What the Bible Teaches About Abortion

Posted on January 25, 2011 by russellmckinney

(all scriptural references in the following post are from the N.K.J.V.)

This past Saturday, January 22, marked the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling in the infamous Roe vs. Wade case. That ruling legalized abortion in America. As it so happens, yesterday I dropped off some items our church had donated to our local Tri-County Pregnancy Center. These two occurrences have brought the issue of abortion front and center to my mind.

The number of babies reported as aborted in America now stands at over 53 million. Please stop right now and read that sentence again. The Nazis killed 6 million Jews in World War II, and history rightly labeled it a holocaust. It makes you wonder what we should call 53 million forced deaths. Tragedy? That’s too soft. Atrocity? That’s a little closer. Barbarity? Now you’re getting warmer. Savagery? That might be about as accurate as we can come.

And the plain fact is that the death toll actually stands at more than 53 million. I say that because it is common knowledge that abortion is oftentimes a “cash” business, and in such businesses the books aren’t always, shall we say, exact. Why pay the I.R.S. when you can cheat, right? Before she became a Christian, Carol Everett was the head of multiple abortion clinics, and she freely admits that her clinics routinely kept two sets of books — one for herself and one for the I.R.S. In light of such typical operating procedure, there’s simply no way of calculating a truly accurate number of the abortions that have been performed in America.

But it’s not my purpose here to try and figure out the exact number of babies that have been lost since Roe vs. Wade. It’s also not my purpose to bring politics into the discussion. No, what I really want to do with this post is take the Bible and explain just what it teaches about abortion. So, if you have a problem with what I say, your problem will be with God’s written word, not with me. Keep that in mind as we go along.

Now, I want to ask and answer three questions, and question #1 is:

According to the Bible, when does life actually begin?

The answer is: at the moment of conception in the womb. As proof of this, I’ll cite seven passages and ask you to read them carefully, with an open mind.

  • Psalm 139:13-16: “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb…My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret…Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed…”
  • Psalm 22:10: “…From My mother’s womb You have been My God.”
  • Isaiah 49:1: “…The Lord has called me from the womb. From the matrix (inward parts) of My mother He has made mention of my name.”
  • Job 10:8-12: “Your hands have made me and fashioned me, an intricate unity; yet You would not destroy me. Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. And will You turn me into dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews? You have granted me life and favor, and your care has preserved my spirit.”
  • Jeremiah 1:4-5: “Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you…'”
  • Luke 1:13-15: “But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.'”
  • Galatians 1:15: “…it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace…”

Alright, now, question #2 is:

According to the Bible, is a mother’s life ever more important than her child’s life?

The answer is: no. The Bible contains seemingly countless passages that sing the praises of selflessness, love, sacrifice, motherhood, and concern for others, but I think a good singular proof text here is Genesis 35:16-20. That passage tells the story of how Jacob’s beloved wife, Rachel, died giving birth to their son, Benjamin. What’s interesting is that despite Rachel’s great importance in the life of Jacob, to say nothing of her importance in the unfolding of the history recorded in Genesis, God let her die and her baby live. That right there ought to tell us something about His mind on this question.

And then, question #3 is:

According to the Bible, does an unborn child have the same standing with God an adult has?

The answer here is, yes, and the passage is Exodus 21:22-25. I understand that these verses are specifically a part of God’s Old Testament law for Israel, and we don’t live under that law. However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t glean truth from it. As you read these verses, pay careful attention to how God rates the health of a baby in a womb on legal par with someone who injures that unborn child. The verses say:

If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. (N.K.J.V.)

Well, now that I’ve asked these three questions and provided their answers, I’d like to think that I’ve said enough to convince you of what the Bible teaches about abortion. But, just for further proof, here are a few more “quick hits.” Hopefully, you’ll find these instructive too:

