Why do we as Christians feel as though non-believers should behave as we do? Non-Christians have no reason to adhere to the moral laws of the Judeo-Christian Bible and trying to make them do so is not only counterproductive, it is putting things in the wrong order.
Matthew 28:19-20 tells us to go and make disciples, baptize them, THEN teach them to observe all that He taught. The first step is to make them disciples. If we could outlaw homosexuality, promiscuity, and drunkenness, if we could manage to enforce those laws, if we could eradicate all immoral, criminal, and addictive behaviors, if everyone went to church every Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday night, would we have made them Christians?
No.
Jesus had scathing comments to those who appeared clean and beautiful on the outside but were “whitewashed tombs” filled with death and decay. Creating a whitewashed environment does not accomplish our goal. What we would accomplish is making ourselves comfortable. We would no longer have to be confronted with the different. I am afraid that being comfortable is not what Jesus had in mind for us. Jesus befriended the different, those that made the religious establishment of the day cringe. Now we have set ourselves up as the religious establishment and are doing the exact same things. We have become modern day Pharisees, glued to the letter of the law while ignoring the the main point. We have become Caiaphas, more interested in maintaining power and tradition than in the lives and souls of our neighbors.
We are supposed to love our neighbors as ourselves. Who are our neighbors? They are the group of rowdy young college kids that rented the house down the street and block the street with cars on Friday and Saturday nights for their parties. They are the elderly that can’t get out of the house and have to have food delivered. No one visits them. They are the lesbian couple that just moved in next door that you try very hard to ignore.
“..Even as I have loved you,” Jesus said. He died for us. I think that is what God is telling us to do, to love our neighbors so much that we would die for them if necessary. Our love should be that blinding. It should be attractive, not repelling. We are God’s representatives on earth. When people see us, do they say, “I want what that person has,” or do they say, “I want no part of that!”?
The point of this ramble is that I think we are making a serious mistake when we use politics to coerce non-believers into a system that does not belong to them, AND it is not constitutional. What the religious wing of conservative politics is doing is wrong, both morally and constitutionally and I think the fight will lead to the end of our religious freedom.
http://www.reclinercommentaries.com/2013/03/a-compromise-on-gay-marriage.html
His name is Dennis Ingolfsland. I had never heard of him before I found this but his logic is sound. I don’t agree with the idea that it is a compromise. I just believe it is the right thing to do and the consequences he predicts are probable.
For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Paul in First Corinthians 5:12-13
Beating everyone into submission by law builds barriers between them and God.
If any non-believers are reading this, freedom of religion, freedom of conscience is constitutional. Do not force a doctor to perform an abortion if she/he feels it is wrong. Do not force the Catholic Church to pay for things they have been against for centuries. They did not come up with this idea just to spite women of 21st century America. God gives you the right to accept or reject Him so I do too. I am giving you the freedom to be right or wrong. Do the same for me.
I don’t expect everyone to agree with me but I do hope people will start thinking in a different paradigm. I want to hear what you think, respectfully of course. Please leave a comment.
Hear hear!
We as Christians expect people to behave in acccordance with Christian morality for a number of reasons. First of all, it’s the law. This is weak, especially for someone that no longer stops at stop signs very often. But our law has its roots in Biblical morality, tho it is moving away fast. People misbehaving with a clear conscience (xian or not) is evidence of a defective conscience, not evidence that the rules don’t apply.
Now if you’re talking about sex and what not, it is still correct to expect people to do the right thing, and the right thing is always in line with Biblical morality. So what if they don’t? Here we move from having an informed opinion to judging. Judging requires action, not just an evaluation of guilt. After guilt is determined, the judge doesn’t get up and leave, he sentences.
So what to do with people that do not believe what I do in areas that are not of immediate concern to me and mine? Depends. If you want to be gay and do your gay thing in your own bedroom, you’ll not have any trouble from me. And I don’t want the state to be strong enough to come looking for you.
Do you want to change the laws to endorse gay behavior? Legalize gay marriage? Now I am interested. Tossing aside any practical considerations, like, do kids of gay parents fare as well as those that do not, just consider that correct laws flow from correct morality (like, you know, murder is immoral), and correct morality flows straight out of the heart of God.
So even if there are not immediately obvious social harms from legalizing gay marriage or sex with ponies in the town square, anyone with a concept of God as something a little more vigorous than Grandfather-in Heaven, a sweet old guy that isn’t what he used to be, will be concerned that a political endorsement of sin will be of interest to God the father. The laws that we have reduced morality to are just a weak reflection of the reality behind them, the holiness of God. Christian or not, city, state, country or planet, violate same at your peril. And the peril is real. Sin matters. Interestingly in Colossians and Hebrews, we see that sin affected not just people, but also things in heaven and things on the earth… Christ redeemed not just people, but everything else, also. Sin was a blot on all creation, and perhaps things that pre-existed creation. Sin matters.
From another tack entirely, I think you established Christians at one end of a dipole, without recognizing that all the Non-c’s are every bit as religious in their beliefs, a belief in the non-existence of God being just as faith-based as believing that he DOES exist. Neither is provable (or disprovable) and so it all comes down to what you believe. What we see around us all day every day is the conflict between faiths, the faith of the Godless man, and the faith of those who would be called Godly…we can bicker about how well they do that later…Good thing God forgives, is where I’ll leave that now.
Bottom line is the country IS fractured, but the biggest schism is not due to misunderstanding or ignorance or pigheaded stubbornness, but out of fundamentally irreconcilable beliefs.
So dealing with an individual calls for wisdom. More broadly, the far more pressing issue is on what set of beliefs will we build a country? I don’t see how I can comfortably have a country in common with someone that believes in no absolute truths, would disarm me and limit my freedom to exist…and that is where the left has gotten to. Christians are being deprived of their ability to freely make a living in accordance with their beliefs. That’s a problem
I believe the most important thing we can do is love our neighbor as we love ourselves. To love, is not to judge, but to accept someone (and ourselves) unconditionally, with all their faults. If we could stop trying to make everyone think like we think, do as we do, and just listen to each other, start a dialogue, we could overcome so many of our differences. It all starts with an open heart and a willingness to listen. Thanks for your post.
Thank you.