T
Hello sisters and brothers.
There has been some friendly debate from time to time on this and other threads, and I am glad to say that for the most part, most of us can respect and love each other as siblings in Christ even when we may not agree or see eye-to-eye on a particular issue. Discussions like this help me to understand others, and often bring me closer in love to those with whom I disagree; I know a lot of people don't like debate, but when it is kept friendly and loving, as it usually is in these boards, I like it a lot.
So this is in that vein, and I hope it sparks much good discussion, where we can all learn from each other.
It seems to me that there are differences of understanding and/or opinion regarding the thread title. On the one hand, the Old Testament Prophets were speaking to communities, not individuals; telling an entire city or sometimes the whole nation to repent. There are very few instances in the Old Testament where a prophet confronts an individual for his or her sin (Samuel confronting David), and just a handful in the New Testament (Jesus and the woman caught in adultery, who has no name). More often, it's the sin of the whole city which condemns it (Sodom and Gomorrah, Nineveh, Judah and Israel in the OT, Paul speaking to entire churches in the NT).
Many of us scoff and/or are quick to draw a distance when a church leader says something like, "The 9/11 attacks are God's punishment on the US for our sinfulness." But I wonder if there may not be some truth to that. Is it possible that our sinful behavior, as a nation, have indeed led to the Arab world's hatred of us, which is what caused those attacks?
There seems to be a lot of discussion in a lot of churches about specific sins. This particular sexual act or stealing that particular item. Some Christians seem to think it's important to declare specific sins, and to call each other accountable to these specific acts as individuals. In reading what Jesus said about sin, I'm not convinced that's quite the right way of looking at it. "Whenever you look at a woman with lust, you are committing adultery," he said.
In one way, paying taxes to a government that routinely murders innocent civilians in a war is no better than murder, so any American who has ever paid taxes or had taxes withheld from his or her wages has committed murder. On the other hand, NOT paying taxes means you are stealing from important social programs that help feed the poor, educate children, care for the sick: the most vulnerable people in society. So if you HAVEN"T paid taxes, you are a thief of the worst kind, robbing the poor. As they say, damned if you do, damned if you don't.
This is why I say that what we do as a community is so much more important than what we do as individuals. We already know that we are justified by faith through grace. If God were to judge us based on what we do, we are already damned. It is only through the cross of Christ Jesus, our Savior, that we have any salvation at all. So what ***I*** do cannot possibly matter to God. If it does matter, I'm damned. Therefore, I have to believe that it doesn't matter.
But it does matter... to my neighbor. What I do will never be the difference between heaven and hell for me, but it very well could be the difference between life and death for my neighbor.
It could be the difference between a full and empty stomach for someone.
It could be the difference between someone ending his life because he is not getting the medication he needs, or growing into the full Human Being God wants him to be.
It could be the difference between becoming a prostitute, because that's the only option a young girl feels she has, or getting an education and a career.
As a society, we have the ability to change lives, or we can close our hearts, and say it's all up to individual choices. I do not believe that God will judge any one of us based on how we vote or on what we personally believe, politically. But I do believe that the outcome of our society is directly related to how we treat the "least" of those among us. If you don't believe in God, you'd call it fate or karma.
If you do believe in God, I think you'd call it God's punishment on His people, for how we, as a society, treat others.
There has been some friendly debate from time to time on this and other threads, and I am glad to say that for the most part, most of us can respect and love each other as siblings in Christ even when we may not agree or see eye-to-eye on a particular issue. Discussions like this help me to understand others, and often bring me closer in love to those with whom I disagree; I know a lot of people don't like debate, but when it is kept friendly and loving, as it usually is in these boards, I like it a lot.
So this is in that vein, and I hope it sparks much good discussion, where we can all learn from each other.
It seems to me that there are differences of understanding and/or opinion regarding the thread title. On the one hand, the Old Testament Prophets were speaking to communities, not individuals; telling an entire city or sometimes the whole nation to repent. There are very few instances in the Old Testament where a prophet confronts an individual for his or her sin (Samuel confronting David), and just a handful in the New Testament (Jesus and the woman caught in adultery, who has no name). More often, it's the sin of the whole city which condemns it (Sodom and Gomorrah, Nineveh, Judah and Israel in the OT, Paul speaking to entire churches in the NT).
Many of us scoff and/or are quick to draw a distance when a church leader says something like, "The 9/11 attacks are God's punishment on the US for our sinfulness." But I wonder if there may not be some truth to that. Is it possible that our sinful behavior, as a nation, have indeed led to the Arab world's hatred of us, which is what caused those attacks?
There seems to be a lot of discussion in a lot of churches about specific sins. This particular sexual act or stealing that particular item. Some Christians seem to think it's important to declare specific sins, and to call each other accountable to these specific acts as individuals. In reading what Jesus said about sin, I'm not convinced that's quite the right way of looking at it. "Whenever you look at a woman with lust, you are committing adultery," he said.
In one way, paying taxes to a government that routinely murders innocent civilians in a war is no better than murder, so any American who has ever paid taxes or had taxes withheld from his or her wages has committed murder. On the other hand, NOT paying taxes means you are stealing from important social programs that help feed the poor, educate children, care for the sick: the most vulnerable people in society. So if you HAVEN"T paid taxes, you are a thief of the worst kind, robbing the poor. As they say, damned if you do, damned if you don't.
This is why I say that what we do as a community is so much more important than what we do as individuals. We already know that we are justified by faith through grace. If God were to judge us based on what we do, we are already damned. It is only through the cross of Christ Jesus, our Savior, that we have any salvation at all. So what ***I*** do cannot possibly matter to God. If it does matter, I'm damned. Therefore, I have to believe that it doesn't matter.
But it does matter... to my neighbor. What I do will never be the difference between heaven and hell for me, but it very well could be the difference between life and death for my neighbor.
It could be the difference between a full and empty stomach for someone.
It could be the difference between someone ending his life because he is not getting the medication he needs, or growing into the full Human Being God wants him to be.
It could be the difference between becoming a prostitute, because that's the only option a young girl feels she has, or getting an education and a career.
As a society, we have the ability to change lives, or we can close our hearts, and say it's all up to individual choices. I do not believe that God will judge any one of us based on how we vote or on what we personally believe, politically. But I do believe that the outcome of our society is directly related to how we treat the "least" of those among us. If you don't believe in God, you'd call it fate or karma.
If you do believe in God, I think you'd call it God's punishment on His people, for how we, as a society, treat others.