Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 195

“Judge Not” and the Importance of Discernment

In this video and the following transcript, I share some thoughts:

A reader asked me, “You say in a blog post that the most quoted verse these days is ‘Judge not.’ Can you give some insight into this verse? How do we know if we’re judging correctly or not?”

This is a great question. Let’s look at Matthew 7:1-2:

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

So clearly here Jesus is saying, “Don’t judge.” But the context is king when we’re interpreting Scripture—and in verses 3-5 he goes right on to say:

How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

It’s clear that “Judge not” does not mean you can’t see a speck in your brother’s eye or that in seeing it you have no responsibility to help your brother remove it. On the contrary, He’s saying yes, see that speck in your brother’s eye, but take the log out of your eye first so you can help him.

So “judge not” doesn’t mean “Don’t discern.” We are to help each other, which requires a certain amount of discernment. Then, Jesus says in the very next verse (6):

Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs.

Well, without even getting into the meaning of that verse, we can see that this requires discernment. Clearly it requires we see that a person can be acting like a pig and that there are certain things that we need to be careful of putting in front of them.

Right in the immediate context of “Judge not” you have with great clarity evidence that you are still to be discerning. We are not to go around condemning people. But at the same time, we’re to recognize what God says in His Word. If God says in His Word that adultery is a sin, and He clearly does, I am not being judgmental if I look at a person committing adultery and conclude that they are sinning. I’m simply believing what Scripture says.

If I have a relationship with that person, I need to go to them and say, “You know, what you’re doing is not right. God is not pleased with this and He’s going to judge you for it. You need to repent and turn to Christ.”

You might say, “Now that’s condemning them and judging them.” No—that’s just believing what God has said is true and then trying to help the person because sin is in no one’s best interest. Sometimes we act as if we should look the other way, just let our friends and family members go on with their sins, and never say anything about it. Well, that’s not good for them. Sin is not good for us; righteousness and holiness is. And it’s good for our brothers.

So judge not, yet use discernment.

      

Related Resources

Product: The Grace and Truth Paradox CD Set
Blog: Speak the Truth in Love
Resource: Responding with Christlike Balance

You Say "This Is History’s Darkest Hour"? G. Campbell Morgan Says, "Oh, Be Quiet!"

My first pastor was Marden Wickman, at Powell Valley Covenant Church in Gresham, Oregon. I came to faith in Christ through that church, and Pastor Wickman baptized me. For 35 years now Nanci (who grew up in that church) and I have lived less than a mile from Powell Valley Covenant’s church building. I drive by it several times a week and am flooded with memories.

I loved Marden Wickman, who loved to preach God’s Word. There was one preacher he quoted more than any other—G. Campbell Morgan. Under Pastor Wickman’s influence, I bought Morgan’s Westminster Pulpit, the five volume collection of his sermons, and I also read many of Morgan’s books.

G. Campbell Morgan was a British scholar and the pastor who preceded Martyn Lloyd Jones at Westminster Chapel. One of his many books was The Unfolding Message of the Bible, which he wrote in 1961. That was over fifty years ago.

Recently I was reading a portion in this book where G. Campbell Morgan said something I think evangelical Christians in America really need to hear today—especially those who are obsessed with how bad things are in our culture, and those convinced that as a result of how bad it’s getting, Christ absolutely has to return right away.

I should back up and say I was a new Christian in the seventies when everyone was reading Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth, the bestseller of the decade. We listened to Bible teachers “proving” from Scripture that Christ had to return by 1980. They based this largely on the predominant interpretation of Matthew 24:32-34, calculating that Israel’s return as a nation in 1948 demanded that Christ would come within thirty years of that event, or at least forty. And besides, we said, “Look around, how much darker can things get?” And here we are, forty years later.  (One of my friends didn’t get dental work done—“Why spend the money when Christ is going to return within a year or two?” Believe me, he lived to regret it.)

I do believe in the imminent return of Christ, which means He CAN return any time, as has been true for 2,000 years. But it also means, despite all the books persuading people these are the darkest days of history and that current events in Iran and Iraq are fulfilling Bible prophecies, He does not HAVE TO return anytime.

