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Hullabaloo in Kalamazoo:  Billboards Confront Strip Club Patrons with Bible Verse on Lust

Orginally published on Monday, December 15, 2008 at 8:27 AM
by Todd Rhoades


It's all happening in Kalamazoo, MI:

A billboard next to Deja Vu (An adult entertainment club): "Anyone that looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28.

Another billboard outside a Planned Parenthood, "How is an unborn baby not a human being?" (Jeremiah 1:5)

And yet another outside two bars known to have gay and lesbian customers: "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman: that is detestable." (Leviticus 18:12)

Could it be that the people who read these signs will never accept Jesus because they want no part of a Jesus is just as condemning as these signs?

There.  I got your attention.

Did Jesus condemn sin?  Absolutely.

Does the Bible tell us right from wrong on sexual matters, lust, and the sanctify of life?  Yeppers.

Did Jesus treat people in the same way these signs do?  Never?

How did Jesus treat the woman at the well?  Or Zachaeus?  Or the rich, young ruler?  Or the prostitute?  Did he carry a sign or rent a billboard?  Did he immediately condemn them before talking with them?

All of the above signs will lead you to a website called JesusChrist1st.com, which, I’m quite sure Jesus would not recommend.

How did Jesus act when meeting the adulterer or the fornicator or the pervert or the prostitute?  That seems to be the first question we should ask ourselves.  Then we should try to treat them as Jesus would, and minister to them as Jesus would.

Question for you… WHAT IF:  Signs like this actually turn more people AWAY FROM Jesus than lead people TO Jesus?  I, for one, think they do.  I wonder, in eternity, if people that use this form of evangelism will be cheered for the tens they have impacted FOR Christ; or judged for the thousands they have turned AWAY FROM Christ.

What do you think?

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  There are 98 Comments:

  • Posted by

    These folks need to order a case of WWJD bracelets.  I think these signs do turn people away and I hate it that many will lump all of us into the billboard group.  I wish I knew how to solve that problem.

    Wendi

  • Posted by

    This just adds to my continued point.  The church is stepping outside of it’s purpose.  Some get off on this unbiblical tangent of preaching something other than the love of God through Jesus.  These are the trappings of a judgemental legalistic distorted church.  We don’t NEED to preach what sin is or isn’t.  We need to preach the gospel.  I believe that this sort of thing grieves the Holy Spirit.  Where in the Bible does it say that the church is the one who convicts and draws people to repentance.  Not one place.  The high and mighty pompous hypocrites in the church are not preaching what Jesus preached.  They are preaching a false gospel.  They have it backwards.  Jesus saves, then he cleans.  We don’t need to preach what sin IS.  We know what it is, God has written HIS law on the hearts of man, and God doesn’t need the church to step outside of its boundaries.  The Great Commandment, The Great Commission, Preaching the Good News of Jesus.  That is the churches PRIORITY.  Anything outside of that, especially to non-believers is outside of God’s will.  Some have this mentality that we can disciple people first before they receive Christ.  Backwards thinking and a false gospel.  They are probably sending more people to hell than Oprah, and both make me sick.

  • Posted by

    Too often many would gladly help pay to put up a billboard, but not dare dirty their hands by working with a stripper, help pay the expenses and care for a unmarried pregnant woman, or work with a homosexual.  Such ministry is hard, messy, but if you can PERSONALLY lead them to a change, it would mean much.  We need to seek innovative ministry.

    On the flip side, if the billboard kept a man out of the strip club, saved the life of one unborn child,or helped one gay person realize the error of their ways, would it be a worthwhile venture?

  • Posted by

    “Signs like this actually turn more people AWAY FROM Jesus than lead people TO Jesus?”

    I disagree.  I believe that these people are already turned away from Jesus, and these signs are in some effort to try to awaken their consciences from their slumber. 

