Hey everyone,
I was talking with someone yesterday whom I thought had a really interesting point.
This person, whom I'll call Karen, knows a woman, whom I'll call Cindy, who professes to be a strong Christian (all names have been changed for the sake of privacy.)
Cindy is always telling other people about her relationship with God, how she's forgiven of her sins, loves the Lord so much, and then tells the other people she knows what they need to be doing in order to have as great of a relationship with the Lord as she has. Sounds wonderful, right?
Except that Cindy is unmarried, living with her boyfriend, and, as Karen said, "I know they're having sex!!! They have kids!!!" (and apparently have no intention of marrying, or at Cindy never talks about it.) Karen herself grew up in church and is well-acquainted with what it takes to know God, but Cindy speaks to her as if she is in a better place with God than Karen is and then tries to tell Karen what she needs to do with her life in order to get right with God.
As you can imagine, Karen is a bit troubled by this.
What do you the rest of you think? And NOT just about this example, but about the general principle itself--if someone is actively and unrepentantly participating in sin and is unwilling to give it up, should they just keep quiet about their faith? After all, the number one thing I hear when I try to invite people to church is: "Christians are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites," which is well-illustrated by the example I just gave.
BUT, if that's the case, wouldn't it disqualify ALL of us to ever speak to anyone about Jesus because we are ALL caught in some sort of habitual sin? It's just that some of us have more public sins than others--what about those of us engaging in things we shouldn't be looking at or thoughts we shouldn't have... some of us are consuming and abusing substances, even if some of them are illegal... some of us are harboring hatred, judgment, and unforgiveness... Obviously, the list of sins is endless, and we are all caught up in something.
The problem is, if perfection is required to be a witness to Christ, NONE of us could ever witness. But at the same time... Should we accept the double standard that it's somehow "ok" to tell people about Jesus if we choose "hidden" sins, but should we then keep quiet about our faith if our sins are on public display?
I was talking with someone yesterday whom I thought had a really interesting point.
This person, whom I'll call Karen, knows a woman, whom I'll call Cindy, who professes to be a strong Christian (all names have been changed for the sake of privacy.)
Cindy is always telling other people about her relationship with God, how she's forgiven of her sins, loves the Lord so much, and then tells the other people she knows what they need to be doing in order to have as great of a relationship with the Lord as she has. Sounds wonderful, right?
Except that Cindy is unmarried, living with her boyfriend, and, as Karen said, "I know they're having sex!!! They have kids!!!" (and apparently have no intention of marrying, or at Cindy never talks about it.) Karen herself grew up in church and is well-acquainted with what it takes to know God, but Cindy speaks to her as if she is in a better place with God than Karen is and then tries to tell Karen what she needs to do with her life in order to get right with God.
As you can imagine, Karen is a bit troubled by this.
What do you the rest of you think? And NOT just about this example, but about the general principle itself--if someone is actively and unrepentantly participating in sin and is unwilling to give it up, should they just keep quiet about their faith? After all, the number one thing I hear when I try to invite people to church is: "Christians are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites," which is well-illustrated by the example I just gave.
BUT, if that's the case, wouldn't it disqualify ALL of us to ever speak to anyone about Jesus because we are ALL caught in some sort of habitual sin? It's just that some of us have more public sins than others--what about those of us engaging in things we shouldn't be looking at or thoughts we shouldn't have... some of us are consuming and abusing substances, even if some of them are illegal... some of us are harboring hatred, judgment, and unforgiveness... Obviously, the list of sins is endless, and we are all caught up in something.
The problem is, if perfection is required to be a witness to Christ, NONE of us could ever witness. But at the same time... Should we accept the double standard that it's somehow "ok" to tell people about Jesus if we choose "hidden" sins, but should we then keep quiet about our faith if our sins are on public display?