Listen to Dr. Morgan, writing over fifty years ago:

I have no sympathy with people who tell us today that these are the darkest days the world has ever seen. The days in which we live are appalling, but they do not compare with conditions in the world when Jesus came into it. Historians talk of the Pax Romana and make much of the fact that there was peace everywhere, the Roman peace. Do not forget that the Roman peace was the result of the fact that the world had been bludgeoned brutally into submission to one central power.…

Notwithstanding the prevailing conditions, the dominant note of these Letters, revealing the experience of the Church, is a note of triumph. The dire and dread facts and conditions are never lost sight of—indeed, they are there all the way through. The people are seen going out and facing these facts—and suffering because of these facts—but we never see them depressed and cast down, we never see them suffering from pessimistic fever. They are always triumphant. That is the glory of Christianity. If ever I am tempted to think that religion is almost dead today, it is when I listen to the wailing of some Christian people: “Everything is wrong,” or “Everything is going wrong.” Oh, be quiet! Think again, look again, judge not by the circumstances of the passing hour but by the infinite things of our Gospel and our God. And that is exactly what these people did.

When Morgan said, “Oh, be quiet!” it is a close equivalent to “Just shut up, would you?” Yes, let’s serve Jesus faithfully and seek to preserve Christian liberties, but let’s not whine about things being so dark. Instead, let’s shine the light as faithful children of God. Let’s trust Jesus to return when He is good and ready to do so, whether that is today, or a hundred years from now, or a thousand. Let’s live as people who are indeed going to meet Jesus soon, either by His return or our deaths. And let’s be ready to meet Him, and by His grace, hear those incredible words: “Well done, my good and faithful servant; enter into your Master’s joy.”

“But concerning that day and hour [when Christ will return] no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” Matthew 24:36

“Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.” Philippians 2:15

      

Related Resources

Book: Heaven
Blog: What do you think of linking current events to the end times?

Surviving the Dangers of Prosperity

Dwight L. Moody once said, “We can stand affliction better than we can prosperity. For in prosperity, we forget God.” In the following video and transcript, I share some related thoughts.

Moody’s quote reminds me of something that Josef Tson, a believer who was nearly martyred in Ceauşescu’s Romania, said in a class I was taking from him: “Ninety percent of Christians pass the test of adversity, while ninety percent of Christians fail the test of prosperity.”

This is really in keeping with God’s Word. For instance, Deuteronomy 6:10-12 says,

When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

We need to realize that if not for the work of God in our lives, we would have never experienced these abundant blessings. How many good things come our way that we didn’t work for or earn or achieve, but were just given into our laps through the homes we grew up in and the culture we live in? These blessings come through the things that God has done in the past and is doing in the present for us.

Hosea 13:6 says, “When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.” That’s always the danger—to look at all that God has given us and start to think, “This is about us.” We can begin to believe that somehow we deserve all that we have instead of acknowledging the sovereign grace of God that has put these good things into our hands.

So let’s be conscious in prosperity. The only way you can survive prosperity is to see it as a gift from God’s hand, and to use it generously to help other people.

      

Related Resources

Book: The Treasure Principle
Blog: It's No Accident You Live in This Time and Place
Article: Giving and Receiving in a Buying and Selling Culture

Our Call to Care for Orphans

This coming May 2-3, the Christian Alliance for Orphans is hosting their annual Summit in Nashville, Tennessee. Summit 9’s goal is to inspire, equip, and connect for adoption, foster care, and global orphan ministry. This year’s conference speakers include David Platt, Dennis Rainey, and many more. (Learn more and register at www.summit9.org.)

Due to continued problems with TMJ and recovering from oral surgery, I regrettably had to cancel my speaking engagement at Summit 9. But I still want to encourage you to attend if you have the opportunity, and to pray for all who are attending and those involved in making the conference happen.

I love the heart behind Summit, and it’s exciting to see so many Christians who are passionate about caring for orphans. Every time you see people who are pro-adoption and proactive about caring for the fatherless, it conveys the value of human life and the importance of meeting the needs of the truly needy. Scripture emphasizes helping widows and orphans, and adoption is all about opening your home to the neediest of those. James 1:27 says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” For an orphan to be physically without a father and ultimately without a mother is an unthinkable place for a child to be.

