If Christians are to be "in the world, but not of the world"...?

Question

and since we are not "citizens" of this world, do we have the right to finger point and condemn the actions of NON-Christians? I am not advocating stopping the preaching of the Gospel, but stopping the nagging, hateful tones that we use when talking about sinners. I compare us to an American in Korea condemning the people there about eating dog. Americans do not have the right to harass them in their own country about the way they live.

We are to be the salt and light to the earth, but are we doing a good job at that? Is it profittable to protest gay marches and picket outside abortion clinics and yel hateful and derogatory remarks at passers-by?

If you agree that we are not doing a good job, then how could we do a better job? If you disagree and think that we should act this way, please show me Scripture that backs up this behavior.

Answer 1

I agree with you. We're not supposed to condemn the sins of non-Christians. However, we ARE supposed to lovingly point out the errors of our brothers and sisters.

Answer 2

I have not found one passage in the bible that gives us the right to judge a non Christian. There are many in there about judging our brothers and sisters. I think it is Ezekiel 3 that says to warn the wicked man of his wicked ways. but a warning is not a judgment and we are just to warn only once that is all it takes to get the blood off our hands.

Jesus did more yelling at the religious people then He ever did at a non believer as a matter fact I do not think there is a verse where he was upset with the non believers. I maybe wrong. Even when we tell a brother or sister we better make sure we do not have a plank in our eye and since we are all sinners and there is always going to be a plank hummmmm

Answer 3

Many people find it difficult to separate tolerance and acceptance of a way of life. I can be tolerant and allow someone to do as they wish; however, I do not have to agree with it at all. I can present them with my opinion based upon scripture if they ask, but the choice is up to them.

Many Christians are forgetting a key thing. We are responsible for spreading the gospel. No where does it say that we are responsible for the choice someone makes when they are presented with the gospel! We continue to condemn and we continue to fight like we are responsible for what others do. Some truly believe that God will be angry at them for not fighting against someone else. It is a true misunderstanding of what God wants of us and who he really is. After watching this for years, I really think this is the problem.

Look at the people that continually believe that God hates every gay person in the world. Are they doing this because they feel like it? No, they do it because they HONESTLY believe this is what God has called them to do in order to make this world turn away from their sinful practices.

We need to remember we are NOT responsible for others. We are responsible for giving the gospel in the utmost love. For myself, I use the teaching of St. Francis. At all times preach the gospel, if necessary, use words. It is by my ACTIONS that I want others to know that God is in my life.

Answer 4

protesting by picketing and boycoting is proper... yelling hateful and derogatory remarks is not... at least for those professing to be of The Christian Faith.... properly trained missionaries do not go into other cultures and start condeming local social practices... there are some practices that Christians may not participate in.. but Never are they to be condemned outright... if local customs are repected,then, in most cases, the customs of the missionaries will also be respected... The Good News is NEVER to be imposed upon any one.

Answer 5

I guess I have never heard the nagging and hateful tones you are speaking of coming from any Christians that I know. As far as the sins of homosexuality and murdering babies is concerned, God hates those things and is angry with sinners every day. I believe that verse speaks of unrepentant sinners.

If Christians don't take a stand against sin then nobody else will. Remember Jesus driving the money changers out of the temple and rebuking the Pharisees with words like blind leaders of the blind, hypocrites, and whitewashed sepulchres and etc.? Do you also remember Paul calling a man the son of the devil and telling him he would be blind for a season, and the man was immediately struck blind? Do you recall when Annanias and Sapphira came and lied to Peter, and Peter spoke to them and told them they were not lying to men but to the Holy Spirit and they would drop dead and be carried away? Sometimes God calls us to battle evil and the words we speak come with authority and power and are resented by worldly people and Christians who are soft and weak and afraid to stand up for righteousness and the cause of Christ and they are misinterpreted as being nagging and contentious and hateful.

It is all in the matter of how you view things. Certainly there are Christians who are immature and speak in the flesh and don't understand how to speak under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and they do damage to the cause of Christ and drive others away from the Lord, but there are also those who know how to speak a word in season and are mature enough to know when to speak and when to be quiet.

In both cases these people serve the cause of Christ because God even uses our stupidity and turns it to good for those who can receive it.

Every Christian is at a certain level of maturity. Our personal responsibility to God and our fellow man is to be students of the Word and to walk close enough to God so that we can hear and obey His voice. Then we will act in accord with His commands and desires and He will be pleased and people will be drawn to Him. No matter how well we prepare there will always be those who will resent the message of the gospel in any manner it is presented.

"The gospel is an offense to those who perish, but to us who are saved it is the power of God unto salvation to us who believe, first to the Jew and then to the Gentile."

Answer 6

I agree with you, we could do a better job.
However, it seems like no matter what we do,
our speech about pro-life and morality is
considered "hate" even when it is not hate
at all. To me, I have seen only a few do bad
in this area and many actually protecting
unalienable rights!
The problem is that it is all perceived wrongly and
when something is actually doing wrong, it is magnified and
exagerated greatly because of the hate towards
God and the hate towards convictions about doing
wrong in God's eyes.
We just need to continue our strong faith and
practice more and more love, and Not tolerance because
tolerance is not the same as love.

Answer 7

I agree completely our own house needs to be repaired before we start telling others their house is falling down. Why would anyone want to be part of a religion that is constantly condemming fellow believers. ie, Catholics against Baptists and visa versa. is fact that we are all Christian not enough do we all have to worship in the same way?
And the majority of people today know our beliefs. It isnt necessary to try to convert today. Even Jesus told his deciples when they entered a town to preach the word, if they will hear let them hear if not shake the dust from you sandles when you leave.

Answer 8

All we need to do is look at the example Jesus left for us. It did not include any type of condemnation for those outside the Jewish faith. The Roman empire had committed horrendous acts against the Jewish people including the slaughter of thousands of Jewish children at the time that Jesus was born. I think we loose sight of what our commission is when we focus on the problems you have described. True religion has nothing to do with attempting to force our beliefs on non-believers.

Answer 9

Satan has been in the Christian church for many years now. But there are some - as in Elijah's time, who did not bow their knee to Baal. And so I do what I hear the Father tell me to do through His Spirit. Anyone can believe what they want, but I am not one of those. I want to do what God wants. So I do the will of God who loves me, and everyone else gets to fret what evil men do.
( Psalm 37)

I thank God I am His to serve.

Answer 10

I agree that we are in this world but not of the world. That means we are of Godliness and not live according to the ways of the world. The answer is if we say we are following Christ, then we are to have the same characteristics and do what He did.