Homosexuality: Revealing the Sin and A Call to Repentance

*Edited October 20, 2015.*

Every human being is bound to a moral standard.  That moral standard may originate from his or her rationality, a political belief, or a religious belief.  Whichever standard our morals operate by, we are bound to abide by that standard only.  Whichever standard we claim, it would be intellectually honest of us to operate by that standard alone without deviating from it, otherwise it becomes confusing to identify which moral standard you operate by.  If we create our own moral standard, morality is free to be bent and broken to our subjective rules, which is, of course, dangerous.  If your morals are influenced by politics, your beliefs will be one way as a Democrat and another way as a Republican, or whatever other political party you affiliate yourself with.  If your morals are influenced by the religion your keep, your morals are bound to the authority of the god you worship.  As Christians, we strictly believe that the Word of God is the main authority over all authorities — that God and His Word have authority over all governments, all political agendas, and all human rationality — over all men no matter one’s social status.  It is the same for all Christians.  If one claims to be Christian, they are claiming God’s Word as the ultimate authority and when they indefatigably and unrepentantly deviate from His Word, they declare otherwise.  Therefore, as God’s Word unmistakably declares homosexuality as a sin, the responsible Christian will not contradict this declaration and therefore must not condone the sin as they would any other sin.

The Abominable Sin

I will be covering three fallacies (and three sub-fallacies) that people utilise to condone homosexuality, but before I get to them we need to go to the Scriptures that reveal the sinfulness of homosexuality.  We first see God unequivocally forbidding homosexual activity in the Law in Leviticus 18:22, “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.”  Before He said this, God condemned Sodom and Gomorrah for their homosexuality and other sexual deviances (Genesis 18:20-21; 19:4-5, 24-25).  (Homosexuality is not the only sexual sin, and not the only sexual sin that Sodom and Gomorrah were condemned for.  Nevertheless, homosexuality is still a sin, God singling it out as “an abomination.”)  The condemnation of homosexuality is not only found in the Old Testament; it is in the New Testament as well.  In his second epistle, St. Peter uses the example of Sodom and Gomorrah as a warning for people of all ages:

…and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what He saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgement, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. (2 Peter 2:6-10; italics added.)

There is both Law and Gospel in this passage.  The Law here is that homosexuality is an abominable sin as God has declared, using Sodom and Gomorrah to illustrate what will happen to those who are unrepentant of the same and other sins.  The Gospel here is that since God rescued the one man, Lot, from a sinful city because of his righteousness, then certainly God knows how to rescue us from our sin and the surrounding sins of those around us.  “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).  Any temptation you experience is nothing new; God will provide a way for you to endure it and overcome it.  However, if you constantly reject His help, you will remain “unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgement.”

Likewise, in Jude 6-7 we read, “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgement of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”

In Romans 1:18-32, we read of God’s wrath against all the godlessness and wickedness of man, homosexuality falling under that category.  Specifically in verses 26-27, St. Paul describes homosexuality as a wicked perversion of God’s will:  “For this reason god gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.”

“Jesus Didn’t Talk About Homosexuality”

Before I start with the first logical fallacy, I must first debunk a common argument people make and then briefly discuss the origin of marriage.  They say, “Well, Jesus didn’t talk about homosexuality, so it’s not a sin.”  (These people ignore the rest of the New Testament that defines it as a sin, denying the inspiration of the Holy Spirit working through the New Testament writers, thus making it the Word of God.)  Let’s take a look at 1 Timothy 1:8-11, “Now we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the Law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murders, the sexually immoral, men who practise homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.”  The Law now speaks to the type of sinners mentioned here, which is really every single sinner (all of us).  This is why God’s Word offends unrepentant sinners like homosexuals because His law still condemns them, and it is “in accordance with the gospel” of God.  So, “Jesus never talked about homosexuality” is an invalid argument.  Jesus never talked about rape either, yet we know rape is a sin and immoral.  That, and rape, like homosexuality, is categorised as a sexual sin.  “Gospel” and “Good News” are the same word in Greek (εὐαγγέλιον), and Jesus is the Gospel/Good News (Mark 1:1).  Therefore, this part of the Law is in accordance with Jesus Christ the Gospel because the glory of God has revealed it as so.  Or, to put it more simply, since Jesus is God (Matthew 1:23; John 1:1, 14; 8:24; 10:30), He did in fact talk about it.

The Origin of Marriage

Genesis 2:18, “Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’ ”  God did not want man to be alone.  This is the first time God said something was “not good.”  He created “a helper fit for” Adam.  While it is vital to see the implications of marriage inherent in this passage, we should also see that God did not want man to live in isolation.  God solved Adam’s loneliness by creating a wife for him, but keep in mind that Eve was not just a wife — she was another human being, specifically a woman, someone completely different than Adam yet complementary.  In other words, God designed human beings to live in relationship with one another; and in this case with marriage, only with the opposite sex.  The helper fit for Adam was a woman; therefore a man would be unfit for Adam; and vice versa for women.  All Adam was familiar with was the male sex, but God didn’t give him a choice.  He specifically created someone different yet complementary — a woman.

The Love Fallacy

There are three commonly used logical fallacies to condone homosexuality.  The first fallacy is what I call the Love Fallacy.  I believe this is the most often used argument for homosexuality, especially with the hashtag “love wins” when gay “marriage” was legalised (which is ironic because they don’t extend that love towards people who disagree with the gay lifestyle, so really hate won that day).  The argument is that because homosexuals “love” each other, that gives them the right to fulfil their sexual desires.  This argument commits three sub-fallacies within itself:  equivocation, special pleading, and argumentum ad populum (literally “an argument to the people”).  Equivocation occurs when the definition of a word changes in the middle of a proposition or syllogism.  I could use this argument to justify why I want to marry and/or have sex with my grandmother, or niece, or even my dog since I love them all.  However, someone using this argument will quickly say that it’s not the same thing when it in fact is when you follow this line of logic.  Christians have forewarned that if gay marriage is legalised, then pedophiles will also use this love fallacy to legally marry and have sex with children, and indeed they have (see this article http://www.inquisitr.com/2209930/allen-west-pedophiles-supported-by-scotus-gay-marriage-decision/).  The argument used with the love fallacy is that love justifies all things.  If you love that person or thing, then you have the right to have sex with them and even marry them.  However, if I use that same logic towards something other than a homosexual drive, the definition will suddenly change to mean something else.  You can’t assign a definition to love that supports your perspective and then suddenly change that definition into something else when it’s used for a different perspective that you disagree with.  Therefore, the love argument is invalid.

