Grey Area - Amoral
1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.5One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
Romans 14:1-8 (NIV)
How often we are told by people not to do this, not to do that? How do we know it is right or wrong? In the world today we are often condemned people or being condemned by people because of differences in cultures, educations, general beliefs and many things.
Often we see people who claims to be righteous and enjoy tell people what they do wrong, well the question is, are they right? How do we know for sure? This is more so in a Christian community, where there seems to be a lot more condemning going around.
So how do we know for sure? It’s simple, let take a look at the following diagram
On the right you have things that are of moral, love, kindness, peace, compassion and so on, these are things that we should do and we must do! On the left are the immoral, like murder, lying, adultery, things that are willfully wrong, we should not do.
But a lot of people do not understand that there is a grey area which is neither good nor bad and God expect us to use our common sense and the Holy Spirit to guide us.
Take note of this! Typical question like should one drink? Some people do and some people don’t, it is a sin? Definitely not! Unless you get yourself drunk, commit a sin.
Another one is coloring of your hair wrong? Is wearing jeans to church wrong?
Well the answer is, if you feel in spirit to do it, and then by all means do it! If you feel you are too conservative about it then don’t.
To better understand this, here’s one example, Martin Luther, the great reformist, man of God, do you know that he likes beer and love using crude language when he talks, he even walk up to the Pope and says to the Pope, “Here’s what I think of you!”, he turns around and pulls down his pants showing his backside to the Pope! But he is a true man of God, no one in his time love God as much as he is. So do you think that he is in heaven?
Often we give God very little credit for His tolerance on men.
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,[a] who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Romans 8:1 (NKJV)
Most importantly is that we don’t condemn! We don’t let our self righteousness get the better of us and start telling people that it is a sin to do this or to do that! This by itself is a sin, you earn the title of being legalistic, just like the Pharisees. In other words you are trying to be God, passing judgments to others, well the truth is, there is only one God and only He can pass judgments.
By condemning people in the grey area you are providing an opening for the devil to get to you.
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
1 Timothy 4:1-5 (NKJV)
So this year as we go about celebrating the Chinese New Year, remember to go around not with a condemning heart but a heart full of love, compassion and understanding.
Don’t be a religious and self proclaim righteous Christian!
Happy Chinese New Year, 恭喜发财!
posted by 诸葛天于 @ 8:03 AM
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