them, that our God hates them – and they’re hating us back.
And then the first part of me argues that it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict the world of sin. That I don’t save people, etc.
Thoughts?
Ok, so here is my “view”… I guess… on this opinion.
It’s gotta’ be more of a balance… we have to look at the times in the OT. Jeremiah, Isaiah, Elijah, Noah… so on… They took a stand for the things that the people thought were morally acceptable. I mean, Jeremiah was having people trying to kill him all the time. He must have been doing something a bit controversial to stir something like that up, but what he wasn’t doing was preaching a false God, he was a prophet so that’s what he was called to do.
If you take it from a NT perspective you could say that the just, righteous, judge God of the OT was easily portrayed in Revelation but not much in the rest. However, Jesus reached out to these people and had the sinners over to eat with Him. He would tell them where they were steering wrong but He would offer them His love and help them out.
I guess it’s more of a balance… What are you called to? If you know your calling is to be a warrior of prayer than do it, if you know your calling is to be someone that reaches out to love people in more of a direct sense but bringing the Word with than do it. I think that the main thing is to be focused on hearing what God is doing and what He is doing through you.
I just posted a response to your other article so it would be in context….it used my wordpress.com registration which is greenejc for some reason. That’s weird.
I referred to the following passage in Matthew 18:
15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.
16 “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED.
17 “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
My take on it is that Jesus would not have given us a procedure for dealing with sinful brothers if it was His intention to allow sin to remain in the fellowship. Of course, the issue is whether or not we approach the situation from a position of love. If we can’t do that, it’s better to keep our mouth shut.