Special pleading is when a law or rule applies to every circumstance except a specific circumstance because of a unique property it has.  With this, people have the knowledge that God defines homosexuality as a sin, along with other sexual sins, but they will make the exception with homosexuality and accept the sin whether it’s because they know someone who’s a homosexual or because they believe it’s not as bad as adultery, premarital sex, incest, rape, bestiality, or pedophilia.  It is logically fallacious to be aware of a category of sins/wrongs (sexual sin in this case) yet deny the sinfulness of one of those sins just because you can’t manage to agree with that part of God’s decree.  We don’t get to pick and choose what is and what isn’t a sin.  Only God can define sin, and He has in Scripture.  An example of special pleading is a mother who says, “Yes, your honour, I do know that all convicted drunk drivers go to jail, but he’s my son!  He’s a good boy who’s just made a mistake!”  Sure, he made a mistake, but the law doesn’t care; the law shows no partiality, has no compassion, and it certainly doesn’t care about your circumstances.  Likewise, special pleading with homosexuality is, “Yes, God, I know that all the sexual sins You listed are sinful, but homosexuals love each other so it’s okay!”  No, it’s not okay.  The Law of God dictates that homosexuality is sin and that if you commit any sin, you are condemned, for “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).  But there is forgiveness, there is redemption, and there is freedom to overcome our sin in Jesus Christ who died for our sins.

Before we get into the next major fallacy, argumentum ad populum is an argument that claims to be inherently true because the majority of the population confirms it to be true or false.  The majority of Nazi Germany practised argumentum ad populum to justify their belief that it was right to kill all Jews and anyone else who didn’t conform to their standards, but did that make it morally right?  Of course not, because God defined murder as sin.  Murder didn’t suddenly because morally justifiable because there was a majority consensus that accepted it.  It’s the same thing with homosexuality.  Popular consensus does not define sin or make something legitimate when both natural law and God’s Law say otherwise.  Humans don’t get to redefine sin.  God defines it, and Scripture is where we have a record of His definition.  As I established earlier, the Bible states in both the Old and New Testaments that homosexuality and all other kinds of actions are sinful.  It specifically says that homosexuality (and other perverse sexual acts) is an abomination to God.  You can believe what you choose to believe, but it does not change what the Word of God declares.

The Born-This-Way Fallacy

In my discussions with people, many of them believe that homosexuality is something that one is born with and several of them have asked me, “When did you choose to be straight,” as if that would stump me.  My answer is this:  I didn’t choose; God made me straight.  All people are born within the male and female order of creation.  Even natural law (science) agrees with this.  If I choose any other sexual deviancy (e.g. LGBT, adultery, fornication, etc.), I am choosing a perversion of God’s good design.  No one is born having decided that they’re going to be an adulterer, or a rapist, or a sexual sadist, or any other perversity; it’s a decision they make later on in life due to whatever environmental condition led them to make that decision.  Homosexuals are no different and no more special than other sexual deviants who choose to act outside the sexual order of God’s creation (which was a monogamous marriage free of sex prior to marriage, free of adultery, etc.).  When we choose to sexually act out of God’s created order, we are willingly choosing to act on sexual desires outside of God’s will, which He has defined as sinful, rather than embracing what God has commanded.  All of these choices are made by turning away from God’s intention of what is acceptable, not away from some mythical neutrality based on an evolutionary view of man.  Even evolution speaks against homosexuality.  Here’s an excerpt from World Net Daily:

The laws of evolution and of genetic succession are particularly harsh on any trait that prevents reproduction, so let’s start with a simple formula that paints a stark picture: “One gay man + one gay man = zero gay children.”

Or we can look at the female side of the picture: You can go back maybe 10 generations and assume any fertility rates (number of children per woman) for lesbian and straight women and calculate what would happen. Even a slight difference would cause a homosexual gene to rapidly fade from the population. On the other hand, if the fertility rates were the same, how could women be considered lesbians if they were having the same amount of heterosexual sex to produce an equivalent number of children? Even if a tendency toward homosexuality were genetic, every time that gene expressed itself, it would fall out of the gene pool. Ask any genetics teacher, “Could homosexuality be genetic if there is no mechanism for gays to pass their genes on to children as frequently as straights pass genes on to their children?” While you are at it, propose any percentage of gays in the starting population and any fertility rates for gays and straights, and ask for the mathematical calculations of how rapidly a homosexual gene would die out. (Irvin, 2012.)

Without the foundation of a moral absolute, there is no basis upon which anyone can call any kind of sexual behaviour wrong; they can only call it different and pass no moral judgements.  Christians look to God for the absolute standard and trust His revealed Word to make our judgements.  Arguing that people are born gay and that it is not a choice is arguing against what god has revealed as His will in His Word.  Even if people are born with the propensity to seek sexual affection from the same sex, that does not make it right or “normal.”  From this line of logic, the people making this argument would have to excuse other moral wrongs and sins because people are born with the propensity to be an adulterer, a compulsive liar, a murderer, a rapist, a thief, and so on.  Any moral perversion, from the propensity to be a compulsive liar to the propensity to be a psychopathic serial killer, would be justified under the same “born-this-way” argument.  Of course, people who make this argument will disagree, once again committing the equivocation fallacy.

The Happiness Fallacy

This argument supposes that homosexuality is right because “everyone has the right to be happy.”  By this remark, they perhaps think of the right to the pursuit of happiness in the U.S. Constitution.  But that statement by our founding fathers gives us the  right to do exactly what it says — to pursue happiness; it doesn’t promise that the government will give it to you.  Also, following this line of logic that everyone deserves to be happy is essentially saying that if something makes you happy, whether it’s moral or not, you should be allowed to do it.  That’s basically what anarchy is — doing whatever makes you happy, whatever pleases you, and it only leads to chaos and moral depravity.  Murderers are perfectly happy murdering innocent people.  Sexual sadists are perfectly happy raping women and molesting children.  Many men are perfectly happy having sex with as many women as they want and the same goes for women with men.  So by this logic, we could justify their actions since it makes them happy.  And again, those who support homosexuality  will disagree and then we’re  back to the equivocation fallacy again.

