Today, I ruffled a few feathers, albeit unintentionally. What did I do? I believe I told the truth. I established a model to demonstrate that the Bible's inerrancy serves as a model for us in dealing with issues. How so?
John the apostle states the purpose of his epistle was so that those who read it would not sin (1 John 2:1a).
That is the easy part. Don't sin. That is the part we love to harp on. Yet the Bible tells us another part as well, that we fail miserably.
So then John states that even though we should not sin, he knows that we will sometimes choose to sin, and therefore, there is forgiveness and reconciliation to be found in Christ (1 John 2:1b).
That's the hard part. It seems to me that whenever young people get "caught" at doing something that, in all painful honesty, most of us did as well, we jump on the hypocrite wagon and the shame begins. Furthermore, we never take any blame for not encouraging these young people to use any protection.
The popular view is that if we mention the need for contraception, we are somehow flaming liberals who have forsaken the right way. However, the Bible is painfully truthful in all that it says about every subject it speaks of. Information DOES NOT equal advocation. For example, the Bible tells us that David had sex with another man's wife, and then had him murdered. The Bible could have left that out, but it didn't. The Bible tells the truth about everything it speaks of. It is there for not only our example, but for our encouragement. Is this information about David reliable? Yes. Yet, does the Bible advocate David's behavior? No, of course not. Then information does not equal advocation. The Bible tells us not to sin, but realizes that we will. Why do we pretend that the line between acceptable behavior and sin is somehow unreachable? Our advice to teens is to "stay away from the line." Yet, even we ourselves don't always do that. So then, we stand in front of the youth group, or church, and pretend that we never sin, we never mess up. We go on about theories of sanctification that we ourselves cannot live up to.
I'm not excusing sin by any means. But I think we need to be HONEST about it. Have I done things since I was saved that are downright shameful? Yes I have. If you are honest, you have too. So then why do we wait until someone crosses that line to deal with it? Why do we wait until girls get pregnant to then tell them what all they did wrong! That's backwards to all logic!
EXAMPLE 1: Alcohol
Now I understand that Baptists, Holiness, and Pentecostals believe in abstinence when it comes to alcohol. I do not use it myself. Does that bit of information mean I'm endorsing alcohol? No. Information does not equal advocation. However, the fact is that the majority of the traditional church does not view alcohol as sin when taken in moderation.
The Bible does view as sin, drunkenness. Most Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Wesleyans and Reformed churches would agree that alcohol in moderation isn't sinful, while drunkenness is. What do we do when that line is crossed? We tell folks that they can repent and have their consciences cleared with God, that Jesus is their advocate, and their sin is gone.
STUPIDITY: Now what else can we gather from the Bible. Just because we fall short, doesn't mean we have to be stupid. So then, if a Methodist has "one too many", that doesn't mean that he should now be stupid and grab his keys and go driving!
Can we teach abstinence from alcohol, and still encourage young people not to drink and drive? If we're honest as the Bible is about things, the answer is a resounding YES. The problem is that we assume that everyone in our youth group is regenerated, which is stupid in and of itself, and thus, we need not worry about them drinking and driving because they paid so much attention to our sermon, they would never do that! As silly as that may sound, believe it or not, I know parents who actually think like that: "My Johnny would never smoke a joint!" Hello! Are you sane?
Example 2: TEENAGE SEX: The same principle applies in the area of teenage sex. We have no problem saying "Don't do it! Don't do it!" We use fear tactics (The Rapture will happen right at that moment, and you will be left here to have your head cut off!), and shame (God will absolutely forsake you and cast you into the bowels of hell because you did something wrong!") Of course, I'm exaggerating. I'm just tired of the blatant, blatant hypocrisy.
Why can't we just tell them the truth? i.e. "Look, am I going to stand up here and say that I haven't done wrong even since I've been saved? No. Is that an excuse? No, but it's the truth."