  1. A man and a woman can have sex, but only God can create life. Thus, He is the only one who should have any say over how that life is ended.
  2. The argument that a deformed fetus can be aborted without repercussion because such a child doesn’t come with God’s full “stamp of approval” is not a valid one. In Exodus 4:11, God says to Moses, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?”
  3. In Job 3:11, Job asks, “Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?” Think about it, you have to be alive to begin with in order to die or perish at birth.
  4. In Genesis 25:23, God refers to Jacob and Esau as two nations even as they were still fetuses in Rebekah’s womb.
  5. A Christian woman has no right to say, “My body is my own, so I’ll do what I want to with it.” Why doesn’t a Christian woman have that right? It’s because 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says to Christians: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
  6. Psalm 106:34-43; Deuteronomy 12:31; 2 Kings 17:17; and Ezekiel 16:20-21 describe how the people of Israel learned the idolatrous ways of the people of Canaan and ended up sacrificing their sons and daughters to idols, which in reality was sacrificing them to demons. God called these sacrifices the shedding of innocent blood, and His wrath was kindled against Israel as He began to abhor His own people. Should we Americans not expect Him to respond to us the same way in the wake of the millions of innocent babies we have aborted? Keep in mind that Proverbs 6:16-19 says that God hates “hands that shed innocent blood.”
  7. Christians simply do not have the option of remaining silent on the issue of abortion. Proverbs 31:8-9 says: “Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.”

Now, in closing, let me be sure to say something to any man or woman who has been the cause of an abortion: GOD STILL LOVES YOU. Abortion is not the unpardonable sin, and there is a full and blessed life that can be lived even after an abortion. You need to understand that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses and forgives all sin. Heaven isn’t divided into the camps of mothers and fathers who aborted their children and mothers and fathers who didn’t. For that matter, neither is hell.

Furthermore, while we’ve seen that the Bible has a lot to say about abortion, it has even more to say about the forgiveness that is offered to all in Jesus Christ. That forgiveness certainly extends to the sin of abortion, and Jesus is more than willing to shower it upon you if you will place your belief in Him as Savior (John 3:16). So, I assure you that the purpose of this post has not been to demoralize you by clubbing you over the head with the Bible. What it’s been is an attempt to provide a faithful and fairly thorough analysis of what God’s written word teaches on a highly controversial subject.

Posted in Abortion, Bible Study, Children, Forgiveness, God's Wrath, God's Judgment, Parenting, Seeking Forgiveness | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bear Hunting

Posted on January 23, 2011 by russellmckinney

A big man and a little man were talking as they sat on a porch. The little man leaned over, felt the big man’s biceps, and said, “If I was as big as you and had muscles like that, I’d go up into the mountain, find the biggest bear I could find, and tear him from limb to limb.” To that, the big man replied, “Well, there’s plenty of little bears up there, too. Why don’t you go find one of them?”

We tend to hold others to higher standards than we impose upon ourselves, don’t we? Yes, we’re experts at knowing what others ought to do, but we aren’t not nearly so adept at doing what we should do. As someone has said, “We should all change problems because everybody knows how to solve everybody else’s problems.”

While there are numerous Bible passages (Proverbs 27:5; Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Timothy 5:20; etc.) that speak of the necessity of providing rebuke when it is needed, we must show wisdom in regards to who to rebuke, when to rebuke, and how to rebuke. Likewise, while there are numerous passages (Proverbs 11:14; Proverbs 12:15; Proverbs 27:9, etc.) that speak of the value of offering wise counsel when it is needed, we must show wisdom in regards to whom we give counsel, when we give that counsel, and how we go about giving it. What we don’t want to do is come off as pushy know-it-alls whose words never get a hearing because we show no discernment, timing, or tact in how we offer them.

Oh, and there is one more thing you must consider anytime you find yourself about to tell someone else what they should or shouldn’t be doing. If your own life is marked by hypocrisy, your attempts at rebuking and offering counsel aren’t going to resonate much with people who can spot the hypocrisy. Like the little man in my opening illustration, you needn’t expect others to do any bear hunting at your suggestion if you don’t hunt bears yourself.

Posted in Communication, Complaining, Counsel, Discernment, Hypocrisy, Influence, Ministry, Personal Holiness, Seeking Advice, The Tongue, Witnessing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Idolatry

Posted on January 22, 2011 by russellmckinney

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. (1 John 5:21, N.K.J.V.)

The Old Testament’s history of Israel is dominated by the Jews committing the sin of idolatry. Even though the first two commandments of Israel’s law prohibited idolatry, the Jews still succumbed with shocking frequency to the worship of false gods. These false gods were the gods of the inhabitants of Canaan, the people the Jews were supposed to have eradicated from the land before taking possession of it. The fact that the Jews didn’t do a thorough enough job in regards to that assignment set them up for centuries of failure at resisting Canaan’s gods.