I have heard the argument and even sermons from “pastors” (like the heretic Joel Osteen) that God wants everyone to be happy.  A bigger lie could not have been told.  Nowhere in Scripture does it say that the goal of faith is ultimate happiness.  A life with  God in the centre can  bring joy, but even then, tribulation is inevitable, for we “share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:5).  Not only that, but Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33).  If God was only concerned with our happiness, then He would tell us everything we want to hear and give us everything we want.  Rather, He tells us what we need to hear through the Law (which is not what we want to hear) and Gospel (which many reject in spite of its Good News).  And by His grace and mercy, he chastises and blesses us.  Our happiness is irrelevant.  We live this life and the life to come for god, not for ourselves.  Happiness is ever waning in a sinful world, but the joy of the Lord is eternal.  Life has nothing to do with us; it is all about God and His glory.

A Call to Repentance

Keep in mind that homosexuality is not the only sexual sin, and neither is it the worst sin.  (If you haven’t gotten that by now with the many times I put in parentheses, “and other sexual sins,” then you need to pay more attention.)  God likewise condemns adultery (Matthew 15:19; Hebrews 13:4).  God condemns bestiality (Leviticus 18:23).  God condemns incest (Leviticus 18:6-7; 1 Corinthians 5:1).  God highly condemns rape to the point that the rapist must be punished by death and the victim is innocent (Deuteronomy 22:25-28).  Lastly, God condemns fornication — that is, premarital sex and promiscuity (Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 6:18).  People who are unrepentant of all these sexual immoralities, including homosexuality, along with other non-sexual sins, will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).  If you’re for homosexuality or you are a homosexual, you may have heard the prior First Corinthians passage thrown at you numerous times.  Or if you’re not gay and you’re against it, you may have been the one throwing the passage at people (which I exhort you to stop doing).  In either instance, verse eleven is always left out, which says, “And such were some of you.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”  People in the Corinthian church were guilty of all these sins that Paul listed, and he reminded them of their baptism, so this is more so for believers.  But if you’re not a believer, then  it’s not too late to believe and be baptised and forsake your sins.  As Christians, because we are justified in Christ by our baptism, all of these things are unnatural ways of life.  We have been forgiven for all these sins, therefore we must not continue to live in them.  Whichever sin enslaves you, turn from your wicked ways and let Christ enable you to overcome it!  God forgives and cleanses all our sins.

Therefore, do not fret; there is no reason to fear.  Through baptism, daily repentance, and the forsaking of our sins as God enables us, we are able to be free from  any sin that enslaves us.  After confession, forsaking the sin must follow.  If you repent of a sin and yet still commit the sin, then you’re still guilty of it.  “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).  Confessing the sin grants you forgiveness, but physically forsaking the sin frees you from its physical bondage, which can only be done through the strength of Christ, hence, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens  me” (Philippians 4:13).  How can you be free from the clutches of the sin that once bound you when you still practise it?  I’m not saying  that you’re saved by your own works.  God forgives us before we even ask.  A criminal who serves his or her sentence and yet still commits the same crime after being exonerated upon completion of their sentence is still guilty of that crime.  Or say you’re  reformed drug addict.  If you start indulging in the drug again, are you still purified from that substance?  Of course you’re not.  It is the same thing with sin.  Repent of the sin with a contrite heart, resulting in God’s immediate forgiveness, yet if you continue to commit the sin, then you are still guilty of that sin.  God will still forgive you, but you’re still guilty of that sin if you just turn right back to it after repenting.  Because if you confess, and then immediately revert to your self-medicating sin, you obviously didn’t really mean it.

Forgiveness, even with the effects of baptism, does not grant you permission to freely commit and/or dwell in a particular sin you enjoy.  Forgiveness is the recognition of the poison of your sins as God willingly cleanses you from its poison.  As St. Paul wrote in Romans 6:1-4:

What shall we say then?  Are we to continue in sin that grace [that is, God’s forgiveness] may abound [be abundant]?  By no means!  How can we who died to sin still live in it?  Do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death?  We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.  [Brackets added.]

Baptism is the death of our original sin and as we rise from the waters, we emerge into a new life in Christ — hence being born again.  Therefore, as St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:11, such a lifestyle of living in sin when baptised is unnatural and a denial of what God has done in your baptism (not just the homosexual lifestyle, but any sinful lifestyle gone unrepentant).  Forgiveness cleanses you from that sin; forsaking the sin is what enables you to live free of its misery and condemnation as a result of sin.  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).  Likewise, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).

Suffering in sin is an inevitable part of life that we all must endure in a sinful world.  The good news is that God enables us to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).  Whether we allow it to overwhelm and therefore rule our lives or let God take control is ultimately up to us.  And it may require some necessary and arduous sacrifices.  The sacrifice for non-reformative homosexuality is celibacy for one’s entire life (as it is for the pedophile).  In this way, we can see how faith truly is a gift as one is enabled through the grace of Christ to conquer the sin and its dominion over him or her rather than living completely bound to its chains.  Consider how minuscule this sacrifice is to make for Christ when he gave His life for every single one of us and every sin that underprops our suffering.  No sacrifice is greater than that.  Sure, sex may feel wonderful, but do you absolutely need it?  One may say yes, but unless you’re planning on procreating, you don’t need sex to live; you can literally live without it and live a meaningful, fulfilling life.  I personally know some Christian men who suffer with same-sex attraction, but they’ve repented of this sin that they cannot control (like some of us cannot control gossip, greed, gluttony, etc.), and as a response to God’s merciful forgiveness,  they don’t practise homosexual acts.  Sure, they still suffer with homosexual thoughts because that’s how this current life is in a sinful world, but by the strength of Christ they don’t act on them.

God is faithful and just and He forgave their sins, cleansing them from all unrighteousness  because He always remains faithful even when  they, and all of us, are faithless.