    In some of those examples above (woman at the well, adulterous woman, Zacchaeus), those people were convicted of their sins and showed repentance.  The rich young ruler, on the other hand, got hit with a serious dose of the Law by Jesus Himself, and he walked away crying because his wealth was an idol.  Jesus had no reservations about using the Law directly in an in-your-face way when appropriate, too.

    The people who are going into these establishments likely have seared consciences as it is, and are not convicted of their sins.  And while we should demonstrate love to them, it’s okay to have them face their sins this way.

    Some of my evidence:

    -On condemnation. John 3:18.

    -"They know what they’re doing is wrong already.” Proverbs 21:2.

    -On Jesus being direct about sin.  Matthew 5:28.

    --
    CS

  • Posted by Jim Hughes

    Thanks for the post and making me think.  Seems we like “cute” billboards and bumper stickers that reinforce how we’re doing better than someone else is at whatever, including avoiding certain sins.  But if we really analyze the message being sent, we recognize that we’re in a bad place ourselves and have some repenting to do.

  • Posted by Joseph Louthan

    Ugh, we suck.

  • Posted by

    In a time when man doesn’t want to hear about his/her sinfulness, and the church not wanting to rock the boat this discussion fits right in… a problem with many christians today is the fear of the people and the watering down of sin… and then many wonder why many believers are powerless…

    What kind of love are we really showing to our brothers and sister if we fail to warn them about their sinful lifestyles?

    When we speak of Jesus method of ministry we must also take into account that Jesus was both man and deity… Jesus didn’t water down these people sins… in fact He told them to go and sin no more…

    With the way ministry is today, Jesus wouldn’t have used half the things we use in our worshipping God… (Light shows, big screen TV’s, drama skits...just to name a few...)

    The question was raised, “Did He condemn them before talking to them?” in this case, nobody isn’t condemning… it’s the Word of God that’s convicting…

    I minister in a Urban City where liquor stores, go-go bars, regular bars, night clubs, prostitutes, drug dealers, gang bangers and the like are within the vicinity of the church… all of these different establishments use bright leon signs and the like to advertise their businesses… why can’t I use a sign to warn them about the sins they’re indulging in? I don’t know about you, but I see the end result of the sins they committed… i’ve ministered to countless of men who lost their families behind going into go-go bars...and they wished they had been warned before they went in… I’ve ministered to countless of men and women who spent their pay checks, rent money and food money in liquere stores and to the drug dealers… as a result many of them lost their homes and their children to dyfs… and they too wished they had been warned… as Christian disciples we’re to warn the world of her sins… not pat her on the back in it…

    We’re called to be watchmen… God likened the work of Israel’s prophets to that of watchmen, stationed upon the wall of a city, watching and warning of approaching danger. Israel was brought to judgment for her sin because she failed to heed the word of God which these watchmen spoke (cf. Jer. 6:16-19; God described His prophets to Israel and Judah as watchmen who had been sent to warn them of the dangers of their sin: “Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’” (Jer. 6:17) 7:21-27). Both the Assyrian and the Babylonian captivities served as divine judgments against a disobedient and rebellious people who rejected the warnings of truth spoken to them by God’s watchmen. When the prophets (who should have been warning Israel of her sin) refused to issue God’s warnings, He described these watchmen as “blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber” (Isa. 56:10)

    the apostles and prophets were inspired men, through their work of revealing and confirming the gospel, engaged in the God-given work of watching for the souls of men. Based upon the example of this apostolic work, Christians are entreated to “therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears” (Acts 20:31). As the apostles preached the gospel to the whole creation, they acted as watchmen upon the walls of Zion, warning of sin and announcing the way of salvation. Their work as watchmen has not ceased, for as we hear and heed the apostolic teaching, we benefit from their work as watchmen. These watchmen of God continue to function through the God-given word they preached. “Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.” (Col. 1:28; cf. 2 Tim. 3:16-17)

    When we use God’s Word to warn the nations then and only then would we be doing the work of an evangelist and making full proof of our ministry… but if we fail to warn the world, their blood would be on our hands…

    Rev. K

  • Posted by

    I agree with CS - and CS correctly interrupted scriptures. Everyone needs a class on hermeneutics.

