I just read a statement from my daughter's youth pastor and I was hoping to get your opinion of it. He said, "The church isn’t called to legislate morality…we CANNOT expect non-Christians to behave like Christians…we need to be less concerned about their actions and more concerned about their eternal destination!"
I'm not sure how I want to respond to that. Any insight you have will be appreciated.
This is a very complex issue, and undoubtedly any way I respond will be probably misunderstood, But I have said the exact thing your youth pastor is saying numerous times. To fully explain why I agree with him would probably take a lot of time. I will pray about and consider how to respond.
Let me rephrase my statement. I agree to a certain dynamic about what he is saying.
Greetings
Actually I agree that you can not expect a non christian to behave like a christian because they do not know Christ. Until we come to Jesus none of us can walk in the light. I am not so sure about caring less about their actions though. To me as we share Jesus with them we need to talk about their actions(their sin) so they will see how desperate their situation is and how much they need Jesus. At some point the non christian must be told that his/her choices and actions directly have affect on their eternity so it is important.
God bless
maryjane
MaryJane said
I agree completely!it is important.
The difficulty for children brought up in 'the church', though, is that many of them have never heard Leviticus 18 read out on a Sunday morning, or had the definition of fornication as per New Testament Greek explained to them.
There are some sins which lead to far more bondage than others, and God can only wink at their ignorance once. After that, and especially if they have been properly taught, they need to be called out on their [u]hypocrisy
Let us not forget that God legislated morality. We call them the 10 Commandments. They are not "suggestions", but commandments. I understand to a degree what is meant about legislating morality, but if you give the devil an inch he will take a mile. Govt. legislates morality all the time. Lately though they have been unlegislating morality and look at the mess our world is in. Definitely it takes a work of grace in the heart to enable people to live righteous. Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the book of Hebrews all talk about God writing His laws on our hearts. Thank God for the enablement! Without Him we are in a mess.
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