References

Irvin, P. (2012, October 21). Proof You Can’t be ‘Born Gay’. Retrieved October 14, 2015, from http://www.wnd.com/2012/10/why-you-cant-be-born-gay/

How to be An Effective Manager as A Christian in the Secular World, Part II

6.  Don't assume anything.
This also goes with the first principle (deal with the facts, not fiction).  Know the facts.  Don't assume something to be true or untrue unless you have the required evidence to say so.  You can use intuition, however, from experience, but don't be impulsive.  For example, if an employee's level of productivity suddenly declines when they have a history of great efficiency, don't assume that it's because they no longer care and are suddenly lazy.  Something more serious might be going on, such as depression, or injury.  This is what makes effective communication so vital.  If you communicate effectively, you'll be able to easily obtain all the facts (especially because they trust and respect you), and you won't have to assume anything.

As we know, God doesn't need to assume anything because He knows everything.  As finite beings, we can't ever know absolutely everything about a particular matter, but we can gather the facts about a particular situation to minimise assumption making and thus make a wise decision.  We all know the saying that if you make assumptions, you'll just make an ass out of yourself.  (Pardon the French, but you can find that word int he Bible too!)  Make too many assumptions, and you'll make a fool of yourself.

7.  Employ the social sciences of psychology and social psychology.
You don't need to be an expert in psychology in order to employ these sciences.  Everybody practises these social sciences in every day life.  With psychology, we all observe human behaviour such as eye contact (avoiding eye contact is a sign of lying or insecurity), hand gestures that may suggest being defensive or closed-off or open, the tone of voice someone uses to express an opinion, etc.  With social psychology, we observe how people interact with one another such as the amount of laughter and/or smiling, a furrowed brow during a discussion to suggest some sort of emotional opposition, who's the most and least talkative to indicate who's extroverted and introverted, etc.

As God is our Creator, He obviously understands us the most, so He has as fart greater advantage than we'll ever have.  This doesn't mean that we're incapable of understanding people, however.  By using these two social sciences in our every day lives, we are all able to make inferences of how a person feels.  Of course, you can make erroneous inferences, but making those deductions is still important because it leads you to understanding the individual, even if you get it wrong.  For example, as an introvert, I don't talk a lot unless I'm in a group of people with whom I'm comfortable being around, or when there's a discussion that I'm actually interested in (if it's sports or cars, you'll find that I won't say anything).  Someone who doesn't know me and therefore misunderstands me can infer that I'm a closed-off individual and therefore have a cold heart.  I wouldn't say all this if it hadn't happened before.  The opposite actually happens to be true.  As an introvert, I appear as closed-off at first because I need to spend time around a person before I decide whether or not I want to open up to them.  The more time I spend around a person, the more I open up, and they come to find that I'm actually very open with how I feel and have a very warm heart.  Also, as an introvert, I get my energy by being alone, and being around people is spending that energy.  It's the exact opposite for extroverts.

This principle goes hand-in-hand with the 5th principle of communicating effectively.  Employing the social science of psychology is not just observing human behaviour; it also includes getting yourself involved with human behaviour — taking the time to talk to someone in order to understand them.  As an introvert, I struggle with this the most.  I don't really like talking to people unless it's necessary.

The more you understand a person, the better the relationship will be.  Observing how they interact with other people at work is also indicative of what kind of person they are.  If you notice that they're rude towards their co-workers, you can then create methods to reform their behaviour.  On the other hand, if they're kind and professional, you obviously don't need to do anything about how they interact with their co-workers.

8.  Be professional.
You can tell someone to be professional, but they may not know what that means.  (Common sense seems to be a sparse commodity nowadays.)  This principle applies to all co-workers, but even more so as a manager since you're the one who sets the standards.  Being professional can mean a variety of things, of which the first is to leave what you do outside of work at home; when you're at work, do what's necessary for work.  For example, don't browse Facebook or Pinterest or Twitter when you're on the clock (doing it during lunch is different).  Or leave how you talk at home (e.g. vulgarity), and use professional and appropriate language at work.  But the primary attribute of professionalism is sticking to the mission.  I talked about this earlier.  Don't stray from the mission.  The best person in history who stuck to his mission was Jesus Christ.  Upon His incarnation, everything He did was for the purpose of saving the human race from sin.  Every word He said, every parable He told, and every deed He did all had the objective of His mission i mind:  spreading the Gospel and saving humanity.  Before His ascension, He commanded His subordinates (the Apostles and every Christian) to continue His mission to spread the Gospel message in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), everything they do for the objective that people may be saved in Christ.  And 2,000+ years later, we Christians still work toward that mission today.

Likewise, at work, everything you and the people under you do needs to add to the company's or department's current mission/goal.  If you're a manager, think of what your current mission or goal is.  Remember that everything you do as manager is important and needs to continue the process that will lead to the best final output of that goal.  As manager, you may have several goals.  Prioritise those goals and take each of them one at a time with actions that benefit each goal, and the final output will be accomplished.

9.  Explain problems.
Arising problems are inevitable within any organisation.  Any problem that arises, it's best to communicate those problems to the people you manage.  If they know what the problem is, they'll be able to take measures to fix the problem.  As manager, you don't always have all the answers.  Communicating the problem with others will create more opportunities for the problem to be fixed with ideas that you've never thought of before.  However, you may happen to know how to solve a particular problem, whether you come up with it on your own or upper management tells you how they want it to be fixed. This is when you need to both alert your department about the problem and then advise them on how to fix it.

Jesus never let people deal with their problems on their own.  Whether He told people a parable to help them with a particular issue or directly fixed their problems by handling it Himself (e.g. a miracle), Jesus always helped people with their problems.  Likewise, as manager, you can't fix problems by yourself; you will need the help of the people underneath you.  Or rather, those who are beside you.  Don't think of your subordinates as being beneath you, but rather beside you as you all work together towards the organisation's common goal.  They can't help you if they're not aware of what the problem is and aren't advised on what to do if they don't know how to fix it.  Likewise, if they have a problem, get yourself involved.  Fixing a problem is a team effort and the best way to do that is, again, communicating effectively by explaining what the problem is, the alternative methods you can use to fix it, and then choosing a course of action from among the alternatives.

