davehayes.org

earlier today, i received an instant message from a friend of mine complaining that, “this chick told me i couldn’t cuss, because the bible said i couldn’t.” he was understandably annoyed at the notion that he, an (self-proclaimed) unbeliever, was expected by a coworker to adhere to the moral obligations set forth by a religious text to which he does not subscribe. how would she feel if he were to deride her for eating beef, stating that the rigveda says cattle are sacred. the rigveda means nothing to her, why should she care what it allows and forbids?

obviously, we as Christians believe that the Bible applies to all of mankind, but in what capacity? the Bible tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and also that “no one comes to the Father except through [Jesus].” the Bible also tells us that “the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars” will be cast into the lake of fire.

but are we given the authority to hold our fellow man accountable to the standards set forth by the Bible?

paul makes an important distinction in his first letter to the believers in corinth:

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 (NASB)

⁹ I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; ¹⁰ I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. ¹¹ But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler–not even to eat with such a one. ¹² For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? ¹³ But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.

wow, lots of important stuff here. paul starts off by clarifying some earlier teaching, in which we are told not to associate with immoral people. so many times i hear this come up, especially in the context of “Christian bands” and the issue of where they play and with whom. one of my favorite groups, as i lay dying, addresses this issue directly on their web site:

How can you be a Christian band and go on tour with bands who represent themselves as evil, satan worshipers?

We hope to intelligently represent a faith that has been very misrepresented in the entertainment industry. There isn’t much diversity of thought within metal music and I believe it is important for people to understand opposing views before drawing conclusions. I hope other bands and their fans have an open mind and respect for what we are saying, so it’s fair for them to expect the same from us. If truth is the basis of our belief, then the questions other bands/fans have are an important way to understanding what/why we believe. Most of the bands we tour with would never hear a well represented explanation of Christianity if we just stayed home.

paul, stating the obvious, elucidates that in order to totally cut ourselves off from immoral people, we would have to leave the world entirely, and that that is not the intended teaching. “Most of the bands we tour with would never hear a well represented explanation of Christianity if we just stayed home.” how else would these people hear the Gospel? paul further clarifies his point in saying that we are to distance ourselves from immoral people who call themselves believers.

when we see believers falling into sin, it is our duty as fellow Christians to hold them accountable. “Do you not judge those who are within the church?” we are explicitly commanded to remove from our company those who refuse accountability and choose to go on living in sin rather than trying to repent of it. so obviously we are meant to pass some form of judgement upon those inside the church, but what about outsiders?

paul had already stated that we are not meant to remove ourselves from the company of immoral people outside the church, but he goes on to say, “For what have I to do with judging outsiders?” “…those who are outside, God judges.”

perhaps paul is trying to tell us that in order to be effective in evangelism, we should immerse ourselves in the world and be examples of Godly people rather than trying to stand above the world and condemn it in piety.

the way it looks to me, we need to keep a close circle of friends upon whom we can count to keep us accountable. we need to welcome accountability so that we can be sure to lead lives that would make us not unlike a City on a Hill in an immoral world. we need hold those believers close to us accountable so that they may do the same. we also need not condemn those outside of our faith (because that is God’s job), but try to reach them by who we are and how we live.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 5th, 2006 at 2:11 pm and is filed under faith. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.