    I would like to see your data on the people it turned away. I propose this - what if it actually made people think of God for a moment before they went in committed adultery and or murder.

    The churches job is to equip us so we can confront sin. Not in a hateful spiteful manner which those signs do not. Simply state the truth as Jesus did and let the hearer decide what they will do with it.

    I have another question. For all you that oppose these signs what are you doing to combat abortion, strip clubs and sin? Details…

  • Posted by Lex

    It’s a delicate issue, and one I’ve been struggling with lately - especially regarding abortion and the Christians/Catholics who like to stand outside clinics to pray or protest or talk women out or whatever.

    On the one hand, I agree with CS and I’ve heard that side of it before. If the Church did nothing, would the silence be a form of validation for these behaviors? Maybe it should be a little difficult to get into an abortion clinic or a strip club. Maybe people should be forced to think about what they’re doing.

    On the other hand, the gospel is about forgiveness and love. Jesus was mercy and grace to sinners, and harsh to hypocritical religious people. That’s an important distinction.

    On the first hand, I’m an example of someone who was faced with this kind of “Christian” response and I hated it. It pushed me further and further from wanting to ever go to a church again, but years later I’m a student ministry pastor. So if we say these things are too condemning and they’re pushing people from Christ, are we limiting the power of the Holy Spirit? It’s our job to preach the truth, and the Holy Spirit’s job to draw men to Jesus.

    It’s more complicated than Yes or No, I think.

  • Posted by Dane

    “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

    From the first mention of Jesus in the New Testament, His identity and mission is connected with dealing with the sin problem.

    The Law, says Paul, is weak because it gives no power to the sinner.  It necessarily points out sin but gives no power to overcome it.

    Grace, if given to those with no real knowledge of their sin is also powerless in a sense.  It cannot empower you to overcome something you will not admit is a sin!

    John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter, and Paul all preached repentance as a first component in “the Gospel”.  Just do a quick word search.  If you skip repentance you do not pass Go and you do not collect $200.

    When the issue of repentance is forgotten or avoided, you will not see the Holy Spirit’s power and presence (Grace in demonstration) respond to such pseudo faith.

    But we must never forget.  Jesus not only reproach the cities where He preached, because they would not repent, but He wept over those cities.  And those who came to him broken and aware of their sins He always warmly embraced with no condemnation.

  • Posted by

    many of us today are a bit confused as to our purpose… it’s not our job to attact men/women into our church buildings, it’s not our job to draw them...our job is to preach the Word… Jesus said, “if He be lifted up, He’ll draw all men unto Himself"… notice Jesus didn’t commission us to draw crowds but to preach Him… when we start focusing on who feelings we’ll hurt, who’ll be offended, or who’ll be turned away… we already lost our focus… we’re to plant the Word… and allow God through the Holy Spirit do His work… and sometimes we won’t see the end result of the words we plant… one plant, one water but it’s God that gives the increase… brothers and sisters, don’t be ashamed of preaching God’s Word… He said if we be ashamed of Him before man, He’ll be ashamed of us before the Father… I don’t know about you, but I rather have Jesus liking me then man…

    Rev. K

  • Posted by Cindy K

    I would rather see a sign that read something like:
    “Jesus Forgives” or “Jesus knows you and still loves You” Than the signs quoting scripture that the enemy /will/ turn to condemnation.

    They already know they are sinning.  I believe that the reminder that they are loved no matter what would do more to convict, than a sign that gives the enemy the opportunity to condemn.

    It is the love of Jesus that saved every one of us.  I’d rather approach anything that I do in a positive way.  The Holy Spirit will convict, that’s not my place.