10.  Measure your worth and the worth of your people in the eyes of God.
I saved this one for last because this is the most important principle.  If anything, practise this principle and all the others will follow.  Not everybody you work with is going to be Christian.  They may be atheist, Muslim, Buddhist, or any other religion.  Having employees who aren't Christian is no excuse to treat them differently from those who are Christian.  Indeed, their religion isn't any of your business in the first place, but if you happen to know what their religion is, that doesn't give you reason to treat them like crap.  No matter what they believe, they are still human, meaning that they were also created in the image of God, which means that God still loves them.  God still loves them and therefore desires for them all to be saved.  Even though they don't deserve to be saved (just as we don't), God still considers them worthy enough to be loved by sending His Son to die for them.  Jesus didn't die for Christians alone; Jesus died for the whole world (John 3:16), and that includes those who aren't Christian.  Therefore, people ought to be treated with respect and the love of Christ no matter their religious beliefs because regardless of their religion, God still loves them and desires to know them.  Being Christian doesn't mean God loves you more than those who are not.  Being Christian, in a nutshell, just means that you undeservedly have Christ's imputed righteousness and His salvation by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).  If your subordinates happen to know that you're Christian or discover that you are at a later time and you treat non-Christians like garbage, how do you think that will reflect Christ?  Doing so would be a misrepresentation of Christ and a failure of spreading the larger mission:  spreading the Gospel message.  It'll convince them to not be a part of Christianity at all.  We are ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20), therefore represent Him the way we're supposed to.

Just as you consider others as very valuable because of God's love, do the same for yourself.  No matter your failures or shortcomings, God always loves you.  God doesn't measure you by your successors and failures.  We do that, but God measures you in the blood of Christ.  He sees you covered in His blood, forgiven and justified in the baptism of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Your worth is in Christ, not in the tasks that you do every day.

How to be An Effective Manager as A Christian in the Secular World, Part I

Perhaps one of the biggest problems the average Christian faces is how to be an effective employee as a Christian, especially in a superior position.  At issue is how he or she can implement Christian morality and practises into the workplace without "offending" anybody, or making anyone feel like you're pushing your beliefs onto them.  The principles discussed in this two-part blog series can be applied to any employee of any sort, but has more of an emphasis on those who are in some sort of management position in the secular world.

There are ten principles that I will be utilising, and since our fundamental source as Christians is sola scriptura (Scripture alone), I will be backing up each principle with Scripture and/or aspects of God's character.  As you read this, it is vital to keep in mind that it is not possible to practise every single principle in absolute perfection, but it is possible to put all these principles into practise to the best of your ability in order to be the best manager you can be.

1.  Deal with the facts, not fiction.
Sounds simple, yes?  If it were simple and therefore unnecessary to discuss, I wouldn't have included it as the first principle.  As sinful human beings, we are all born with the propensity to lie, or to see something that's not actually there.  What is the role of the manager?  As manager, you manage people (duh) within the organisation — or more concrete, the subordinates that your boss puts under your watch.  Now, what does managing consist of?  Managing consists of cognisance, standards, control of those standards, admonition, and guidance.  We won't get into all of those characteristics in this blog series, but when dealing with all those characteristics, the manager must deal with facts, not fiction.  Don't pretend you're aware of what's going on in your department.  Actually possess situational awareness and know what's going on within your department.  Set some standards, but before you set those standards you first have to know what those standards are (e.g. how much pepperoni and cheese to put on a pizza, how much dough should be used for different sized pizzas, how long each size needs to be baked, etc.).  Once those standards are set, control those standards through preventive controls, concurrent controls, and then feedback/evaluation.  When tasks aren't done as efficient as you'd like them to be, practise admonition, and after admonition, guidance is necessary.  I will go into more detail about management's composition in a future study, but those are the basics that you need to know for now.

Before dealing with a problem, or anything for that matter, know the facts.  Don't consider just one option; consider all possible options.  This will avoid bias and will enable you to be objective on a particular issue.  Scripture has a lot to say about lying, especially the proverbs.  Lying is so serious that God considers it an abomination (Proverbs 12:22).  And what does it say God delights in?  Faithfulness.  In context, this refers to the faithfulness to the Lord, but God certainly delights in our faithfulness to each other ("love thy neighbour as thyself").  Faithfulness can be synonymous to commitment.  Are you committed to your subordinates?  What should you be committed to?  At the root of it should be their individual growth.  If you are committed to each employee's individual growth, you will not only be faithful to them, but you will establish trust as well.  Proverbs 29:12 says, "If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked."  If all you do is lie as manager, how do you think those under you will act?  Not only your subordinates, but your managerial colleagues as well?  Their work, behaviour, and attitude will only emulate your actions.

Honesty and dealing with the facts opens opportunities for trustworthiness, and it especially benefits the whole of the organisation.  As manager, if you deal with your department in dishonest ways, it will only hurt the rest of the organisation.

2.  Be a servant, not an authoritative boss.
Our Lord "came not to be served, but to serve" (Mark 10:45).  If you go into a management position with expectations for your subordinates to serve you, chances are you'll get poor service.  The image below gives a perfect illustration of the difference between leadership and authority.

As the image portrays, picture yourself as a leader, not as a boss.  A boss gloats in his authority and barks orders at those underneath him.  A leader shares the load of tasks, duties, and responsibilities with those underneath him.  Your mindset as manager should not be one of self-interest.  If it is, you won't be a very good manager.  As manager, you don't work for yourself; you work for the organisation and since it consists of people, you therefore work for the people within the organisation as well as the consumer.  The final output of a product is dependent upon the efficiency within the organisation, and sitting on an imaginary throne with pride in your authority will not result in maximum efficiency.

Follow the advice St. Paul gave to the Philippians:  "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves..." (Philippians 2:3).  Humble yourself before your subordinates.  A higher pay grade does not increase your value or importance as a person.  Show your subordinates that you are equal to them in value.  However, take heed.  Sacrifice your desires for their needs, but don't sacrifices your needs for their desires.

3.  Have the guts to say "no."
Cowardice and timidity are not attractive traits in anybody, no matter what role you play in any kind of relationship.  But no one especially wants a cowardly and timid leader.  Initiative and fortitude are admirable.  If a worker asks to have days off a lot (and you're suspicious that they're being dishonest), have the guts to say no and confront their work productivity.  When I was in the Army, I was NCOIC (non-commissioned officer in charge, which in civilian terms is basically a supervisor) of transportation when I was stationed with the 2nd Infantry Division Band in South Korea, although I wasn't an NCO.  I was tasked with assigning drivers for the unit, scheduling when they had to drive for which gigs, certain paperwork, and coördinating the hiring of bus drivers to drive the entire band (or certain ensembles) to a specific area for a gig.  I was in charge of all the drivers, even those who outranked me (but only when it came to transportation).  As supervisor, I posted weekly schedules of which drive drove which vehicle on what day, when, and where.  There was a particular soldier who happened to schedule all of his hospital appointments on the days he was supposed to drive.  In the Army, hospital appointments come before work.  So, the first few times, I permitted it.  However, it started to get out of hand because I had to constantly adjust the schedule to meet this one soldier's needs.  So eventually I told him "no," that he needs to schedule his  hospital appointments more wisely during times that don't affect the unit's mission.  Fortunately, he complied with no complaints or lackadaisical behaviour.