True, not every family is called to adopt or to provide foster care. But should the people of God as a whole be challenged to get involved and support other people in the body of Christ who are? I would say they absolutely should support not only those in their own church who wish to adopt or foster, but also those in other churches and other places.

We must learn to see orphans as God does—“He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing” (Deut. 10:18). Furthermore, we must act toward them as God commands us to act:

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. (Ps. 82:3–4)

As we intervene on behalf of His children, let’s realize it is Christ Himself for whom we intervene (Matt. 25:40).

      

If you’d like to be involved in helping an orphan care ministry financially, a wonderful one that works with local churches is Hope for Orphans (a ministry of Family Life Today). Beginning May 1 there is opportunity to see your gift matched dollar for dollar. 

Related Resources

Book: Why ProLife?
Resource: Adoption: An Interview with Randy Alcorn
Blog: Orphanages Can Be Used Greatly by God

“The Least of These”: Caring for The Environment of God’s Earth

We’re continuing our blog series called The Least of These, based on George Verwer’s excellent article “Seven People Lying on the Side of the Road: Will you be a good Samaritan?”. George may have surprised some by including the environment in his list as an area that we as Christians need to be concerned about and take initiative in caring for. But I’m very glad he did. I agree with what Geroge says:

It is a shame that so many evangelical Christians not only have little concern for the environment, but are sometimes known as anti-environmental. How can this be when our Creator God has asked us to care for his creation? Not only is our pollution of the earth totally unacceptable, but this is an issue that our young people care about; and if we don’t connect with them on valid issues such as preservation of the environment, how can we expect them to listen to us at all?

Why have so many Christians historically shied away from creation care? I think the answer is that  concern for the environment is generally regarded as part of the liberal agenda. What sounds socially liberal sounds theologically liberal. And, understandably, biblical conservatives don’t want to sound liberal.

We need to think this through carefully. I’m morally/politically conservative on issues such as abortion, in which lives are at stake. But I am also concerned about the welfare of the environment God has entrusted to our care. We need to understand that human lives are at stake in the issue of creation care! Consider, for instance, how many people die from contaminated water. Taking care of water is taking care of people!

There is absolutely no conflict whatsoever between standing up for human lives and caring for the environment. In fact, they are a perfect fit. How can you be prolife and not care about environmental conditions that can either foster and sustain life or harm and destroy life?

Keep in mind God’s Word: “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). This is not our place to trash. It’s God’s place to treasure. To care for the world is to care for its people. To take care of people is to fulfill the second greatest commandment, to love our neighbors as ourselves. In doing so we also obey the greatest commandment, to love God with all our hearts.

You don’t have to like or agree with Al Gore in order to care about God’s creation. Christians have no business dismissing everyone who cares about this planet as “environmental wackos” “eco-Nazis,” cranks, and chicken littles. Yes, of course there are extremists. (Hey, I live in Oregon. I know those extremists, but I still want Oregon to remain clean and beautiful!) Remember, there are “Christian wackos” too, but most of us do not appreciate being dismissed by that label. Don’t throw out the baby of responsible earth-care with the bathwater of anti-enterprise gloom.

The Evangelical Environmental Network gives us these four reasons for caring for the environment:

Christ died to reconcile all of creation to God (Col. 1:20).
All of creation belongs to Jesus (Col. 1:16; Ps. 24:1).
It fulfills the Great Commandments to love God and love what God loves. (It's hard to love a child with asthma when you're filling her lungs with pollution.)
Pollution hurts the poor the most, and Christians are called to care for the poor and the less powerful (Mt. 25:37-40).

These are four very biblical reasons for Christians to be actively involved in preserving our ecosystem and environment without straying into any sort of pantheism or nature worship. Nature powerfully displays the beauty of the Creator, and God uses the wonder of nature to draw people to himself. The profoundly influential revivalist, theologian, philosopher and preacher Jonathan Edwards records this encounter with nature:

I walked abroad alone, in a solitary place in my father's pasture, for contemplation. And as I was walking there, and looked up on the sky and clouds, there came into my mind, so sweet a sense of the glorious majesty and grace of God, that I know not how to express. … God's excellency, his wisdom, his purity and love, seemed to appear in everything; in the sun, moon, and stars; in the clouds, and blue sky; in the grass, flowers, trees; in the water, and all nature. [1]

Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.” I too love the beauty even of this fallen creation (I always think, “What is it going to look like when it is a redeemed creation, on the New Earth?”).

