A letter response to a friend of mine;
I am inspired by the letter below. Indeed, I believe you are right and that this type of consideration is important.
As I was reading I kept thinking of the 'prompting of the Holy Spirit' in each Believer's life. I believe that regular Bible reading and study/meditation are critical to the Spiritual conviction of the Believer, including what you have identified as 'socially acceptable sins' below.
I believe the Holy Spirit is working in each Believer's life and each of us is responsible for our response to Him, for instance, I participate in a few of the 'sins' you identify below. I am constantly reminded to, not, waste my time in senseless things like; watching too much tv and sports (in particular), but to use my time more wisely by reading and/or planning for Chrisitian outreach. And, to not criticize (gossip about) others, but to recognize their need for a Savior and being prompted to pray for them vs gossip about them. You see, it is the Holy Spirit that reminds, counsels and guides me to do those things. I believe it is a connection to the Lord through my devotionals and consistency in reading the Bible and fellowship that reminds me to........... obey Him.
We are to encourage those that are not Believers to become Believers. We are encouraged to love our fellow Believers and work within our gifted areas to set the example for our brothers and sisters to 'grow in the knowledge of God'. I recently have been reading a wonderful book by Gary North, "Backward Christian Soldiers" and one thing that jumped out to me was; "The prophets also reminded them of the warnings of Deuteronomy 28. there would be judgments from God: in economics, agriculture, civil government, military strategy, foreign policy, religious worship, and family relations. There is no escape. Sinners must repent.
In other words, the Old Testament prophets closed the escape hatches. They would not let the sinners off of God's hook in any area of life. They told them that God's judgement is comprehensive because men's sins are comprehensive.
But we must never forget what kind of judgement the prophets preached: judgment unto resporation. God had them preach judgement unto destruction to the pagan nations around Israel (except for Jonah, when he preached in Neneveh). What we, too, must preach, is judgment unto restoration." pg 43, Gary North, 1984, Institute for Christian Economics.
Judgment unto restoration is the message.........
In Him.
As I was reading I kept thinking of the 'prompting of the Holy Spirit' in each Believer's life. I believe that regular Bible reading and study/meditation are critical to the Spiritual conviction of the Believer, including what you have identified as 'socially acceptable sins' below.
I believe the Holy Spirit is working in each Believer's life and each of us is responsible for our response to Him, for instance, I participate in a few of the 'sins' you identify below. I am constantly reminded to, not, waste my time in senseless things like; watching too much tv and sports (in particular), but to use my time more wisely by reading and/or planning for Chrisitian outreach. And, to not criticize (gossip about) others, but to recognize their need for a Savior and being prompted to pray for them vs gossip about them. You see, it is the Holy Spirit that reminds, counsels and guides me to do those things. I believe it is a connection to the Lord through my devotionals and consistency in reading the Bible and fellowship that reminds me to........... obey Him.
We are to encourage those that are not Believers to become Believers. We are encouraged to love our fellow Believers and work within our gifted areas to set the example for our brothers and sisters to 'grow in the knowledge of God'. I recently have been reading a wonderful book by Gary North, "Backward Christian Soldiers" and one thing that jumped out to me was; "The prophets also reminded them of the warnings of Deuteronomy 28. there would be judgments from God: in economics, agriculture, civil government, military strategy, foreign policy, religious worship, and family relations. There is no escape. Sinners must repent.
In other words, the Old Testament prophets closed the escape hatches. They would not let the sinners off of God's hook in any area of life. They told them that God's judgement is comprehensive because men's sins are comprehensive.
But we must never forget what kind of judgement the prophets preached: judgment unto resporation. God had them preach judgement unto destruction to the pagan nations around Israel (except for Jonah, when he preached in Neneveh). What we, too, must preach, is judgment unto restoration." pg 43, Gary North, 1984, Institute for Christian Economics.
Judgment unto restoration is the message.........
In Him.
I like that.... we can so easily rationalize our sin. Yet, it is still sin. It's wrong. We have to be soooo careful of how we appear to others especially when they know we are christians! We are being watched and we are the ambassadors of Christ!
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