And then why can't we tell them that just because we mess up, we don't have to be stupid? i.e. "Look, are some of you, many of you going to fail? Yes. Do you have to be stupid? No. Don't drink and drive." and "Am I going to tell you that all the adults in this room were sexually pure before marriage? I would if I wanted to lie to you, but I'm going to tell you the TRUTH. The truth is No, they weren't. Is that an excuse? No. Is that the truth? Yes. But that doesn't mean you all have to be STUPID! Venereal disease and pregnancy don't discriminate! Saved, unsaved, they don't discriminate. Just because we mess up, doesn't mean we have to be stupid."
Some people will bash my character because they know they don't have any better solutions, other than to repeat the NON-EFFECTIVE methods of our parents. The same ones who scream about trusting kids to do the right thing, and (some versions) of sanctification, when asked, admit to the SAME moral failures I am speaking about. Yet, they choose to ignore reality and continue to propagate ignorance.
Young people need to know the wages of sin is death. Always has been, always will be. Yet, young people also need to know their is forgiveness and restoration in Jesus Christ. Young people also need to know that failure doesn't have to mean stupidity, and that for $0.75 they could have avoided that pregnancy or disease that they are now stuck with for the rest of their lives. How about some painful honesty?
Robert, we agree on too many points to mention here! I would just make one point in addition to what you said, which speaks to HOW we can let go of the Judgment. We are suppose to be CHRISTians, meaning Christ like. When He left us, He gave us 2 things to do. 1 to love God, and 2 to love each other (as we love ourselves). When we are coming from a place where we know our worth according to God - we know how much we are loved, and how often, we ourselves need to be forgiven. It makes it easy to love and forgive each other. When we loose touch of our worth -- and forget how much we are loved and forgiven --- we don't think much of ourselves. That is then projected at others..... if we don't think that we are forgiven, then often we try to point out others faults to make ourselves look and feel better in our own eyes (Judgement).
ReplyDeleteThere are times we don't sin, because we are too afraid of the consequence. That was the "law mentality". Self control through Fear. What God offered thru Jesus was the ability to find a way to not want to sin because we know how much He loves us (and we love Him back)and so we do not want to hurt Him!!! Self control because of Love!!
Besides, who really needs to be told what they are doing "wrong"! That is the Holy Spirit's Job. God had the job of Judge and Jury. Jesus left us with the job of Lover.
When you love someone, you are honest with them. Honest about your own faults and theirs. If done respectfully -- honesty can be a bonding experience. Once someone sees you naked physically, spiritually, and emotionally, and does not reject you, or make fun of you, then there is a forever bond. We are suppose to share that with our spouse. And we are suppose to share that (to certain appropriate degrees) with each other!
There are already too many people, places, and groups that judge. What the lost world is looking for is a place to be loved and accepted, what christian brothers and sisters are looking for is a place to be loved and accepted. That's why we do need to be HONEST, and to do the Job assigned to us -- Love! And to trust that God (Judge & Jury) and the Holy Spirit (Bringer of Conviction) will do theirs!!!!!
Love ya' - I'm thru preachin' now! Sandra
This has been on my mind for several days now. I finally got a minute to sit down and type it out. I had the opportunity to meet a guy by the name of Robert a few years ago, not the famous Robert Mackey, which I do count as being very blessed to know and has inspired me to write this little note.
ReplyDeleteThis Robert did some work for me a few years ago, and I got to know him a little bit. For some odd reason, I have had many opportunities in my life to meet such people as him. He is what I what I would consider very radical, in his beliefs, or very extreme. Probably one of the most conservative men that I have ever met. I have met a few. They really intrigue me; a lot. I'm not real sure what you would call their doctrine, but they are what a lot of people call "weirdoes". They don't have a TV in their house, or computer with internet. He does have about 12 kids, that are the most polite, respectful kids that I have ever been around. It makes me go hum. There are a few things in life that make me go, hum!
This is one of many subjects that make me go hum, for about 15 years now. I often feel that I need to do a better job of managing what goes into my kiddos little minds. I feel that we as a society have become very desensitized to what comes through the air waves into our homes. So after much reflection, my position would be that our kids need less education rather than more!
Tony