If you’d like to explore more on the topic of creation care, and how you can get involved, my friend Mike Abbatte has written a book titled Gardening Eden that is well researched and readable, engaging and valuable. I wrote the foreword, which you can read in its entirety as a 3-part series on my blog.

Recommended Organizations

Evangelical Environmental Network
creationcare.org

Care of Creation
www.careofcreation.net

May we, as the body and bride of Christ, respect and steward creation as a gift to us from God, and spend this Earth Day not arguing about the extent of global warming or the age of the earth but rejoicing in its splendor and worshiping the Magnificent One who created it.

My thanks to EPM staffers Julia Stager and Stephanie Anderson for assembling resources for this blog.

      

[1] Edwards, Jonathan A.M. A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, In Three Parts. James Crissy. Philadelphia. 1821

Related Resources

Book: The Promise of Heaven
Video: Is it wrong to love this earth?
Blog: Caring for the Environment: should Evangelical Christians be concerned?

Photo credits

hands: Izabelha vis sxc.hu  |  butterfly: waynebrown via sxc.hu  |  landscape: hdkam1 via sxc.hu

Why EPM Supports the International Justice Mission: an African Family’s Story

I watched this video and was deeply touched by the happy outcome, and you will be too. It captures why we support the International Justice Mission. First, a brief background from IJM:

Joseph was accidentally shot when a riot broke out in his neighborhood in Kenya. But later, at the hospital, a police officer pinned the violence on Joseph. There was no proof — he was innocent — but there was nothing Joseph could do.

Before he knew it, Joseph was arrested, charged and facing life in prison. Surrounded by dangerous criminals, he feared for his life. But worst of all, he feared for his pregnant wife and five children at home.

Joseph desperately needed help. An advocate could change everything. Watch his story now and see how this innocent father was finally set free.

      

Related Resources

Book: Money, Possessions, and Eternity
Resource: Rescuing the Oppressed: The International Justice Mission
Blog: Caring for the Needy: What God Says

Why the Revelations of Dr. Gosnell’s Trial Don’t Shock Me, and the Holocaust in Our Midst

A few years ago I wrote a blog about the murder charges against Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist. He’s back in the news (well, some of the news) because of his trial.

Last Friday the EPM staff reposted on my Facebook some of my original comments. That post has had an incredible reach, with over 1,300 shares, more than 1,100 likes and nearly 200 comments. Facebook also tells me that over 170,000 people have seen the post.

(You might want to check out Trevin Wax’s article on 8 Reasons for the Media Blackout on Kermit Gosnell where he speaks of “the strange silence of the mainstream media regarding one of the most gruesome murder trials in American history.”)

I’m grateful for the way God is really touching lives through the work our staff does—in this case raising consciousness for the plight of the unborn. I’m including my Facebook post below for those of you who may not have seen it, and am adding a few additional comments.

I must say that while I agree with all the Christian bloggers and tweeters that the revelations in the Dr. Gosnell case are all horrific, in fact I am not shocked about them. Why? Because I already knew what was going on in abortion clinics. I already knew that innocent people are killed there by the hundreds every week. Twenty-four years ago I looked in the dumpster of an abortion clinic and saw pieces of human flesh. This is not news to me. I knew that the lives of women are ruined there, and I knew that the “doctors” who spend their lives killing babies in most cases know exactly what they are doing. (Yes, I have talked with them.)

I’m a little taken aback that so many Christians are utterly shocked only because of the fact that this man killed some babies after they were born instead of a minute, week, month or three months earlier. As if that makes the slightest difference to the babies or to God. (I’m not talking about the legal differences, I’m talking about moral and human rights differences.)

