day no. 17,363: denouncing the denouncement of sin

“There is no shortage of sin to denounce, and yet the only sin that the Christian church is willing to denounce is the sin of denouncing any of it.” — Douglas Wilson, No Such Thing As Bad Words

Somewhere along the line, the mainline denominations of Christianity decided that the most heinous of sins is judging sin as sinful. After all, who are we to judge? But that idea did not originate with Jesus Christ, who judged his accusers incompetent; no, that idea was smuggled in from elsewhere, somewhere where that rhymes with, "Did God really say?" 

Post-modern subjectivism provided a way to tolerate sin and a way to attack intolerance. It gave the carnal a license to sin and took away the officer's ability to write a ticket. It poured gasoline on our worst sparks and poured water on the flames of justice.

We now live in a day where pride is paraded down our streets to the applause of many mainline denominations. The only sin they acknowledge is that of being grossed out by it. That, according to their standard, is truly unacceptable and requires repentance.

day no. 15,664: vengeance belongs to God, thou shalt not steal.

Romans 12:19
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

Vengeance belongs to God. The reason we are commanded not to take it is because it already belongs to Him. The Bible forbids theft.

Exodus 20:15
Thou shalt not steal.

Vengeance belongs to God. If you take it, you steal it from Him.

Some try to keep you from taking revenge by saying that taking vengeance is wrong. But that is only half true. Vengeance is not evil. It is not wrong to take revenge. It is wrong for US to take revenge. If it were wrong, then God would be wrong to take it. Revenge is not evil, it is God's. It is wrong if we take it or try to exact it. It's not ours to take.

A Long in the Tooth Lament

Ecclesiastes 5:2

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.

We demonstrate the degree to which we respect another by the amount of time we allow them to talk to us without our need to interrupt or interject our take on the subject matter.

This is why your pastor is afforded 30 minutes (at least I hope) without a discussion (unless you go to a crap church where no one preaches so that everyone can pipe in their 2 cents).

As a result we do not talk much in the presence of those in whom we awe.  We tend to listen to them.  We talk more amoung peers and even more around people we determine need to know and be instructed in what we have to say.

What is your ratio of words spoken to God versus time spent reading His Words?

What is your ratio of words lobbed up to God versus the time spent in prayer listening and waiting?

Your answer says a lot about what you think of God and a lot abot what you think of yourself.