[FYI #1 - My GENday is Sept. 19th. When is YOURS?]
[FYI #2 - Be sure to be REGISTERED TO VOTE. To get details in doing that in your state, go to > http://www.cbn.com/special/register-to-vote/ For a review of the critical issues to consider in your voting, please go to > http://www.truthinaction.org/PDF/Final_Voters_Guide.pdf
ALSO, BEGIN PRAYING FOR THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS; Download a free prayer guide at > http://www.prayerconnect.net/resources/prayer-guides/2012-election-prayer-guide]
[NOTE: As usual on Sundays, please try to catch this week's broadcast of "Truth That Transforms" (In Central Florida, 9-9:30 am, 10-10:30 am, 5-5:30 pm; check your TV listings)or watch it at www.truthinaction.org. This week's message is entitled "The Importance of Marriage" and includes a feature entitled "Choosing Godly Leaders." - Stan]
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(The following is PART 2; PART 1 is in previous post #295) - By: Regis Nicoll|, Breakpoint.org, July 13 // www.breakpoint.org/features-columns/breakpoint-columns/entry/2/19829
Judging vs. condemning
In the Pharisaical sting operation that nearly led to the stoning of an adulteress, neither the morality of her deed nor the mob’s authority to judge it were at issue. The woman had sinned, plain and simple, a fact acknowledged by Jesus in his parting instruction: “leave your life of sin.” Had the moral police done likewise, pointing the woman to the path to life, this biblical vignette might never have been recorded. Instead, they condemned her to death, and Jesus called into question their license to do so. Their response -- laying down their stones and walking away – was a reluctant acknowledgement that neither they nor anyone has the authority to condemn.
Condemnation requires more than just knowing when a moral standard has been breached; it requires knowing what is in a person’s mind (what did they know about the standard) and heart (what was their intent), places that no one has access to but God. And although those places were open to Jesus, even He didn’t see fit to condemn the sinful woman.
On the other hand, anyone can judge the morality of an act, knowing only the applicable standard. Applying God’s word, acts that are immoral at all times and circumstances include adultery, murder, slander, idolatry, and fornication (which, contrary to the moral lights of Carrie Underwood, includes same-sex couplings, committed or otherwise).
A Facebooker who was pleased with Underwood’s endorsement made a move -- straight from the social liberals’ playbook -- to silence moral objections by associating opposing viewpoints with hypocrisy. After duly lecturing Christians about sin in the camp, he trotted out Matthew 7:3 (“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”).
While it is all too true that heterosexual sin is a problem in the church, the moral state of the pew and pulpit has no bearing on the morality of homosexualism and the novel institutions it promotes, or of any other practice for that matter.What’s more, contrary to popular proof-texts, Jesus never said that one sinner can’t or shouldn’t judge the actions of another. Instead, in the context of Matthew chapter 7, Jesus teaches that we should be attentive to our own “specks,” so that we can “see clearly” (that is, discern readily and rightly) the specks of others and help with the removal process.
People who decline to do so -- particularly, who-am-I-to-judge Christians -- have much to answer for the moral pathologies of the church that they are quick to, uh, judge.They are like the village physician whose patients are dying off, one by one, for his failure to check for life-threatening conditions he finds too uncomfortable to tell them about or treat. Or the mom whose child has become a tyrant because of momma’s fear that a “no” landing on her budding prodigy’s delicate ears would damage the sense of exceptionalness that she has worked so hard to nurture.
Loving my brother
Love seeks the supreme good for others. Above all, love desires them to become the persons they were created to be: children of God, being transformed in the image of the Son, and enjoying unbroken fellowship with the Son and Father through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Love means that I am my brother’s keeper, with the duty to observe, question, challenge, and, yes, judge his actions -- not to condemn, but to guide, coach and encourage toward life abundant. To do otherwise is not love but indifference or cowardice.
Carrie Underwood was right: “Above all, God wanted us to love others.” However, we love others not by never having to say they’re sinning, but by helping them with their “specks” and allowing them to help us with ours.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Regis Nicoll is a freelance writer and a BreakPoint Centurion. Serving as a men’s ministry leader and worldview teacher in his community, Regis publishes a free weekly commentary to stimulate thought on current issues from a Christian perspective. To be placed on this free e-mail distribution list, e-mail him at centurion51@aol.com.
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