The “shocking discovery” that an abortionist who made millions of dollars from child-killing had such a low regard and such a profound disrespect for the lives of babies and women is properly responded to with a “Huh?” As in, didn’t we know that already? And, if we didn’t, what is wrong with us? (And by the way, while Gosnell is on trial for the murder of seven babies, the fact is that he killed thousands and thousands of children. Anyone who only counts them as babies once they get big enough is an accomplice to this man’s evil deeds.)

Could we please stop pretending? Abortion is in fact the ruthless killing of an innocent human being. That’s what it always has been, and that’s what it always will be. When Planned Parenthood and NOW and politicians deny this, they are simply lying. There is nothing new about this. If you are surprised to discover, as in the case of this Pennsylvanian abortion clinic, that those who kill babies for a living are really not very good people, my question is…where have you been, and what have you been thinking goes on in these clinics? And if some abortionists are better at sanitizing the walls and disposing of baby body parts, do you really think that makes them any better in the sight of God Almighty, Creator of these children, and Judge of us all?

Unborn children in America are our equivalent of Jews in Germany seventy years ago. The church’s indifference to them, and failure to stand up in their defense, is a shame of huge proportions. Self-righteously we decry the German church’s failure to stand up for the Jews. Meanwhile we fail to stand up for the unborn. We shake our heads in disgust at the German church’s tolerance of one holocaust while ignoring our own tolerance of another. It is always far easier to see the bloodshed of another country of another time and wonder why the Christians didn’t stand up, than it is to see the atrocities of one’s own place and time, where we are failing to stand up.

If you’d like to do more reading about how to engage people in conversation about the issue of abortion, check out my books Why ProLife? and ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments. (See the end of this blog for a special offer from EPM.)

Finally, someone asked me on Facebook, and others of you might be wondering: what should our attitude and response be toward Dr. Gosnell and all those involved in his clinic? I personally know and have spoken at length with three people who used to be in the abortion business who came under the Holy Spirit’s conviction, turned to Christ, and walked away forever from their abortion-funded paychecks. One was an abortion clinic owner, another a physician who did abortions, and the other was a full-time counselor and intake person at an abortion clinic. Each of them is a wonderful person. God can and does sometimes lift the veil of blindness as He must do for each of us related to our own sins. So prayer is the right response—prayer of God’s just judgment upon the unrepentant, yes, but prayer first for their repentance.

When we stand before God, will any of us be able to plead ignorance? Will we have an excuse for what we have done to unborn children, and what we have not done to save their lives?

Rescue those who are being taken away to death;

hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.

If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”

does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?

Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,

and will he not repay man according to his work? (Proverbs 24:11-12)

There is plenty of judgment to go around. May God be merciful to us all, for we all have much to account for when it comes to the slaughter of innocent children.

As for changing the way we think, for starters, could we stop being shocked only when babies are “aborted” an hour after they are born? Could we start being shocked when the same children—with the same beating hearts, measurable brainwaves and preprogrammed DNA—are aborted an hour, month or seven months before they’re born? What, in the eyes of God Almighty, is the difference?

      

From Eternal Perspective Ministries

For a limited time, get Why ProLife? for just $1.00 a copy, plus S & H. (retail $6.95, everyday low EPM price for single copies $3.00). No code and no minimum or maximum order amount needed to get the discount.

This updated and revised edition of Randy’s book offers factual answers to the central issues of the abortion debate in a concise, non-abrasive way. Infused with grace and compassion, and grounded in medical science and psychological studies, this book is an encouragement to be intelligently and graciously informed.

Sale price good through April 24.

Meet 100-Year-Old Walter Jespersen, a Man of God

I will never forget spending an afternoon in September 2001 with Walter Jespersen, at the home of Doug and Margaret Nichols. Walter, Margaret’s father, was 88 then, and now is 100 years old. His graciousness, cheerfulness and humble spirit made a deep impression on me. We spoke about China and his days serving there, first as a single man in the 1930’s. I remember thinking, “This is a man I want to grow up to be.”

Here are two ways you can get to know a man truly worth knowing, and in the process get to know his God:

1) Read a blog about Walter.

