Soverign Grace
Well-Known Member
I think you're trying to defend sin. That man isn't on here teaching false doctrine. My guess is that he's being attacked. Someone could judge you and say you have the spirit of antichrist because you come on a Christian forum and act cruel. Christ was never cruel and we're supposed to be conformed to His image. And just because you have another endorsing your sin doesn't make it any less of a sin. That's a trick I've seen people use in several churches. Even Jim Jones had his endorsers.
Who are we that we presume to appoint ourselves the judge of this man? There is a difference when someone is trying to teach or spread false doctrine, and when someone is just confused. I already told you how badly I was confused. There are a lot of bad teachers and I was mixed up by them - but that didn't make me a non-Christian.
I think we have to be very careful before we point the finger. Sometimes real Christians may not sound like one, and those who appear as an angel of light can look and sound pleasing to the eye and ear.
We went to one church where there was a lot of raucousness there. Our daughter was beautiful but her friend had a weight problem. One of the nice church ladies demanded they surrender their seats because the "Sullivans" sat at that table. My daughter told her there were plenty of empty tables around. The church lady - who was quite plump herself - stood there and bellowed: "THIS is where the SULLIVANS SIT, NOW YOU AND YOUR FAT LITTLE FRIEND GET UP AND MOVE!"
My daughter and her friend still refuse to go to church because of what happened there. In fact, the pastor finally had his fill and left and before he did, he invited my husband & I over and told us a lot more about the damage those people did. He told us there are people who won't step foot in a church today because of that family. Can you imagine how different that could have turned out if that woman had acted differently? God eventually judged her and her family - they got into a lot of trouble and their name is mud in the entire area, but it didn't lessen the damage they did to others.
Wouldn't it have been Christlike if someone asked that man if he wanted to talk or just came up beside him and offered to see what was troubling him? Christ was never cruel - even when they came to arrest him; Peter cut off the ear of one of the men who came to arrest him, and he healed it. Trust me - if you haven't experienced it already, there is going to come a time of severe testing when you'll need others to come up beside you and you'll be lucky if there are true people to be found when you're in real need. You don't want people stepping on your fingers when you're trying to grasp the life raft. Have you ever heard of the warped people who stand on the ground and yell for someone to jump who is contemplating it? Can you imagine what God is going to do to them when their time comes?
I have a struggle in this area when someone does something really wrong. But for something that is so inconsequential where this man did no real harm, I can't see crushing him into the ground and then calling ourselves "Christians." That's hypocrisy.
When I went through a family member being hurt in one of the churches we went to it's laughable when I look back to how hypocritical the people were. They set themselves up as little gods in their little kingdoms. I couldn't control them but I could and did control where I donated my money, and I made darn sure they never got another cent. I'm not going to help build someone's little kingdom where they reign as the kings and queens and think they have the right to look down on others. I think of that verse "He who sits in the heavens laughs because He knows their day is coming." The pastor was out in a few years.
It wasn't just them - my day came and so will yours. God isn't going to let us get away with sin. I shared how I cut a friend up who became a Christian. She was troubled too. She had a hard life and then someone attacked her when she was out riding her bike. He choked her and she was able to escape but it had an effect on her and she became a Christian. How God must have sat in Heaven laughing at me when I dissed her. He let me go through the school of suffering and I turned to God too. And suffering changes you. "Blows that wound scour away evil." I knew a young woman who was very pretty but she was a nasty person. I was one of the unwarranted victims of her nastiness. She contracted cancer. I don't want to be presumptuous and say that's why but if there was ever a more hateful person who deserved vengeance it was her.
Sin isn't something we should play with or be casual about. I do look around and wonder why God isn't bringing judgment down on evildoers but we know that Scripture says "judgement begins with the house of God." How powerful we feel when we put another down. Or perhaps we get applause from the crowd for our witty remarks. The games people play. But the pleasure of sin is only for a season.
I think this world is really bad right now and getting worse. I read the news last night and I felt sick to my stomach. Christians need to stick together because this world is rapidly becoming anti-Christian. I think we can disagree while still preserving respect of another. Christ said do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
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