Eventually, however, the Jews did fully repent of the sin of idolatry. It took God severely punishing them by allowing the Assyrians to conquer Israel’s northern kingdom (which ended that kingdom) and the Babylonians to conquer Israel’s southern kingdom, but after centuries of breaking the first two commandments of God’s law, the Jews finally did quit with that form of idolatry altogether. This explains why Jesus didn’t have to preach against the sins of fashioning idols and worshiping them.

What Jesus did, instead, was preach against a more subtle kind of idolatry. For example, He said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24, N.K.J.V.) Do you see how that quote makes serving mammon (riches, material wealth) a form of idolatry? Furthermore, He hinted at this same teaching in His conversation with the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16-22; Mark 10:17-22; Luke 18:18-23) as well as in His parable about the rich man who planned to tear down his barns and build bigger barns (Luke 12:16-21).

It’s also probably not a stretch to say that Jesus classified the Pharisees’ and the Scribes’ incessant craving to be honored by the common people as idolatry (Matthew 23:6-7; Luke 11:43). The same can be said of the Sadducees’ desire to keep control of everything that went on at the Jewish temple (Matthew 3:7; Matthew 16:5-12). Therefore, we can see that even though Jesus didn’t speak against the Old Testament’s version of idolatry (at least not according to the record of the gospels), He did speak against making false gods of money, prestige, and power. Along these same lines, God would later inspire Paul to label all covetousness as idolatry (Colossians 3:5).

So, is the idolatry described in the New Testament exclusively the less overt kind of idolatry? No, it isn’t. In the wake of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, the apostles had to hit the old kind of idolatry head on as they took the gospel to the Gentiles and began winning thousands of them to Christ. Whereas the Jews had long ago stopped worshiping man-made images as gods, that brand of idolatry was still pervasive among the Gentiles. In addition to our text verse for this post, this is clearly on display in passages such as: Acts 17:22-34; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 10:7; 10:14-22; Galatians 4:8; 5:19-21; and 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10.

But what about our day and age? What kind of idolatry exists today? The answer is, pretty much all kinds. There are still some primitive people who worship graven images, and there are plenty more people who worship money, prestige, power, etc. Basically, anything that a person puts ahead of the true and living God in his or her life can be called an idol. That can be a relationship, a job, a pursuit, a hobby, or just about anything else we want to put on the list. You name it, if it’s getting more of your time, energy, zeal, money, and devotion than God is, you’ve got yourself a false god and you are committing the sin of idolatry.

Then, of course, there are the false gods of the Hindu religion. Supposedly, there are 330 million gods in Hinduism. This is illustrated by the story of the Christian missionary who was one day walking along a street that ran beside the Ganges River. Suddenly, he came upon a native woman who was standing and looking out at the water. In her arms was a sickly, whining infant, and at her side stood a beautiful, strong, healthy little boy.

When the missionary stopped and began a conversation with the woman, she told him that she was in deep distress and was considering giving an offering to her god, the Ganges River. Naturally, the missionary took the opportunity to tell her about Jesus and ask her to believe in Christ as Savior. But in response to hearing the gospel, the woman only shook her head and would not heed Christ’s call. After some time had passed, and with his efforts producing no results, the missionary left and went on to his other duties.

Later, when the missionary returned to the spot, he found the woman still there, but now she was sitting and rocking the sickly child in her arms. Tears were streaming down her face and she was moaning loudly. Missing from the scene was the strong, healthy son that had been standing by her side. It wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened. To appease her god, the woman had sacrificed her healthy child to the river’s crocodiles. That was her way of offering her best to her god.

Let me close by encouraging you, Christian, to examine your own life and be honest as to whether or not you are making a false god of something or someone. And if you must admit that you have such an idol in your life, it’s obvious what you need to do. Confess your sin, repent of your idolatry, and bring that something or someone under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Jesus might want you to give up that thing or that person altogether, or He might just want you to bring a more balanced approach to the whole situation, but whatever He tells you to do, do it. You see, until you repent of your idolatry, you really aren’t much better than either than the idolaters of the Old Testament or the New Testament. Yes, I know that’s hard preaching, but it’s the truth nonetheless.