2) Watch an interview from five years ago when then 95-year-old Walt talks about many things, including going to China as a 23-year-old missionary in the 1936.  This is a wonderful ten minutes, and in it you see Walt’s smile and hear his laughter. After watching it, you’ll know why my friend Doug Nichols, founder of the great missions group Action International, always speaks so highly of his father-in-law, who he calls “Dad Jespersen.” After watching this video I decided I still want to grow up to be Walter Jespersen.

      

EPM's Related Resources

Book: Courageous 
Resource: Leaving a Legacy of Faithfulness: the Father as Model and Mentor
Blog: Some of my Spiritual Heroes—who are yours?

The Gift of God-Honoring Laughter

“For everything there is a season, and a time to for every matter under heaven…a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4).

Nanci and I laugh together every day, often hilariously. Sometimes we can’t stop. When our now-grown girls were young, there was always a lot of giggling and laughing and carrying on at the dinner table, and Nanci and I were in the thick of it. When we’re with our grandsons, we’re always looking for the next laugh. Not laughter at another’s expense, though there’s lots of good natured kidding, but the kind of laughter that draws people together. The friendships we enjoy most, like with our friends Steve and Sue Keels, are the ones where we really laugh together. Those kinds of friendships are worth seeking out and preserving.

Norman Cousins gives an amazing account of laughter’s therapeutic value in his book Anatomy of an Illness. Diagnosed with an untreatable terminal disease, Cousins determined to cultivate a positive frame of mind. Part of that came from watching old Marx Brothers movies and reruns of Candid Camera. Eventually his disease subsided, his health returned, and Cousins is convinced it was his laughter and sustained focus on the bright side that brought about his healing.

Martin Luther said, “You have as much laughter as you have faith.” We’ve found that the ability to be lighthearted helps us work through many heavy and difficult situations without burning out or losing our perspective. Humor is our release, our safety valve. Laughter relieves tension and breaks down barriers. Laughter is therapeutic. It is medicinal. It heals. It gives hope.

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22).

“A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed” (Proverbs 15:13).

When it comes to laughter, we love listening to Brian Regan, our favorite comedian. Several years ago on Nanci's birthday we went to Portland to hear him live. Nanci heard him live another time with one of our daughters. We love Brian’s humor, and he keeps it clean, which is refreshing. (The reason we don't watch most other-wise funny comedians is that to laugh at what dishonors God is to dishonor God).

Nanci and I have three Brian Regan DVDs we have watched and rewatched with family and friends: Standing Up, The Epitome of Hyperbole and I Walked on the Moon.

If you want a sample, here’s one of many clips of Brian Regan we enjoy:

      

EPM's Related Resources

Product: Help for Women Under Stress gift package
Audio: Does Satan lie to us about Heaven?
Blog: Laughter in Heaven (plus Brian Regan video)

Photo credit: brianregan.com

Is Sincerity Enough?

I received this question: “A lot of people have sincere beliefs that contradict God’s Word. Does sincerity count for anything?” In the video and the following transcript, I share some thoughts in response:

I think sincerity certainly does count for something. But I also believe it counts for less than we think it does. In a hospital, there are situations where a doctor or nurse injects a medication sincerely believing it will bring healing that ends up being fatal. Certainly we would all feel worse if we found out that they were not sincere and were actually trying to kill their patient. But the fact they were sincere is not a great consolation when you realize the consequences.

The same is true when it comes to Scripture. There are sincere people, for instance, who don’t believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. I know there’s people who sincerely believe that. But what did Jesus say? “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6). We’re told in Acts 4:12 that neither is there any other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. We must come into a relationship with Christ to spend eternity with Him.

So a person can be very sincere and not believe in that objective truth. But will their sincerity keep them from experiencing the consequences of not believing in and trusting in Christ? This is where I think we need to realize that by all means we should be encouraging and tolerant (in the right sense) of people’s different viewpoints—but in the end, let’s not apologize for what Jesus actually said. We shouldn’t minimize it by saying, “Well, the important thing is that people are sincere.” Well, it is important whether or not people are sincere. But in the end, it’s also extremely important whether they are right and believe what is true.

      

Related Resources

Book: The Grace and Truth Paradox
Resource: A Tenuous Hope Versus a Certain Truth
Blog: Speaking the Truth in Love