October 20, 2014
Go and Sin No More
On an individual basis we’re
not surprised when people outside God’s will, those who deliberately practice
sin, fail to receive God’s blessing. In my mind the same thought process
applies to denominations that choose to embrace sin. The Vatican recently ended
an assembly focused on the family and they are still struggling with their
stance on gays. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi of Italy compared the gay issue to
the woman caught in adultery, “Like Christ with the adulteress, his response is
to welcome her, but then to tell her not to sin again.” Not all of the Catholic
leadership were on the same page and the final document to come out of the assembly
says that gays must be met with respect and sensitivity — which goes along with
Ravasi’s thought of welcoming. Interestingly there was no reference to, “don’t
sin again.” When Jesus wrote on the ground all the accusers left the scene and
no one remained to condemn the woman caught in adultery. Jesus declared, “Then neither do I condemn
you. Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11 NIV).
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3 comments:
Gail;
-----Note that all the people who drug the adulteress to Jesus did so seeking her judgment. That goal is one-hundred-eighty degrees out of phase with the new life goals toward all unbelievers and sinners. We “drag” people to Him for their forgiveness. If they do not wish forgiveness, they should not be there, neither “drug” there nor having come on their own. Jesus is not the place for the unrepentant. For forgiveness is systemically tied to repentance, while judgment is systemically tied to non-repentance, aka rebellion. Jesus died and rose again to make forgiveness available and affective. So what truck does He have with the unrepentant?
-----The problem is that the skunk is perfectly happy with his own smell. In fact, he is sure it is a good and normal part of him. As much as we are disgusted by it, I suppose he is right, being what the Lord meant for a skunk. Similar to that, not identical, but similar, each one of us are perfectly happy with some portion of our own frowsy character traits. Like a fox, we don’t smell our own den. Others do. Worse yet, this blindness comes from a psychological deception that if it were not there I am sure insanity would flood over us. For none of us has the ability to deal an end to all of our own errant ways. Peeling an onion with one stroke is done only by slicing it in half. Not even the Lord is willing to do that to us, “…a bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not quench.” (Isa 42:3a).
-----Should we not understand that each and every soul coming to the Lord practices sins he neither sees nor knows? We can deny this, claiming the Holy Spirit has brought them all to light in any true believer. But only a little watching reveals every true believer habitually infringing upon neighbors while being totally unaware of it. Then why not cast everyone out of fellowship like so many of us are wont to do to the homosexual?
-----”If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal.” (I John 5:16-17). Good answer, John, but you didn’t define the difference between mortal and not mortal sins. Here’s a suggestion. The mortality of a sin has two dimensions, one the Lord’s dimension, and one yours. The Lord’s direct expression in His Word of the extreme gravity of a particular sin is from His dimension. That we do any sin in an expression of our right to do it and of its acceptability to all is our dimension. A sin’s mortality is as though we chose something clearly defined by God through which to express our rebellion.
-----The homosexual coming to church repentant and longing to break free of his ingrained way, which he also smells, is not committing a mortal sin. He is a brother struggling with his characteristic sin as much as each of us struggle with our own. We must not be anxious to stone the adulteress drug before Jesus. On the other hand, had that adulterous stood up proudly there and demanded not only public approval for her adultery, but Jesus’ as well, oh my! Could the scriptures have ever read more differently!
-----This is why I belong to the Lord, not to any denomination. I bow in His Spirit. I read His Word. I use my own mind, and I respect and consider my brethren‘s. For I have hidden odors of my own to discover and bring to the Lord’s wash basin without learning more from denominational attitudes of either winks or judgments.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Nice meeting you....visiting from Jerry's blog. Catherine
PS Sin has a spiritual gravity. Some sin is very grave and undeniable. Murder. Sorcery. Armed robbery. Adultery. Homosexuality. These things are hard to do without the other members of the Lord’s body becoming engaged in the errant soul’s entanglement. He made us to be sources of strength and correction for one another. The homosexual does not stumble around long in a spiritually healthy fellowship without quite affective help. The Holy Spirit is not like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. He is real. And He breaks many bonds of sin amongst those surrendered to Him. Such an atmosphere will reveal whether repentance is genuine or jest, and the more gravity the sin has, the quicker tends to be the revelation.
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