000 Christians and the immoral

Christians and The Immoral*.

Over many generations passages in the Bible have been misused to take actions against people whose beliefs and behaviour is contrary to Bible teaching.

In Romans chapter 1:18-32 we are reminded that God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and his nature as God have always been obvious in the universe we live in. People have no excuse for not responding with thanks, acknowledgment and submission to God. Instead, following their independent ideas, their thinking becomes futile, lacking wisdom.

God’s response is to let them do what they want. 

God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts This has included the freedom to practice sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

This explicitly includes their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practise them.

We have no excuse if we do not pay attention to God’s creation and respond thankfully to God by avoiding committing shameful acts such as homosexual relations. Also we follow God’s example when we accept those who do these things without approving them.

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth he urged them not to associate with sexually immoral people – not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. (1 Corinthians 5:9-10)

Christians are called on to be realists, to recognise and accept that the morality of people who are not Christians and do not claim to be live by different standards without approving or following them. What business is it of [us] to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. (1 Corinthians 5:12) 

Regrettably instead of following this realistic acceptance Christians, and perhaps more so people outside the church, have enacted laws and penalties and even behaved violently against such people. Christians especially should not have done such things.

Controversially however, we are to judge those inside the church; not judging their eternal destiny but their qualification to be a member of or have a role in a gathering of Christians.***

Paul went on to write, but now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. (1 Corinthians 5:11) 

They were told shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? … I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. 

The New Testament tells people how to become and how to behave as a Christian and in many  places Christian moral standards are made clear**. 

It is not easy nor pleasant to follow such instructions. It seems the Corinthian Christians avoided doing so by deciding to overlook the immoral behaviour of a member of the church. Paul reprimanded them for their pride, even their boasting that they had continued to accept this offender as a member of their church. A Christian church should have standards of sincerity and truth and reflect the significance of the sacrifice of Christ. 

What is a Christian who believes the Bible is the word of God and is confronted with an instruction that is difficult and they want to avoid doing? The first example of this situation is in Genesis 3:1 where the serpent asks Eve, “Did God really say?” And she replies with her own version of what God told her, one that suited her purpose better.

Sadly, this is common practice in our time in what is called Progressive theology.****

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*The word queer appears to be used increasingly as an inclusive word to mean people who have been labelled as LGBTIA+ See Choose your adjective. https://poweringon.com/myblog/readentry.php?rowid=1934

** See Biblical Standards: https://poweringon.com/myblog/readentry.php?rowid=957)

*** See Judgement: https://poweringon.com/myblog/readentry.php?rowid=2122

**** See Convictions: Progressive or not.  https://poweringon.com/myblog/conviction.php