God is probably the most unafraid to say "no."  And why not?  He created the universe, after all.  I've noticed a recent message being preached lately that teaches people how they can get answered prayer — that is, how to get God to always say yes to your prayers.  There a couple of things wrong with this.  First of all, in this way you are praying for your will to be done rather than God's will.  And secondly, it assumes that when God says "no" or "not right now, but later," it's not an answered prayer.  God answers prayer all the time; it doesn't have to be "yes" just for it to be answered.  Sometimes God's answer, or will, is "no."  The Rolling Stones put it well, "You can't always get what you want."  Jesus said "no" many times, of which the most relevant may be in Mark 8:11-13.  The context of this is when He fed the 4,000, and afterwards He left for Dalmanutha.  Upon His arrival, the Pharisees demanded that Jesus perform a sign from Heaven, and Jesus replies with, "Why does this generation seek a sign?  Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation" (Mark 8:12), and then He just leaves.  Why would Jesus do this?  He's supposed to prove that He was begotten of God, right?  Not necessarily.  He may have made it known (as it was necessary) that He was begotten of God and is God, but His primary purpose was to save mankind, not perform miracles at the whims of sinful humanity.  Besides, He already established His authority and begotten nature; the Pharisees, Saducees, and Herodians just didn't believe Him.  Jesus doesn't want us to believe by sight, but rather by faith.  Consider what Jesus said to Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29b).

How does this relate to management?  Sometimes, it's necessary not to give people what they want and just stick to the mission.  There's a time and place for everything.  According to Jesus' will (and therefore the will of God), Dalmunatha was not the place to perform miracles.  No major event happens there, so Jesus and His disciples were probably just passing through on their way to Bethsaida.  He didn't give what the scoffing Pharisees wanted and stuck to the mission by continuing His travel to His next destination.  Jesus was, after all, on a schedule (leading up to His crucifixion).  Let me use another example from the Army.  As long as a soldier has enough days saved up to take a certain amount of time off for leave, he or she can do so, as long as it doesn't impede the mission.  In the summer of 2012, I was going to take 25 days off of leave, but I was told by my superiors (management) to take only 21 days because they needed me for several missions on those other 4 days that I would've had off.  I complied without any groans.  As manager in the citizen world, if an employee wants something but it interferes with the department's or organisation's goals or plans, have the guts to say "no."

4.  Follow through on your promises.
Nobody likes a liar.  This kind of ties in with the first principle (deal with the facts, not fiction), but this principle is unique because we always make promises.  On my free time, I'm a video gamer, believe it or not.  One of my favourite lines int he video game Halo 2 said by the character Cortana is, "Don't make a girl a promise, if you know you can't keep it."  Not only is that true in a romantic relationship, but it's also very true in your relationships with your co-workers.  There are two types of promises:  what I call gospel promises and disciplinary promises.  When you promise to do something for an employee that's beneficial to them, that's a gospel promise.  When you promise to take disciplinary action against unwarranted behaviour, that's a disciplinary promise, which constructively benefits him or her and creates the possibility of reforming their behaviour.  (Unless that disciplinary action is termination, in which case they don't have another chance.  And what do you do after you terminate them?  Recommend them to your company's competitors of course!)  If you don't follow through on your gospel promises, no one will be able to trust you.  If you don't follow through on your disciplinary promises, people will take advantage of you and walk all over you, and neither will they respect you.

God makes gospel and disciplinary promises all over the place.  The first Gospel promise is the promise that God made (protoevangelium) in Genesis 3:15, when He promised Eve that her offspring (Jesus) would crush the serpent's head (Satan) as he bruises His heel.  This happened at the crucifixion.  Satan bruised Jesus' heel when He died, but Jesus had the victory that in His death, He saved the world, descending into Hell, being resurrected from the dead, and ascending into Heaven, crushing Satan's head.  Anyway, every single promise God makes, He fulfils them.  He fulfils His gospel promises, and He even fulfils His disciplinary promises.  When God promises to destroy an unrepentant nation, He does just that if they don't repent (and the same applies to individual people).  God is literally not a force to be reckoned with.

You don't want to be a feared leader, but you do want to establish respect.  It is because of God's love, mercy, and even wrath that we revere Him.  Likewise, following through on our gospel and disciplinary promises will establish respect.  Not reverence, but respect.  In the true sense of the word, reverence just means a deep respect, which would be great to have, but in its common use today it has a negative connotation that implies a little bit of fear that comes with the deep respect, hence our reverence for the Almighty God.  Again, you don't want to be a feared leader, but you do want to be respectable.  Nobody will respect you if you never fulfil your promises.  Trust is established in the fulfilment of your gospel promises, and respect is established in the fulfilment of yoru disciplinary promises.

5. Communicate Effectively.
I put this principle right in the middle because it encompasses all ten of these principles.  Communicate frequently, clearly, and openly.  You don't want your reputation to reflect unavailability; you want to communicate with your subordinates as frequent as necessary, with clear instructions and definitions (no ambiguity), and with openness.  As manager, when you're a poor communicator, the people you watch over will find you unreliable.  You can't rely on someone who sucks at communicating, can you?  In the workplace, there's nothing worse than a boss — or rather, a leader — you can't rely on and therefore trust.  I've found that the best way to communicate openly is to hold an open door policy.  Honesty is the best policy, and the best way to put that policy into practise is by holding one in which the door is open.  When I was in the Army, every single First Sergeant and Commanding Officer I had held an open door policy.  The CO is like the President of an organisation, and the First Sergeant like the Vice President.  If we felt that we needed to talk to either of them about something, even a sensitive matter (whether personal or professional), we could easily do so; and indeed, it was very easy to approach our CO and First Sergeant about any matter, making it easy to trust them and rely on them because they showed that they cared.  And as an extra benefit, we could each develop a friendship with them.  I believe that doing this as manager can create the same trust in your subordinates.  There's a risk in open communication, of course.  By communicating openly with your subordinates, you show the human side of you and your flaws can be known.  Most view this as a negative risk, but I see it as a positive.  If employees see their manager as human rather than some authoritative figure on a pedestal, it creates a more positive and trusting environment.  And I think we can all agree that the more positive the environment, the higher the worker productivity because the higher the worker productivity, the more happy you are to be there rather than dreading coming in to work every day.

