April 19, 2004


Another Morality Tale
Posted by Bryan

From Mikey's Funnies, one to grow on:

    The church gossip, and self-appointed arbiter of the church's morals, kept sticking her nose into other people's business. Several church members were unappreciative of her activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence.

    She made a mistake, however, when she accused George, a new member, of being drunk after she saw his pickup truck parked in front of the town's only bar one afternoon.

    She commented to George on a Sunday morning, in the company of many, that everyone seeing it there would know what he was doing.

    George, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and just walked away. He didn't explain, defend, or deny; he said nothing.

    Later that evening, George quietly parked his pickup in front of her house and left it there all night.


April 19, 2004 8:10 AM | TrackBack
Comments

LOL
Now that's a good way to start off my morning!

Posted by: Doug at April 19, 2004 8:48 AM

Now, the non-humorous part of this post ...

While living in St Marys, GA, we had a very good friend whom we went to church with named Ian. Ian happened to do wood working stuff. A guy who owned a local drinking establishment had asked Ian to build him a new bar, which Ian did ... needing the extra money and all.

There actually WAS a lady from church who saw his truck out in front of the bar and DID confront him in church ... as, Ian was a Sunday School Teacher ....

Now, the question that begs to be asked:

Did Ian "avoid all appearance of evil" 1Thess. 5:22 (KJV)? Or, should we do what subsequent translations say and "Avoid from every evil" (NIV)? "Abstain from every form of evil." (NKJV/ASV/NASB) ... "Keep away from every kind of evil." (NLT) ....

Oh, that begs a "What version and why?" type of question --- without getting into semetics with it..

Posted by: Tony Rosen at April 19, 2004 1:33 PM

A little 1 Thes. 5:22 Jerky upon which to chew.

I like this argument presented here because I think it is honoring to the word and spirit of the gospel.

a fine line with lots of variables. I'm just thankful that the Christ's light-bearing shadow of grace encompasses even this issue, too.

Posted by: Bryan at April 19, 2004 3:49 PM

LOL! I love it. Very funny.

As to the more serious discussion 1Thess. 5:22, what about this verse, Mark 2:15 -

And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.

Christ certainly wasn't avoiding the evil people. Don't forget He also made wine from water for a wedding celebration.

One must balance the two verses.

The real sinner in the life illustration is the woman, not the man. She is the one who jumps to the erroneous conclusion, just as the Pharisees did with Jesus.

What kind of person makes an assumption that a person is drunk by seeing a car parked in front of a bar? One who is self-righteous.

What if the man was called to come to the bar because a person trapped in the sin of alcoholism was drunk at the bar telephoned for help?

Could the man not go to the bar and help the fallen man because it would appear that he himself were drunk?

Posted by: Hal at April 21, 2004 7:56 PM
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