Posted in Backsliding, Balance, Commitment, Confession, Discipleship, Idolatry, Priorities, Repentance, Worship | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

God’s Delays Are Not His Denials

Posted on January 21, 2011 by russellmckinney

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope. (Psalm 130:5, N.K.J.V.)

A little boy asked his father to buy him a gold watch. When the father didn’t seem to acknowledge the request, the boy took it as a cold denial and dropped the matter. Ten years later, however, the father called the son to him and said, “Son, here is that gold watch you asked me for.” The son was dumbfounded but managed to get out the words, “But father, I thought you turned down that request all those years ago.” The father replied, “No, I didn’t turn it down. I just knew better than to grant it until you were old enough to properly take care of a gold watch.”

God responds to a prayer request in one of three ways. #1: He says a flat-out, “No” to the request. #2: He says, “Yes” and soon grants the request. #3: He says, “Yes, but you have to wait for My perfect timing.” You see, God’s delays are not the same thing as His denials. Sometimes you just have to be patient until He sees that you are truly ready for your request to be granted.

So, I ask you this simple question: Is there a specific request that you have asked God to grant, one to which He hasn’t said a flat-out “No”? Then keep looking to Him in faith and expect Him to one day, in His wise timing, grant that request. Don’t stop expecting just because it’s been a while since you made the request. God never forgets, and it could just be that your “gold watch” is on its way right now.

Posted in Children, Faith, God's Timing, God's Omniscience, God's Provision, God's Will, Needs, Patience, Perseverance, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Problems, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Look for the Best

Posted on January 19, 2011 by russellmckinney

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8, N.L.T.)

A Baptist preacher of another day wrote this:

Don’t ever send a buzzard out to report on the landscape. He’ll fly over all kinds of beautiful flowers, green meadows, blue lakes and gorgeous mountain ranges; and when he comes back and you ask, “Buzzard, what did you see?” he will answer, “I saw a dead cow covered with maggots and big purple flies.” That buzzard may have flown over ten thousand beautiful flowers and trees and placid lakes to see maggots and flies on cows. Being a buzzard caused him to see that.

But send a honeybee out to report on the landscape, and when he returns ask him, “Honeybee, what did you see?” and you will hear a different story: “I saw ten million little flowers filled with nectar, and I got all I could take and added it to my honeycomb. My! I must have made a pint of honey today!” It flew over the dead cow and didn’t see it. It was looking for something else – flowers.

If you look for the worst, you will probably find it. If you look for the best, you will find that down the road too. SO GO THROUGH LIFE LOOKING FOR THE BEST.

Our text verse tells us to fix our thoughts on things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise. That’s another way of saying, “Go through life looking for the best rather than the worst.” Unfortunately, the worst is usually easier to spot. That is not to say, though, that the best isn’t out there too if we are willing to search for it.

Keep this in mind, Christian, whenever life funnels you through a difficult season. Right there in the midst of your struggling, pain, disappointment, and frustration, look for the good in all the bad. Ask the Lord to help you reprogram your mind so that you can fixate on everything that is right rather than on everything that is wrong. And wherever you find something that is (to use Paul’s description from the conclusion of our text) “worthy of praise,” take the time to actually praise the One who has blessed you with that particular thing.

Posted in Adversity, Attitude, Balance, Complaining, Criticism, Depression, Disappointment, God's Love, God's Provision, Human Life, Leadership, Loneliness, Praise, Problems, Sickness, Suffering, Trials, Worry | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Is God Judging America?

Posted on January 18, 2011 by russellmckinney

The question is often asked, “Is God judging America?” My answer is an emphatic, “YES.” You say, “I haven’t seen any fire and brimstone raining from the sky.” Well, neither have I, but fire and brimstone are not how God is judging America.

Romans 1:18-32 is one of the most terrifying passages in the Bible. The passage explains what God will eventually do to people who persistently, consistently, and steadfastly refuse to come under His lordship. He will “give them up” (or “give them over”) to uncleanness, immorality, and wickedness so that they can fully indulge in the lusts of their hearts. This “giving up” allows them to dishonor their bodies by letting their debased minds and vile passions run absolutely amuck.

