Paul but not THE
Well-known member
- Feb 12, 2021
- 686
- 541
I was going to blow it off, or post it later, but I figured it was a fairly important topic. I was also going to post a comment to an extant post, but I didn't want to bring that one back to the top of the list.
A common complaint I hear is "Why do Christians attack the LGBTQ... community so much? Sin is sin, isn't it?" Yes, BUT, thieves, murderers, even gossips and gluttons aren't trying to make us think those practices are good and right. Another is, "Why fight Muslims so hard? Aren't Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons and Buddhists and... just as bad?" Well, all those others aren't trying to kill us if we don't convert. Then there's how porn and infidelity is such a common issue, and not to beat one's self up over it --just chill, everybody does it; sin's not so bad. So much more.
My son, one day years ago, was cussing up a storm, and he wasn't even angry (not that anger justifies expletives). I called him on it and he suggested, 'I can't help it. That's just the way we talk now. It's normal and natural.' I countered with 'no, it's not 'just the way you talk'! You can turn it off when you're talking with your grandparents. You can turn it off when you're talking with a preacher. You can turn it off when you're talking with your teachers --Don't try to tell me it's just natural.' I remember (or partially remember) a TV network commercial where the '40s style private eye is standing (in black and white) under the streetlight at night in the rain, and he squints/snarls at the camera saying something like, "Turner Classics --where a man doesn't have to cuss to be tough." I want to find that commercial someday on-line (yeah, even if it was Bill Cosby).
There's so much more. As Christians, we're called to be different. We're NOT to blend in with the World --Look at the Old testament! God's chosen people embrace God, then blend with the locals, normalize sin, get punished, embrace God, blend, normalize, get punished, embrace... When Paul said he becomes all things to win people, he didn't mean he becomes a prostitute to win the immoral, or a drunk to win alcoholics. We're different from the World, and our writing should show we're different. Our writing should reflect our values --'Yabbut, that's just the way kids of that culture talk...' NO, when you write it, it's not a slip. It's deliberate.
If you're Christian, be different from the world. We're called to a different standard from worldliness.
A common complaint I hear is "Why do Christians attack the LGBTQ... community so much? Sin is sin, isn't it?" Yes, BUT, thieves, murderers, even gossips and gluttons aren't trying to make us think those practices are good and right. Another is, "Why fight Muslims so hard? Aren't Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons and Buddhists and... just as bad?" Well, all those others aren't trying to kill us if we don't convert. Then there's how porn and infidelity is such a common issue, and not to beat one's self up over it --just chill, everybody does it; sin's not so bad. So much more.
My son, one day years ago, was cussing up a storm, and he wasn't even angry (not that anger justifies expletives). I called him on it and he suggested, 'I can't help it. That's just the way we talk now. It's normal and natural.' I countered with 'no, it's not 'just the way you talk'! You can turn it off when you're talking with your grandparents. You can turn it off when you're talking with a preacher. You can turn it off when you're talking with your teachers --Don't try to tell me it's just natural.' I remember (or partially remember) a TV network commercial where the '40s style private eye is standing (in black and white) under the streetlight at night in the rain, and he squints/snarls at the camera saying something like, "Turner Classics --where a man doesn't have to cuss to be tough." I want to find that commercial someday on-line (yeah, even if it was Bill Cosby).
There's so much more. As Christians, we're called to be different. We're NOT to blend in with the World --Look at the Old testament! God's chosen people embrace God, then blend with the locals, normalize sin, get punished, embrace God, blend, normalize, get punished, embrace... When Paul said he becomes all things to win people, he didn't mean he becomes a prostitute to win the immoral, or a drunk to win alcoholics. We're different from the World, and our writing should show we're different. Our writing should reflect our values --'Yabbut, that's just the way kids of that culture talk...' NO, when you write it, it's not a slip. It's deliberate.
If you're Christian, be different from the world. We're called to a different standard from worldliness.