    And from a personal standpoint, it was that Love that brought me to God. I knew I was living in sin, and I thought I was too terrible to face God, I didn’t believe that Jesus loved me any more.  It was the realization that he loved me no matter how awful I was that turned me around and brought me back into the light.

    Love.  That’s what changes hearts.  Finger pointing just confirms what the enemy is saying to those living in darkness - that they are worthless and God has turned his back on them.

  • Posted by

    CS – Zacchaeus, the adulterous woman, the woman at the well; none of these people gave any indication of repentance until AFTER their encounter with Jesus.  Please find me one example where Jesus used this type of “in your face with no relationship” method.

    No one who opposes these billboards is suggesting we skip the repentance step.  I’m simply suggesting that it is an encounter with a person, a human being that will draw people to grace, and an understanding that they desperately need

    These billboards resemble the methods of the Pharisees (put the law out in front of everyone) than it does the methods of Jesus.

    Wendi

  • Posted by Cindy K

    Rev. K said:

    “brothers and sisters, don’t be ashamed of preaching God’s Word… He said if we be ashamed of Him before man, He’ll be ashamed of us before the Father… I don’t know about you, but I rather have Jesus liking me then man…”

    I agree!  smile And there are MANY scriptures that refer to the love of God.

    How about the commandment that Jesus said was the most important?

    If I love my neighbor as myself I’d rather present the Gospel to them in a loving fashion, rather than as a slap in the face.

  • Posted by Dane

    Our problem is we try to separate what God and the gospel never separates.  Justice and mercy, holiness and love…

    Jesus was often very staight with sinners.  He told them if they did not repent that they’d perish just like notable sinners. 

    Jesus denounced entire cities.  Jesus said, “If you’ve lusted...you’ve committed adultery.” He did this not to condemn people but to help them realize they were already condemned because of their sin.

    My wife got saved years ago listening to a hateful guy preach the law on a university campus.  In her religiosity she argued with the guy (who was telling the sorority girls that their sleeping around was fornication and that fornicators go to hell).

    She told him that if people simply believe in Jesus that they get forgiven and go to heaven.  that’s what she beleived.  But it this preacher was right, then my wife was going to hell.  She was even at the moment living in fornication.  Over the next several days her sense of guilt for the sin of fornication began to cause her to reconsider her standing with God.  She began to feel real remorse for her sins.

    Shortly after that a true saint of God led her to real salvation in Christ.  She experienced repentance along with faith.  And this time the Holy Spirit bore witness to her faith!  Unlike the rote sinner’s prayer of her adolescence.

  • Posted by

    I have never ceased to be amazed that even in the modern church we continue to throw stones at the office of those who would be prophets. Prophets frankly preached the law, and the consequences of disobedience. And they often did it “in your face.” I’d love to see how our “mercy gifted” folks would have handled Jeremiah, or Isaiah.  (Geez Jeremiah, can’t you tone it down a bit? I mean come on… “fish hooks! you can’t go around saying people are going to be judged by God and lead out of here with hooks in their noses and jaws!") I think I remember several “so called” prophets who hated men like Micaiah, that always told God’s truth, judgement or not, if you liked it or not.

    I remember some who told Jeremiah to shut up and quit telling the people to give up and stop fighting the invading army because they were fighting God and His judgement of their sins.

    I think it was Luther, or perhaps Wesley, (its been a long time since I read it) that said, “you must preach the law FIRST so people understand their need of grace.”

    Many misunderstand Jesus message and the context. He came to a culture saturated with law. Judgmental people ruled (literally) through that law. There was NO mercy, it was about pefection. His mesage of forgiveness brought relief to those who felt they had no hope because they were lost and horribly apart from the law.  (To those who felt self righteous he preached warnings of hell, because they hid behind their law keeping and had missed the spirit of the law.)

    What I’m saying anybody can complain about how someone didn’t “befriend the stripper” or show the trucker coming to visit her a good solid friendship.  Its always easy to point to that stuff.