I used to drive a school bus, one that had a governor on its motor. A governor is a device that kicks in when a bus reaches a certain speed. Its purpose is to slow the motor down to keep the bus from going any faster. In the case of the bus I drove, the governor kicked in at 50 m.p.h.

Just as that governor served as a restraint, the Romans passage teaches that God reaches a point with hardened sinners where He takes His governors off their lives and says, “Go as fast as you can and live as dangerously as you want. I’ve tried to help you, but your heart is so set against Me that you won’t heed Me. So have it.”

I once heard a baseball coach say to his players, “Boys, if I yell at you, it’s because I care about you. The day I stop yelling at you, that’s when you need to worry because it means that I’ve given up on you.” The Romans passage explains that God works the same way in the lives of individuals. It’s when He stops yelling that the situation gets scary.

You see, God is right now pouring out His wrath (1:18) upon America by allowing sinful men and women, people who are dead set in their rebellion against Him, to do whatever they want. Do they want to engage in homosexuality and lesbianism (1:26-27)? God has disabled their governors. Do they want to live lives marked by “sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, strife, deceit, and evil-mindedness” (1:28-29)? God isn’t yelling at them. Do they want to be “whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, and unmerciful” (1:30-31)? God is sitting up in heaven and watching it happen without lifting a finger to stop it.

But how can God’s lack of action be classified as Him pouring out His wrath? It earns that classification because God understands something that hardened, calloused rebels don’t. He understands that the rebel lifestyle, when carried out to its desired extreme, is a fire that ultimately gets so big and so hot that it consumes the rebel himself. Even as the rebel genuinely believes that he is living the high life, in reality he is only destroying himself. In this way, he virtually judges himself and pours out God’s wrath upon himself.

Similarly, it seems clear to me that God is also employing this “hands off” approach in regards to our nation as a whole. He’s letting us have the corrupt, greedy politicians so many Americans favor. He’s letting us have the perverse, immoral national laws so many Americans will take to the streets to get enacted. To sum up, He’s letting a bunch of ungodly, undiscerning, and unbroken sinners have their way. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why our nation stands on the brink of ruination.

Posted in Abortion, Addiction, Adultery, Choices, Coming Judgment, Current Events, Depravity, Desires, Disobedience, Drugs, Gambling, God's Wrath, God's Judgment, Government, Homosexuality, Idolatry, Lesbianism, Lust, Lying, Man's Freewill, Obedience, Politics, Racism, Rebellion, Sex, Sin, Sowing and Reaping, Sports, Submission | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Case of Mistaken Identity

Posted on January 16, 2011 by russellmckinney

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ… (Philippians 1:27, N.K.J.V.)

A man was sitting in his car at a red light one morning. When the light changed to green, the woman driving the car in front of him didn’t immediately start going. She was texting on her cell phone and didn’t notice the light change. Unfortunately, the light was a quick changing one that shot through yellow and turned to red again without her moving. This incensed the man, and he started yelling curse words at the woman and beating on his horn in disgust.

What he didn’t know was that a police officer, in an unmarked car, was sitting in the car behind him. The officer turned on his siren and lights, got out of his car, pulled out his gun, and carefully approached the man’s car. When the officer tapped on the driver-side window, the man said, “Hey, wait a minute, you can’t arrest me for yelling in my car and blowing my horn.” To that, the police officer had him step out of the car. Then the officer put handcuffs on the man, placed him in the back seat of the police car, called for the man’s car to be towed, and took him to the police station.

After the man had spent an hour in a holding cell, the arresting officer came in and said, “You’re free to go.” The man angrily replied, “I knew that you couldn’t arrest me for yelling in my own car and blowing the horn. I’m warning you, you haven’t heard the last of this.” In reply, the officer said, “I didn’t arrest you for shouting in your car. When I saw you screaming and laying down on your horn, I said to myself, ‘What sorry behavior.’ But there was nothing I could do about a man throwing a fit in his own car. That’s when I noticed the cross hanging from your rearview mirror and your “Jesus Is Coming Soon” bumper sticker and assumed that you must have stolen the car!”

