Update 10/2001
We have to look at what God's word tells us without our own version of the truth. Too often, obedience is so hard for a believer that they can make themselves believe a truth that is not biblical..
In the early 60's a trend towards social tolerance began to evolve. Little by little right and wrong has been banished to the gray abyss of tolerance. We gained a higher level of consciousness by obtaining equal rights for minorities, a good thing. But then we went beyond. Skill development focused less on values and the substance of one's being,{ our character} and more on social acceptance and esteem.
Respect for authority, life, and biblical principles has been lost. God has been taken out of the school. Adult leadership within the family has been taken away by social guidelines. This leaves young mothers pleading with their children to stop tearing apart the toy department at Walmart. Our pre-teen and teen's street-wisdom knows that the system just passes them through with little consequence for wrong-doing. We are raising a generation of insecure parents and out-of-control kids. Josh McDowell has a book called, �The Disconnected Generation,� which is a perfect title for the times we live in.
Note; Respecting authority does not mean one is intimidated by that authority. It simply means that with self interest in mind, one knows that person maybe older, wiser and better able to make certain decisions. At the very least,{or at the most} they have been placed in authority by God. We are better for adhering to that authority.
Even amongst christian young people, the most quoted scripture is no longer John 3:16- for God so loved the world that He gave his only son that whosoever believes in Him will have ever-lasting life. No, it is now." Matt. 7:1-Judge not, lest you be judged." It is taken out of context more often than not. There has been a subtle disengagement of scriptural truth.
It goes on to say 2: For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3: And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4: Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5: Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
We see that Jesus is talking about the habit we have of thinking another person's sin is greater than our own. He is not talking about obedience, He is talking about judgment. Today's mindset does not make that distinction.
But, in order to do that little piece of scripture justice, we have to go back to when Christ had begun to speak to the multitudes. Matt.5:1: And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
2: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, and he then began what we know as The Beatitudes. If we begin there, reading through to- Judge not lest you be judged we can then see the whole picture. He is not telling us that we can not distinguish between right and wrong, truth and untruth. He is telling us not to be hypocrites. He is telling us not to judge within our hypocracy. He tells us that judgment is His alone..
For an example- If Jane has been having an affair with a married man, Jane would be a hypocrite if she tells Mary that she should not be involved with a gay relationship. That is an extreme situation, but offered to make a point. Both sins are sin. The truth according to God's word demands that we are to remain faithful to our mates, and He abhors homosexuality. Rom:1:27: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
In our culture there is no longer black and white, only gray areas where truth becomes internalized and changes from circumstance to circumstance, and day to day.
In the year 2000 our culture will look back and marvel at how far we have come. But, have we come too far? In just these previous few years we have seen violence and death in our schools, and no one really knows how to combat it. Police presence, metal detectors, gun control, and locking students in, while locking others out, has been the norm this school year.
We have listened while the A.P.A. stated that adult/child sex is only harmful because we "think" it is harmful. We've seen minorities tortured and even killed by hateful hearts and the christian agenda blamed. We are told that we need, and in some cases must, have sensitivity training when we grasp our biblical morals concerning homosexuality, and speak out. We must refer to it as gender identity disorder and not sin. After all, this is the land of the free and anything goes as long as it feels good. Christianity is the restrictive girdle of society's ugly, unruly bulges and no one wants to wear it anymore. Our nation's leaders have left us with the legacy of oral sex and loop hole lies. And, this is," The village that should raise our children," according to a former first lady. Our Melting Pot has become Pandora's Box.
There is a very simple answer for that. Without absolutes there is chaos and our nation today is seeing this. As children we rely on our parents to keep us from harm's way. As parents we do not allow our babies to touch the hot fire or jump in to the deep pool. Why? Because we love them of course, and we are looking out for their best interest. And so, our Heavenly Father is so much more loving. He put His "rules" in place not to restrict us, but to free us!
The problem with the thinking that what is right for one is not necessarily right for the other, is that it makes no distinction between the Ted Bundys and Billy Grahams of the world. We know that later on, after Mr. Bundy�s demented murder spree, he appeared to have found God. He then acknowledged his wrong doing and gave us a blow by blow of how his �career� began and ended. But if truth were to be what everyone believes it to be, then we could conceivably say the Mr. Bundy was right in what he did. In his mind and heart he was doing what was right for him.