    But somewhere there is STILL a place for the prophet in our church. Someone who says, “You are going against what God says to do.” And maybe even, “You are a wicked, evil person and far from God, and you are on the edge of being judged forever!”

    That makes it a lot easier when their lives are falling apart and they need a hand, or someone to help and listen for those of us with mercy gifts to rush in and pronounce forgiveness available if they turn.

    My message today is simple… STOP THROWING STONES AT OUR MODERN OFFICE OF PROPHETS!  With one side of your mouth you praise Isaiah telling of the coming savior, with the other you slander his modern day counterpart who puts up the law outside of strip clubs on billboards!  STOP IT.  Learn to work together!  We need BOTH in the body!

    Zad

  • Posted by

    Wendi, My above message gives you examples of Jesus using the “in your face” with no relationship method. He did it with Pharisees who “thought” they were okay with God. He woke them up pretty quick… “you broad of vipers… who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” I argue Zac, and the woman in adultry were different, they KNEW they were wrong. Everyday they heard it from billboards in their culture, in fact the woman was about to be judged and killed under the law.  Believe you me, she GOT the message of the law and she realized she was on the edge of permenant judgment - death. It was the love and forgiveness offered through Jesus at THAT point that allowed her to repent.

    Point is WE NEED BOTH!

  • Posted by

    I can only go back to my own experience. And it never seems that I have to go very far back. As a sinner, confronted by Christian street preachers, billboards and bumper stickers---I could be belligerent and argumentative to a fare-the-well. I stayed lost, I got more lost.

    I was saved by being overwhelmed with the message of what Jesus did for me in surrendering his place with God in heaven to come to earth and die on the cross for me.  I was saved by being flattened with the notion that the king of all kings gave his life for me, long before I lived, long before I admitted I needed him.

    Once I was saved, I read about the woman at the well, and the woman caught in adultery, as well as Lazarus’s sister after his death, as well as about Peter on the night Jesus was btrayed and realized these were all representations of me and where I had been and what God’s grace did for me.  It is His grace that will not let me go.

    And I thank God for all those people, who knowing, seeing, feeling, experiencing what an incorrigible reprobateI was, chose to keep sharing what Jesus had done for me.  Absolutely extravagant...just pouring out good news for me at every chance.

    I would ahve turned on them in a minute if I thought this was a trade..I give an admission of my sin, then I get salvation. I was way to sick for that. It was what Christ did for me so impossibly long before I lived that just broke my heart and made me look up.

  • Posted by

    Solomon said in one of his many proverbs… “the way of man is right in his own eyes...” if we fail to show man what God says, then man has a way of justifying his wrong doing… there’s a difference between condemnation of sinners and condemnation of believers… Paul said, “therefore there is no condemnation of those who are in Christ...” he didn’t say there’s no condemnation of those who are sinners.... if a person is living outside of Christ then he/she is condemned already…

    The purpose of the law is to show man his/her sinfulness and the end result of those sins…

    I learned a lesson from my brothers whom I love dearly… one of my brothers who were always under my wing… when he was living in sin I constantly warned him about his sins… he never thought what he was doing was sinful until I showed him what God had to say about the matter.... and as a result he confessed his sins, he gave his life to God and now is living for Christ.... on the other hand I have another brother in whom I love equally… he too was always under my wing… but this brother I didn’t warn about him about his sins out of fear that he’ll be mad at me and wouldn’t want to be around me anymore… well this brother that i failed to warn… continued in his sins, never repented of his sins and got incarcerated as a result of his sins… one day I visited this brother in prison… and the meeting was bitter but sweet… he asked me a question that has stuck with me to this day… “Brother, why didn’t you never warned me of the sins i was committing? Don’t you love me? I noticed how you would always warn our other brother about the wrong he was doing...I noticed how you always pointed out what the Bible says about what he was doing...but you never warned me.... it wasn’t until the judge sentenced me and it wasn’t until I picked up this bible that I realized the wrong i did… brother, you could of saved me from this agony if you have warned me of my sins...” I love both of my brothers equally… but I failed wherein I didn’t give one of my brothers God’s Word…

    we can’t take it for granted that people know about the sins they’re committing… if we do, many would wind up like my brother who’s in prison… because they way of man is always right in his own eyes… we must show them what God has to say about the matter

  • Posted by

    Wendi:

    “CS – Zacchaeus, the adulterous woman, the woman at the well; none of these people gave any indication of repentance until AFTER their encounter with Jesus.  Please find me one example where Jesus used this type of “in your face with no relationship” method.”

