A Call to Repentence

[handy]

This discussion is a carry over from one in Politics that was hopelessly off topic. I'm posting two posts from that thread to get the ball rolling:

God did not call us to point out the sin of others. If he did, I'd like to see the scripture that declares it.

Sure, Firestorm, I'd love to share with you true examples of the real gospel. The Holy Spirit called the apostles and the rest of us to share the gospel wth the world. And, the Holy Spirit preserved for us examples of how the Jesus andthe apostles shared that messages. Here are a few of them for you to look at:

Luke 17:1-3 "He said to His disciples, "It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him."

Luke 24:46-48 "and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."

Acts 2:38 "Peter said to them,"Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Acts 17:30 "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent"

Acts 26:15-18 "And I said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me."

Romans 3:12-13 "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 "Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body."

1 Timothy 5:20 "Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning."

2 Timothy 4:1-4 "I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths."

The gospel message is both of repentence and forgiveness. The gospel message is not God loves you and doesn't care about your sin. The gospel message is "REPENT from your sin, and God will forgive you"

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Next response:

Dora I noticed you didn't actually address the request. The Bible never gives us instructions to decide on what is or is not sin, nor does it tell us we have the authority to point out the sin of others.

Again, it's becoming pretty clear that we as Christians have decided to take over the job of the Holy Spirit.

No, we do not have instructions to decide on what is or is not sin. However, it's quite clear from the Scriptures what is and isn't sin. Things like murder, theft, rape, lying, sexual promiscuity, homosexuality, drunkeness, arrogance, pride, lust, envy.... all these things are clearly and openly stated as sin in the Holy Scriptures. And, it is part of the gospel message to rebuke, reprove and call others to repentence for those sins. Just as we were called ourselves to do so.

In case it got lost in all the quoting let me repeat 2 Timothy 4:1-4" "I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths."

Again, we are called upon to preach the word, and the word makes it quite clear that there are certain behaviors that are sinful. We don't get to decided what is sin and what isn't sin, and we also don't get to decide what part of God's word is not for today. We are living in the times of folks wanting the ears tickled and folks wanting teachers who will say only what they want them to say. If we are living in a day when a woman with a fully functional womb who has delievered a baby via vaginal birth can be called a man, we are certanly living in times in which people are wanting to turn aside to myths.

I guess what is troubling me the most lately is that the church is getting out of balance. On the one hand we find many Christians who want to treat sinners as dirt and act holier-than-thou. But, on the other hand, there are many Christians who want to try to convince everyone that to even call sin sin, to rebuke, reprove, exhort etc. is equal with being judgmental. Both extremes are wrong. We need to call out for repentence, but balance that with the rest of the story.

REPENT from sins, be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and you will be saved from judgment for your sins.

 

[Pogo]

Hi Firestorm -

I see the passage below as being relevant to your statements above.

I don't really expect you, or anyone, for that matter, to agree with my interpretations of the scriptures, but I would be interested to know your interpretation of the following passage.

Especially the REPROVE, REBUKE, and EXHORT, part!

2 Timothy 4:1-2 KJV
(1) I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
(2) Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

In Christ,

Pogo