Okay, okay, I’ll admit this story didn’t actually happen. Obviously, the officer would have asked for the guy’s driver’s license, ran the identification and license tag number through the in-car computer, and not arrested him. Still, though, the story makes a valid point. Christian, in little situations that crop up every day and night out there in the real world, is your conduct always worthy of the gospel of Christ? You see, you should be careful giving a little chuckle to this story about the irate driver because it just could be that you will need to heed its lesson sometime in the very near future!

Posted in Anger, Character, Complaining, Criticism, Discipleship, Doing Good, Holiness, Humor, Impatience, Influence, Patience, Personal Holiness, The Tongue | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Putting Out a Fire

Posted on January 15, 2011 by russellmckinney

Proverbs 26:20 has rung true since the days of Solomon, the man who wrote it under the inspiration of God. As a matter of fact, it has rung true since the days of Adam and Eve. It says:

Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; And where there is no talebearer, strife ceases. (New King James Version)

The New Living Translation puts the verse in even simpler terms:

“Fire goes out for lack of fuel, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops.”

We’ve all done it, allowed ourselves to at least temporarily become gossips and talebearers. One fairly reliable way to tell that you are about to gossip is if you lower your voice when speaking. When you catch yourself doing that, be careful, you might be about to cross a line into territory the Bible condemns.

Where there is no talebearer, strife ceases. And quarrels disappear when gossip stops. Do you want to be a peacemaker? Then stop spreading tales about others. After all, our world is incendiary enough without you adding more wood to fires that are already burning.

Posted in Character, Communication, Influence, Personal Holiness, The Tongue | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Jesus & Social Media

Posted on January 14, 2011 by russellmckinney

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31, N.K.J.V.)

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:17, N.K.J.V.)

Let’s say that a known drug addict named Jack gets arrested yet again for possessing drugs and his picture ends up on Facebook as part of the local Sheriff Department’s page. Under that post, one Christian writes the comment: “Drug addiction is a disease. We need to pray for Jack.” But then another Christian responds by typing, “If drug addiction is a disease, it’s the only one you get by using drugs.” That prompts the first Christian to reply, “Jesus said, ‘Judge not that you be not judged.'” To that, the second Christian types back, “He also said, ‘Judge with righteous judgment,’ and my righteous judgment tells me not to waste my prayer time praying for drug addicts who’ve already had multiple chances to repent.” And just like that, the scripturally worthy topics of intercessory prayer, personal accountability for sin, judging others, and showing spiritual discernment have been dragged down into the mud of social media. 

Did you know there is an actual meme that quotes Jesus’ words from Luke 22:36: “…and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one”? Accompanying that slice of scripture is a picture of a gun followed by the words: “Obey Jesus, buy a gun.” So, let’s say that a Christian (one who doesn’t care that a quote from Jesus has been brutally ripped out of its context) posts that meme on his X (formerly Twitter) page. That, in turn, gets another Christian to type the reply, “Jesus also said, ‘Love your enemies and turn the other cheek.'” In response to that, the first Christian cites Psalm 144:1, where David says, “Blessed be the Lord my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle” (N.K.J.V.). Can you imagine the negative influence those two Christians bickering back and forth, both of them quoting the Bible, would have on a lost person who happened to be reading and was forming an opinion of Christianity?

Such is the world of social media. Even well-meaning Christians can find themselves wandering down controversial paths in regards to their posts and comments. But is social media really the place for “keyboard warriors for Jesus” to go to war? I suppose some good can come of it, but that good will have a hard time outdoing the bad that gets created by the disrespectful, negative, and even offensive language these warriors often resort to using.

This, of course, is to say nothing of the professing Christians who lace their social media pages with personal pictures that scream of vanity, narcissism, and worldliness. Seriously, is there any way for a supposedly Christian woman to post a selfie of herself looking “hot” and it be done “to the glory of God”? Is there any way for a supposedly Christian man to post of selfie of himself partying in a bar and it be done “in the name of the Lord Jesus”?

Look, it’s not that I’m against Facebook, Instagram, X, TiK ToK, or whatever other social media platforms are out there. I myself use Facebook and X to advertise my blog posts and use Facebook to advertise my sermons. I’d just like to see us Christians do a better job of harnessing social media for the purposes of evangelism and discipleship and stop using it so much as a soap box to advance our political agendas, bludgeon those who disagree with our takes on controversial topics, and glorify our own selves. Maybe we should all stop asking, “What would Jesus do?” and start asking, “What would Jesus post?”