    Sorry to almost sound like Bill Clinton, but this all depends on how you describe the word, “relationship,” in this context.

    In most modern use of the word, “relationship,” this requires building up a rapport or friendship over time.  We develop an intimate knowledge of each other.  I go to your house, you go to mine, we know the names of each other’s kids, etc.

    Now, if we describe, “relationship,” in the short form of even striking up a conversation, then yes, Jesus had, “relationship,” with them.  But even those were short.

    For proof, consider the rich young ruler.  He rolled up to Jesus and hit him with a question.  Jesus replied back with the Law, thereby pointing out the man’s sin.  That wouldn’t qualify as a, “relationship,” much, would it?

    Or, consider the woman at the well.  The conversation with Jesus starts off on a sour note as He asks her to draw water.  Then Jesus springs her with the Law, supernaturally pointing out her myriad affairs.  Again, would this have been a, “relationship?”

    Now, if you’re looking for an example of someone who had no relationship with anyone, read something and came to repentance, I’d point you to Josiah in the Old Testament.  He had the temple renovated, they found the Book of Deuteronomy, and he was immediately convicted.  Absolutely no relationship there, and yet the sins of his nation caused him to get right back in line with God.

    So, relationship or no, these words can convict people and I stand by the church doing this action.

    --
    CS

  • Posted by

    Michael that doesn’t make sense.

    What good is grace if you don’t see how much you need it?

    Example, here I have a box of oranges at my house I’m willing to grace you with.  They are yours… free for the taking.

    Don’t want them?

    Hmm.... now lets put you on a ship with scurvy and the Doctor says you’re gonna die unless you get some vitamin C SOON. 

    Those oranges look good now?

    My point again is you don’t need to “like it” when the prophets are telling you “turn or burn.” But when it finally sinks in, then someone sees their need of grace and THEN it is overwheleming.

    Frankly what was overwhelming about the grace of Christ in your life if you DIDN’T realize how hopelessly lost you were and how much he loved you enough to take your place on the cross?

    You have to “get the law” to “get grace.” We need the prophets to bring the law.

  • Posted by

    I really don’t think that this has as much to do with the presupposition that we are going to be turning people away as it does with our unwillingness to be seen as “politically incorrect” in a day where everyone is just waiting for a chance to cry, “foul”.

    Absolutely, it is imperative that we confront sin for what it is.  Jesus never pulled back from calling sin what it is.  And, Jesus never pulled back from compassion.  There is no reason why confronting sin with compassion for the sinner cannot co-exist.  In fact, they must co-exist.

    Peter Dodge says that, in this, the church is stepping outside of its purpose.  Not so.  It takes all means, as Paul said in I Corinthians 9:22.  I would submit that confronting sin is part of preaching and showing God’s Love to others.  Just look at Deuteronomy 8:5 and Hebrews 12:6.  If we are here to do the work of God, which Jesus personified, do you really think that we should just turn a blind eye and not call it what it really is?  That helps no one, especially the one involved directly.