God communicated His Word effectively by both direct revelation by saying it Himself and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by speaking to the patriarchal fathers and the prophets of the Old Testament as well as the Apostles of the New Testament.  God speaks clearly on every issue, except for issues of adiaphora (like exactly what we're talking about right now).  I've noticed that these issues of adiaphora only exist because of our modern times, so it only makes sense why you can't find certain issues in Scripture because they weren't unique to that time (e.g. marijuana smoking, cigarette smoking, euthanasia, abortion, the average Christian in the workplace, etc.).  However, Scripture can help us to make wise decisions on such issues by studying His Word.

To Be Continued...

A Spirit of Power, Love, and Self-Control

1 Corinthians 6:12, " 'All things are lawful for me,' but not all things are helpful.  'All things are lawful for me,' but I will not be dominated by anything."

When Paul writes the quotations, he was quoting what the Corinthians were saying in mockery, and then refuting it with wisdom and truth revealed to him through the Holy Spirit.  Paul says this after listing the many sins that will disable one form inheriting the kingdom of God:  the sexually immoral, idolaters (people who worship other gods and other things that they put above God, like money, themselves, or anything else); adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, greedy people, drunkards (people who practise inebriation as if it's a hobby), revilers, and swindlers.  The Corinthians were saying, "All things are lawful for me," using the fallacy that because they are saved Christians, they can still commit any sin they want and still repent.  But Paul writes in Romans, "What then?  Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?  By no means!  Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?  ...For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.  But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed?  For the end of those things is death.  But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (6:15-17, 20-23).

And Paul retorts to this fallacy in his first letter to the Corinthians, saying, "And such were some of you.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (6:11).  In effect, he was saying this:  "You were sexually immoral, you were idoalters, you were adulterers, you were homosexuals, you were thieves, you were greedy, you were drunkards, you were revilers, and you were swindlers.  However, having been baptised by the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, these ways are unnatural for you and must never be done.  You were all these things, and now in your baptism God our Father no longer sees you for those things but who you are in the sanctity of Christ, for He has called you to live outside of those sins."  And when they were saying, "All things are lawful for me," Paul pointed out, "Not all those things are helpful."  Some things are lawful to help you, most are not.  The second time, Paul was mocking them.  He was essentially saying, "All things are lawful for me because I can choose to commit any sin I want, but I will not allow myself to be dominated by any sin because of the freedom I have in Christ from those sins."

Because of the sinful condition of the world we live in, Satan berates our minds with tempting sins, which differs from person to person.  However, Paul writes to Timothy that "God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control" (2 Timothy 1:7).  We are given the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer our sins and to have self-control.

"Deliver Us From Evil"

*Edited October 7, 2015.*

Before I started my Lutheran confirmation classes, I read the entire Book of Concord and one of the things that really struck me was what Luther said about the last petition of the Lord’s Prayer.  In this petition, many English translations read, “but deliver us from evil.”  For those who can read Greek, this is what it says in the original language:  ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς τοῦ πονηροῦ, which translated correctly, says, “but rescue [or deliver] us from the evil one.  As Luther points out, “It looks like Jesus was speaking about the devil, like He would summarise every petition in one” (Large Catechism, Part 3, The Lord’s Prayer, 113).  Before, when I would recite the Lord’s Prayer or read it, when I got to this seventh petition I would think of deliverance from evil things of the world, but now that I look at the Greek it’s not just those things (for the evil things of the world are Satan’s instruments of evil).  Luther says that temptation is of three kinds:  the flesh, the world, and the Devil (LC, Part 3, 101).  Satan uses all these methods as a means to an end to deceive and, as he hopes, to defeat us.  Like Luther, it intrigues me that Jesus uses this petition of deliverance from the evil one as the last petition.  We are to pray for all the other six petitions, which Luther explains in detail in his Small and Large Catechisms, but this one petition in particular is asking to be delivered from Satan specifically.

Praying for such deliverance can deliver us from any of his means — the flesh, the world, and even the Devil himself and his demons.  I won’t discuss it at length, but in the past I have faced a lot of demon attacks, and so I’ve come to regularly pray for deliverance from Satan and his demons.  Every time I do, God never fails to deliver me from evil, and the attacks cease until the next time I sense their presence.  I don’t recite the Lord’s Prayer when I do this like a ritualistic Pharisee because ritualism is often not genuine and sincere and it’s not what God asks for our teaches us to do, but I pray with my own words and genuineness, using the Lord’s Prayer as a guideline, and God never fails me.  As Luther describes, “There is also included in this petition whether evil may happen to us under the devil’s kingdom:  poverty, shame, death, and, in short, all the agonising misery and heartache of which there is such an unnumbered multitude on the earth.  Since the devil is not only a liar, but also a murderer [John 8:44], he constantly seeks our life” (LC, Part 3, 115).  That’s why we often have to pray to be delivered from him.  All the methods that Satan uses have the same end goal:  our destruction.

Although Satan uses the evil things of the world as a method to bring our lives to an end, since they all derive from him, that is not the only thing we must pray against.  We must pray against the evil one himself, “for he is an enemy that never stops or becomes tired” (LC, Part 3, 109).  Therefore, we must be ever vigilant and maintain situational awareness and never take off the armour of God (Ephesians 6:11-18).  Pray against all your fleshly temptations, all your worldly temptations and tribulations, and ultimately against the Devil himself and his demons.  Christ put this petition last because “if we are to be preserved and delivered from all evil, God’s name must first be hallowed in us, His kingdom must be with us, and His will must be done” (LC, Part 3, 118).  All Christians face spiritual attacks from the Devil in multiple ways.  Because this is never ending, Christ exhorts us to pray as He taught us (Matthew 6:9-13), not as a ritualistic pattern (hence, “Pray like this”), but as a perfect guideline so that we may be delivered from all evil and its master.