We have in our community the �Haves� and the �Have Nots.� We can clearly see that this distinction has been drawn by those who consider themselves to be the Have Nots. A painful realization brings us to the conclusion that some-not all of those who have little monetarily, think it is ok to take from those who have more. We have seen repeated incidents where our youth culture have systematically cased the neighborhood for what is available. It may be something as simple as valve covers on automobile tires. When confronted, they don�t even flinch. Sadly, we have heard first-hand, through other accounts, and law enforcement that these words are often said. �You can replace it. {Whatever IT may be.} You have money.� You can�t tell them that people HAVE because they worked for it. In their minds they have determined that view of truth. Their truth tells them its ok because they are under-privilaged and they have to have what is not their's in order to feel good.
But let us not leave out the grand champion of, "If it feels right to me, then it must be ok." We are, of course, referring to Hitler. Makes you cring at the thought, doesn't it {?} And it should! ..........
The Ten Commandments
What a loving Father!! He knows that not only is murder, adultery, lying, stealing, envying, etc. wrong. He knows that if we do these things we will, in the long run, be unhappy. He put these "rules" in place for our benefit and not our emotional incarceration. We have a society of unhappy lovers because we have the mindset that if it doesn't work out, we'll just get divorced. We have one partner saying, � Well, this relationship just isn�t right for me, and my truth is not the same as yours." In some cases it may be another issue. I believe there truly are homosexual and lesbians, who are christians, who have adopted the feel good mode.
God's instruction is for a man to leave Mom and Dad and cleave to his wife, be faithful, and to treat each other much like the relationship Christ has with the church. Is good for us!
Gen:2:24: Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. He established the family order and make up then. Mom and Dad, husband and wife...
Within this type of relationship is found happiness even for the non-christian. There is security and love, which is something we all want and need. God teaches us to love our mates unconditionally. This is good stuff! It keeps people together when they are both abiding lovingly by the rules.
Again, our culture allows us to confuse judgment and obedience.
If we believe that all scripture is God-breathed, {II Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:} then we have to take Him at His word and be obedient to His authority, and the authorities He puts in place. We can twist and turn as much as we want. We will eventually come up with an explanation as to why our sin is ok. We'll find our comfort zone. It does not, however, make it right..
God wants this to be a part of our character- not as a cloud hanging over our head, but for our good. Authority is to show equal respect and have only the good of those in subjection in mind. Authority is never to take advantage or ride rough shod. In respecting those in authority, we gain from their wisdom. We gain from just laws. We suffer from murder, right? We suffer from lying. God knew what He was doing when he established His principles. Our society is rebelling against these principles, and we wonder why we have children with no respect for human life. People who can kill others in a heart beat.
We have a government that says that an unborn child isn't a human life and can be aborted. But in other situations a person is convicted of murder if he/she causes a child to be aborted as the result of a car crash. This leaves it in the hands of the mother to decide whether she wants "it" to be human or not. The very person we count on for life can decide our destiny. This contrary ruling has the nation divided in a civil war of the heart.
We must have absolutes. Some things can't be left to the anything goes philosophy. It isn't always just a matter of opinion. There has to be right and wrong or we will be a nation lost forever. We took the Ten Commandments and prayer out of school and chaos moved in. There is no denying that. The enemy today is indifference. The enemy today is disguised as tolerance, and it walks about like a lion seeking whom it may devour. I Pet.5:8 The answer to a decaying nation is compassionate discernment and unyielding absolutes. That is the only way we can close the lid on Pandora's box.
It is a dangerous thing to take scripture out of context and develop our own truth around it. We forget that the chapter break up of the particular "books" were not originally there. They were put there so that we can find our text easier. In the case of Judge not lest you be judged, there is grave error when we separate that from all the prior words spoken by Jesus..
Ryan Dobson once gave this illustration. He put a group of young people in a room, told them all to close their eyes and point to what they believed to be north. When they opened their eyes they found that they were all pointing in different directions. North is north no matter what is personally conceived as truth by an individual, and north will always be north. And so, the word of God is the same. It doesn't change for our personal comfort....We have to open our eyes and use the compass...