    Then the statement is made, “We don’t need to preach what sin is or isn’t.” I suppose that does away with the need to “speak the truth in love” as found in Ephesians 4 and the exhortation to “reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction” as found in II Timothy 4.  Furthermore, you can’t read Proverbs and come away thinking that wrong living and wrong thinking doesn’t need to be addressed.  Addressing these things is part of delivering the Gospel.  “And you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their SIN.” Tell you what, let’s just leave off the last 3 words of that verse so that He can just save His people from whatever they want to be saved from...doesn’t have to be sin...just let it be anything in this day of real-good-feel-good preaching.  Let’s just leave sin totally out of the equation, as is the manner of some, and no one will ever know that they need to repent and be saved....oh yeah, from their sin.

    Then, the statement is made, “Where in the Bible does it say that the church is the one who convicts and draws people to repentance.  Not one place.  The high and mighty pompous hypocrites in the church are not preaching what Jesus preached.” Correct, the Church is not the convicting and drawing agent.  That is the job of the Holy Spirit.  However, the fact that it is His job does not negate the call to action for the church.  As for “hypocrites” in the church not preaching what Jesus preached.  You have to be reading the Gospels with blinders on to think that Jesus did not address wrong thinking, wrong motives, and wrong living.  Jesus was NOT a pansy just tip-toeing through the tulips.

    Yes, Jesus does save - then He cleanses.  But, how shall they believe if they have not heard???  I believe that is a good New Testament question.  No one was ever saved without being confronted with their condition of needing to be saved.  People don’t just get saved by osmosis.

    As for sending more people to hell than Oprah - give me a break!!!

    For the record - I completely agree with CS.  Sometimes it takes a “shock” to awaken people out of their stupor.  It is our job to lay the truth out there. It is NOT our job to respond to the truth for those who are receiving it.  We all have a responsibility to respond to truth...and to the Truth.  I am not responsible for one who sees truth and rejects it.  I am only responsible for providing an avenue through which the truth can be seen.  We have to get away from the mentality that the results are based on us and on what we do.  Jesus said that He would build His Church.  We are called to continue His work and to be faithful, not to do the building.  The Bible, in Acts 2:47, says that “He (the Lord) added to the church daily....” And, wow....just looked at that passage again.  Doesn’t look like Peter was to shy about addressing sin when in Acts 2:23 & 26 he addressed the fact that men, by wicked hands, crucified Jesus.  And, he called them in Acts 2:28 to Repent.  Oh man, how could they have known from what to repent had their sin not been addressed and confronted???

    So, I guess we can address the fact that men crucified Jesus but we need to leave the little stuff alone.

    Bottom line - You can confront sin without being ugly to the sinner.  You can confront sin without beating down the sinner.  You can confront sin with compassion toward the sinner....and we must.

  • Posted by

    i saw a billboard years ago , it said jesus saves, i saw it hundreds of times on my way to work and back, i would dream about that sign, it was huge, about a fifty by thirty, i would think about it from time to time, that billboard is still there thirty years after i was saved. and i still think about it today, it convicted me all the time untill i did get saved, but now i thank god for that reminder that i saw every day away back then.

  • Posted by

    Zad...amen...C.S. amen… amen...amen…
    we must stop watering down the Gospel… if we keep watering down the Gospel eventually we won’t have any substance…

  • Posted by

    Lex wrote: “...I’m an example of someone who was faced with this kind of “Christian” response and I hated it. It pushed me further and further from wanting to ever go to a church again, but years later I’m a student ministry pastor. So if we say these things are too condemning and they’re pushing people from Christ, are we limiting the power of the Holy Spirit? It’s our job to preach the truth, and the Holy Spirit’s job to draw men to Jesus.”

    Lex, thank you for saying this.  I, too, have had to be confronted with things...sin.  I would say, along with you, that I hated the confrontation.  But, in reality, it is not the confrontation that we hate.  It is the fact that we have to acknowledge that we are sinful.  That is what man really hates.  Man does not want to acknowledge his own sinfulness.

    I would submit that it is not the confrontation that pushes man farther from God and from the church.  It is man’s response to the confrontation that pushes his own self away.  Truth seeks out and draws.  Man’s sinfulness causes him to run and hide, just as Adam did in the Garden of Eden.

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