References

McCain, Paul Timothy., W.H.T. Dau, and F. Bente. Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions: A

     Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House, 2006.

"Judge not, that ye be not judged"

*Edited October 8, 2015.*

Matthew 7:1-5, “Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with the judgement you pronounce it will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.  Why do you seek the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

People often through the phrase, “Judge not, that ye be not judged” all over social media whenever someone dares to contradict or challenge their point of view or lifestyle. They quote this first verse in defence of the ideology that judging people in any way is morally wrong, ignoring the rest of the passage (which, unfortunately, many Christians ignore the context of which the verse they quote is in).  Saying, “Do not judge” is itself a moral judgement against those who make moral judgements.  Yes, we shouldn’t judge people based on their appearances and personality types, but this sense of judging is not what Jesus is talking about on this Sermon on the Mount.  If it were, it would contradict with the rest of what Jesus says in verses 2-5, illustrating for us how we are to make proper judgements.  It would also contradict with what He said in John 7:24, “Do not judge by appearance [which is exactly what I said just a few sentences ago], but judge with righteous judgement.”  Righteous judgement is exactly what Jesus illustrated for us in Matthew 7:2-5.

In order to understand what type of judgement Jesus is talking about here, we need to look at the original Greek language.  The word for “judging” that Jesus used here is the word κρίνω (KREE-no), which means to take the seat of a judge and pass judgement on somebody — literally, “to condemn.”  Condemnation to what?  To Hell.  A judge in court declares  somebody guilty and sentences them to imprisonment.  This is what Jesus is telling us not to do — to not declare somebody guilty and sentence them to eternal imprisonment in Hell.  Why?  Because God is the ultimate Judge; He is the one that judges, therefore leave that to Him.

Why does Jesus tell us to judge righteously?  He has commissioned us to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20), which is where we draw the term, “witnessing the Gospel.”  When witnessing, the application of Law and Gospel is necessary.  The Law has three functions:  it functions as a curb, as a mirror, and as a guide.  As a curb on the side of the road redirects us on the right path to restrain us from going off the road, the Law does the same thing with sin.  It convicts us, and because it convicts us, it restrains us from continuing in that sin.  As a mirror, the Law reveals to us our sinfulness and dirtiness, hence, “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).  Because the Law reveals to us our hopelessness in our sin, it guides us to the Gospel.  And this, after revealing the sin through the Law, is where we witness the Gospel — the forgiveness of sins because of what Christ did for us and what He continues to do for us, and what He will do when He returns.

Going back to the Sermon on the Mount, basically what Jesus is saying in 7:2-5 about exercising  righteous judgement is this:  Do not look at somebody’s sin and condemn them to Hell or try to get them to change their ways before working on your own sin that binds you, especially if it’s the same sin or something similar.  (For example, if you unrepentantly commit premarital sex, it would be wrong for you to try and reform the actions of an unrepentant adulterer, for  you are also guilty of a sexual sin that you have not plucked from your own eye.)  First, go to Scripture and see what God’s Word has to say about your own sin, then spend ample time in prayer, fellowship, and application to overcome it (remember that this is done through the Holy Spirit, not by your own works).  Once that happens, then you’ll be able to see more clearly and will be better equipped to help your brother or sister in Christ who suffers with a particular sin.  In essence, this is righteous judgement:  not condemning someone to Hell for their sins, but rather recognising that they are in sin and helping them to turn away from it after you have turned away from your own with the help of God.

Why Doesn't God Stop Evil?

This is the most often asked question in the study of theodicy.  Whether it's asked by Christians or unbelievers, it remains as the top asked question in Christian history.  The truth is, other than original sin, nobody really knows what horrors He has saved the world from because we can't see what never happened.  All evil flows from independence, and independence — choosing to be apart from God — creates the promulgation of evil.  If God were to simply revoke all the choices of independence, the world as we know it would cease to exist, and love (God's love) would have no meaning.  The world is not a playground where God keeps all of His children free from evil.  Evil is the chaos of this age that we brought upon ourselves since the Fall of Man, but it will not have the final say.  Evil touches everyone whom God loves — those who follow Him and those who do not.  If God takes away the consequences of peoples' decisions, He destroys the possibility of love.  Love that is forced is no love at all.

Don't forget that in the midst of all our pain and heartache, we are surrounded by beauty, the wonder of Creation, art, our music and culture, the sounds of laughter and feelings of love, of new life and transformation, and of reconciliation and forgiveness especially given by Christ.  These are also the results of our choices, and every choice matters, even the hidden ones.  The question of "why" is irrelevant, because whose choices should God countermand?  Perhaps He should have never created?  Perhaps Adam should have been stopped before he chose independence?  By doing that, it eliminates the possibility of love.  What about a married couple's choice to have another child, only to tragically lose him or her a couple years later?  Or even at birth?  Or a man's choice to beat his wife and/or children?  By doing that, it eliminates giving them the opportunity to learn mercy and comfort given by Him, in which they can also give to others in similar situations.  We demand our independence, yet we complain that God actually loves us enough to give it to us (which is done when we reject His grace).  It is not the nature of love to force a relationship, but it is the nature of love to open the way, and that way has been opened through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Just because God works incredible good out of terrible tragedies does not mean that he orchestrates the tragedy.  God is good; it's impossible for Him to do evil.  Don't ever assume that His using something means He caused it or that He needs it to accomplish His purposes.  That will only lead you to false notions about Him.  Grace does not depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colours.

People who have a misunderstanding of God's love and goodness will ask questions like, "Why did God allow people like Hitler to exist?"  Such people are focusing on the wrong aspect of that historical event.  Did God let such people reign eternally?  No, He did not.  He provided other rulers who brought him down.  Evil always rears its ugly head because of the sinful condition that the world is in, which is our own doing.  As darkness is the absence of light, so evil is the absence of good — that is, the goodness of God.  Light doesn't cause darkness; that's scientifically impossible.  Likewise, as God is the Light, it is supernaturally impossible for Him to cause evil.

Evil never lasts forever.  God always has a means to bring evil to an end.  Evil will not have the final say; Jesus Christ will have the final say, for He has said, "Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with Me, to repay each one for what he has done.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (Revelation 22:12-13).  Jesus Christ is the end of all things, and the beginning of our eternal life with Him.