I guess when it’s all said and done, my advice concerning social media would be this: Don’t put anything on there that you wouldn’t feel comfortable letting Jesus see. I mean, after all, He IS seeing it, right? Here’s a good test for you, Christian: Study your posts, comments, pictures, memes, videos, etc. as if you were a lost person assessing them and be honest about what impressions you are left with about you. You might just be surprised at the portrait you are painting of yourself.

You see, if your walk with Jesus isn’t life changing enough to keep your social media activity done to the glory of God, in the name of Jesus, and (dare I say it?) holy, then what have you got that lost people don’t have? Think about this the next time you start to post something or make a comment under someone else’s post, and let the Lord guide you in what you put out there for the world to see. Remember, you aren’t just representing yourself; you are also representing your Savior. And He might want you to use social media in a much different way than you plan to use it.

Posted in Character, Communication, Current Events, Discernment, Discipleship, Doing Good, Evangelism, God's Work, Gun Control, Influence, Personal, Personal Holiness, Righteousness, Sanctification, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Unpardonable Sin

Posted on January 13, 2011 by russellmckinney

Will God forgive any sin or is there one sin that He considers unpardonable? That’s a good question. In Matthew 12:22-32, the Bible gives us the record of an incident in which a group of Jewish Pharisees attributed Christ’s miracle-working power to the power of the devil. In the context of this story, Jesus gave the following warning:

“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” (N.K.J.V.)

I should point out that there are reputable commentators who contend that the sin of which Christ spoke (the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit) cannot be committed today because it specifically involved attributing an obvious miracle of Jesus to the power of Satan. According to this view, since Jesus is no longer personally on the earth working miracles, the “unpardonable sin” no longer comes into play. Speaking for myself, however, I agree with those who believe this sin can be committed today.

To rightly understand this whole subject, it is vital that we understand the role that God the Holy Spirit plays in salvation. First, the Spirit convicts the lost sinner concerning the sinner’s sin (John 16:8). Second, He (the Spirit is not an “it”) strives with the sinner over the sinner’s need for forgiveness/salvation (Genesis 6:3). Third, He works to convince the sinner to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and thereby receive that forgiveness/salvation (John 15:26, 16:14). Fourth, at the moment the sinner chooses to believe in Christ as Savior, the Spirit comes to indwell the sinner’s body (Romans 8:9-11, 1 Corinthians 6:19, Titus 3:5). It is the Spirit’s entrance that creates the “born again” experience inside the person (John 3:1-8).

But what if a lost sinner time and time again refuses the Holy Spirit’s convicting, striving, and convincing? Well, that is where the issue of blaspheming the Holy Spirit comes into play because, at some point, the Holy Spirit will simply stop working on that lost sinner. You see, when the Spirit stops striving with the lost sinner, that sinner has committed the unpardonable sin. Why? It’s because no one will ever come to Jesus who isn’t first drawn to Him by the ministry of the Spirit.

Let me use an illustration that I trust will help. Let’s say that you have a life-threatening disease, but your doctor knows about a cure and tries repeatedly to tell you about it. For whatever reason, though, you refuse to hear his words. When he walks in to see you, you get up and leave. When he calls on the phone, you hang up. When he sends you a letter, you throw it away without opening it. When he sends you an email or a text, you immediately delete it. Finally, after his best efforts have been rebuffed repeatedly, the doctor says, “Alright, if you want to die, go ahead. I’m through trying to help you.” And so you die. Okay, what killed you? Was it the disease? Yes, in a sense. But in another sense it was your refusal to heed the doctor who was trying to point you to the cure. That is, of course, to say nothing of your lack of the cure.

So now let’s apply this illustration to the committing of the unpardonable sin. The individual’s fatal disease is sin. The doctor who is trying to help the individual is God the Holy Spirit. And the cure the Spirit is trying to get the individual to put to use is Jesus Christ. Therefore, when the individual rejects the Spirit’s conviction to the point where the Spirit says, “I’m done trying to help you,” that is how an individual commits the unpardonable sin today.                  

Posted in Belief, Forgiveness, Salvation, The Holy Spirit, The Unpardonable Sin | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments