Pathways For Sojourners

[Beetow]

.
038) Rom 13:8 . . Owe no man anything.

Some have construed that verse to mean it's a sin to have a mortgage, a car
payment, and/or a credit card balance. However, the Greek word for "owe" is
ambiguous with a number of meanings, one of which is to fail in duty; viz: fail to
meet your obligations.

In today's world; debt is nigh unto impossible to avoid; but debt is acceptable for
Christians just so long as they pay their bills on time. Christ can be neither pleased
nor honored when his followers are known as deadbeats.
_

 

[Beetow]

.
039) Rom 13:12 . . Put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

In the first chapter of Genesis, God made a distinct difference between light and
darkness. I think it is very notable that God labeled the light "good" but He didn't
label darkness good.

I believe that chapter set the tone; in other words: from that point on in the Bible,
darkness typically represents something harmful, distasteful, and/or unbecoming;
while light always represents something tasteful, becoming, and/or beneficial. So
then we could label the deeds of darkness as deeds inappropriate for Christ's
followers, and we could label the armor of light as deeds befitting his followers. In
other words: deeds befitting Christ's followers are their first line of defense in a
world gone mad with evil.

● 1Pet 3:10-12 . .Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue
from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he
must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and
his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who
do evil.
_

 

[Beetow]

.
040) Rom 13:13 . . Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and
drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and envy.

"in the day" could be construed to mean "in that day" which would indicate life and
society as it will be in the kingdom God. Well; needless to say, people then
probably won't be acting like they do now, so maybe we should start preparing for
that day by putting these instructions into enough practice to make them become a
habit.

The Greek word translated "envy" is somewhat ambiguous. It includes-- along with
envy --jealousy, indignation, and outrage.

The Greek word for "strife" is somewhat ambiguous too. It includes-- along with
strife --quarreling, wrangling, contention, debate, and a whole other bunch of ugly
stuff associated with variance, e.g. recriminations, toxic rejoinders, and caustic
sarcasm.
_

 

[Beetow]

.
041) Rom 13:14 . . .Clothe yourselves with The Lord Jesus Christ

Clothing one's self with a personage was a figure of speech many years ago which
would correspond in our day to "emulation" which Webster's defines as trying to be
like someone or something you admire.

They say that imitation is the highest flattery. Well; if you'd like to flatter Christ;
then adopt his integrity, his principles, and his core values. But don't guess at
them; learn them, by instruction, from someone that The Lord has empowered for
teaching his ways. (Eph 4:11-15)
_

 

[Beetow]

.
042) Rom 14:1 . . Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on
disputable matters.

The components of a strong faith consists of knowledge, confidence, assurance, and
conviction, whereas a weak faith is vacillating; viz: it's not all that sure whether
something is wrong for a Christian; or even whether something is right.

Disputable matters are matters of opinion rather than matters of fact. Opinions are
often subjective, biased, and arbitrary, rather than objective, unbiased, and by-the
book. Opinions inevitably invite perpetual debating that never really gets to the
bottom of anything; which, in matters of spiritual significance is strictly forbidden
within the context of the 14th chapter of Romans; because debatable matters are
not matters of doctrine; but rather; matters of conscience.

We're not talking about black and white doctrines and principles here. Those are
not open to debate. We're talking about gray areas.

"Thou shalt not commit adultery" is black and white; whereas issues like video
games, music, fashions, foods, cosmetics, movies, self defense, gambling, swim
suits, politics, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, fasting, religious art, crucifixes, couture,
and holy days of obligation are debatable. In regards to those areas; let every man
be fully persuaded in his own mind rather than somebody else's mind.

Those are things about which each has to decide for themselves according to the
dictates of their own conscience; and God forbid they should impose their personal
dictates upon others and thus become bossy because that's playing God and
usurping Christ's sovereign prerogative to make the rules for his own church.
_

 

[Beetow]

.
043) Rom 14:2-4 . . One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another
man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The 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.

If there's a Christian out there sincerely believing in their own mind that fast food,
GMO, high fructose corn syrup, non organic produce, processed foods, grain-fed
beef, raw oysters, sushi, and/or anything fried in lard is sinful; well, more power to
them: but God forbid they should criticize a fellow believer who disagrees because
there are no hard and fast black and white rules regulating those issues for Christ's
followers. Each has to decide for their own self where to stand on things like those.

NOTE: Christians are exempt from Jewish dietary laws because the church's
association with God is by means of a different covenant than the covenant that
Moses' people entered into with God per Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy.
_

 

[Beetow]

.
044) Rom 14:5 . . One man considers one day more sacred than another; another
man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

Common Christian holy days are The Lord's Day (Sunday), Solemnity of Mary the
Mother of God, the Epiphany, Solemnity of Saint Joseph Husband of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, the Ascension Trinity Sunday, Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul,
Good Friday, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, All Saints, the Feast of the
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Ash Wednesday, the Nativity of
our Lord Jesus Christ (Christmas), Easter, and the Sabbath.

If your denomination, or your church of choice, rules that days like the above are
sacred, then for you they are. Whether God himself sees them as sacred is
irrelevant. What matters is whether you are convinced in your own mind that He
does because the focus of the 14th of Romans is upon matters of conscience rather
than matters of fact.
_

 

[Beetow]

.
045) Rom 14:13a . .Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another.

Within the context of the 14th of Romans, "passing judgment" pertains to criticizing
and/or scorning others when they refuse to accept and/or comply with your own
personal gray-area beliefs and practices.
_

 

[Beetow]

.
046) Rom 14:13b . . Make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle
in your brother's way.

The Greek word translated "stumbling block" basically means a stub. For example:
one year I cut down a troublesome bush in my front yard and left a bit of a stump
sticking up out of the ground that later damaged my lawn mower when I
accidentally ran over it while cutting the grass; which had grown tall enough to
conceal the stump. In that respect, stumbling blocks are hazards not easily
detected.

Within the context of the 14th of Romans, I would equate stumbling blocks to the
clever sophistry that silver-tongued Bible thumpers employ to persuade people to
accept things contrary to their convictions and their conscience. Should you get
pulled into a debate with one of those thumpers you'll be frustrated because no
matter how skillfully defended your position, they will continue to oppose it with
one rebuttal after another; so the best track is: put on your best poker face and
decline to argue, i.e. if you've declared your position, then you're done: you're not
required to defend it; in point of fact, you're required to remain silent. (Rom 14:1)
_