Like many families, we used to read a chapter of Proverbs aloud every day. I loved the way that given the first line, our girls could complete nearly any verse in the book. This was a habit that fell by the way, particularly when everyone who could read began reading silently and separately.
I’m working now to revive the habit so that our younger ones will have the book of Proverbs imprinted upon them as deeply as the older ones – and so that the older ones (including me) will continue to learn as well.
Every chapter of Proverbs has many highlighted verses in my Bible. Every chapter is my favorite chapter, but one verse that struck me today was this:
Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,
but such as keep the law contend with them.
Proverbs 28:4
Here’s why: we occasionally tackle some tough topics on our blog. Birth control, homosexuality, government education, and ectopic pregnancy come to mind. When we do this, we sometimes let it be known that we think certain positions are sinful. Let me be frank: I believe that birth control is sinful – at least the way it is generally and commonly used. I believe that homosexuality is sinful. I believe it is sin for Christian parents to send their children to government schools. And I believe that every abortion, every time, for every reason, is sinful.
I don’t want to open those topics for discussion here and now. You might disagree and that’s fine. That’s not really the point.
The point is that God’s law matters. It is our standard for evaluating any practice. When we forsake His law and base our beliefs upon our own feelings, we are joining with the wicked. Likewise, when we approve of those who forsake His law, we are joining with the wicked.
The righteous will always contend with the wicked in this world. We shouldn’t expect peace and pats on the back. Tolerance is not a good thing. We must evangelize the wicked, but we must also contend with them, not “love and accept them where they are.” We must never hesitate to call sin sin.
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Great post. Last week at church the pastor was talking about he has done a diservice to the church lately by not talking about repentence. Ha said that we all go to church and here how God loves us which he does but we never hear about how we need to turn away from our sin and repent. He also talked about how that is left out of the gospel a lot when witnessing to someone but it needs to be stated. We need to go back to preaching the whole Gospel not just the part that makes us feel good.
Gee Kim, you stir up all that and then tell us we can’t talk about it? Boy, that’s not very nice. lol
Anyhow, Rich and I have often talked about how much sin we embrace because so many run from The Law and then try to justify the move. Yes we’re under Grace but the principles are still very much there and a part of God’s very nature.
In addition to The Law, so many miss the Gospel of the Kingdom. It’s Rich’s soapbox and I wouldn’t do it any justice to try and explain… I’ll just say we major on minors and run from the pink elephant that clearly has a flashing neon sign around its neck.
You are such a great writer and you cause me to think so much. I just had to say that I love your post today. We have been looking for a new church and when the church we have been trying told us how great it is that we are expecting blessing #6 (the pastor said, “Godly seed, that’s great! We need more Godly seed!) and right now the pastor has started a series on keeping the family intact. He started with discussing how the wife and husband should act towards each other. I about fell over when he started saying wives should submit to the husbands. I’ve never had a pastor actually come out and say that. Most are just too afraid of the controvousy or don’t actually “believe” in that part of the bible. Needless to say I am loving this new church!
Some of what you said does stir my heart, but not because I don’t believe it, but because I can’t act on all of it. I was a young mom, whose child was born out of wedlock, and my DH has children who are the same. Because the law requires both parents to agree in our situations we cannot homeschool any of our older children. Our children togeather will be homeschooled (we started preschool with our oldest 3 weeks ago) but my heart aches for the other children who I cannot do anything but teach them what I can at home, and counteract as much as possible from what they learn at school. And as far as birth control my DH is not sure his faith is strong enough yet for that. There are still some moments where he talks about being done and getting a vasacetomy, and others where he wants more. It is such a hard road when you were brought up in an unbelieving family and then you find Christ. But it is posts like this that get me thinking that God loves me and is behind all the difficulties we face.
Well, anyway, thank you for such a thought provoking post.
Great point hunney. Love ya.
I agree with Janel…Get us all excited and then say we aren’t going to talk about it. LOL!!!
I agree with you 100%!! Especially right now after last nights Hollywood speech.
I’m with you Sister. We just watched a movie for the first time (it seems the whole world has seen this movie but us) called The Time Changer. There was a seminary professor who lived in the 1800′s. He wrote a book and wanted an endorsement from the seminary. One professor would not agree to it because he said that he did not go far enough. He talked about it is not enough just to tell people it is wrong to steal, but that they have to have the Scriptures as their plumb line. That without a plumb line, things will slide downhill. The professor goes forward into the future into todays world and is horrified by what he sees. It is really a great movie and shows what is now common place and what we are desensitized to.
Knowing how you feel about parents sending their children to government schools, how do you feel about higher learning at the university level? Do you believe that all Christian individuals should attend a private Christian school to obtain a degree? (My husband and I both did and don’t regret our decisions, but we have/had the huge loans to prove it.) Since not all students can afford private institutions I am wondering what your view on schooling at the college level is. If you ever get a chance to address your thoughts on college, I would love to hear them.
Also, just because I don’t think I’ve told you yet, I want to hug and cuddle your baby in the worst way. Whenever I see pictures of her, my uterus does flips. (Figuratively speaking, of course. I think that, if done literally, that would probably hurt alot.)
OK here is my second attempt to leave a comment on this post so I get emails of all the other comments
God also says you need to love. When you speak of what you believe the Bible says is wrong or a sin, I don’t hear anything about love.
Amen….and Amen…..
Great Post!
In Him,
Laralee
http://PlymouthRockRanch.com
Recording the Faithfulness and Provision of God for Future Generations
If I may, I would just like to ask a question. I’m not debating whether or not abortion is a sin. I totally get that according to the Bible, abortion is a sin.
That being said, I would just like to ask, and I do hope you will answer the question, what would you tell your daughter if she was raped at age 13 and she said “Mom, please do not make me carry this man’s child in my body for 9 months.”
Thank you.
Time Changer… a great movie, Marci! I think about it a lot in regards to the fact that it’s NOT enough to say that something is wrong we need to say that it’s Jesus who says it’s wrong. We need to invoke His authority, so to speak. Morals with no authority doesn’t work.
(I hope the link I left to the movie works…)
Norah Nick,
I would say
“Dear I love you and we may not murder an innocent baby. God will supply all our needs according to his riches in glory and he will not put us through any trial that we are not equipped to handle.”
I would also remind her that
“all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.”
I would love to see y’all tackle the college topic. Excellent question!
My thought on the difference between sending your young children to public grade school and college is age and experience. In grade school children are young, impressionable, and still fully relying on their parents for guidance and wisdom. College-age students are adults and have the experience and faith that come with age. Not only that, but it’s a Christian’s calling to be among non-Christians as an example. Evangelizing isn’t done in the in closed Christian quarters; it happens through exposing yourself as a Christian to the world.
Of course, I’m interested to hear what others have to say on this topic as well!
Carrie said: “God also says you need to love. When you speak of what you believe the Bible says is wrong or a sin, I don’t hear anything about love.”
Carrie how do YOU define love?
Wow, This is a great topic!! By the way I am not the same “carrie” that said something along the lines of you need to love.. I would love to see you open this topic further. Hubby & I have 5 children now and homeschool all them and wouldn’t change it one bit.. I feel public school is too dangerous in many realms for our children. I was a public schooled kid and could go in great detail but won’t on how it affected myself and my husband. As for birth control that is a great issue I have and my husband. I think he is afraid to just step out on faith and let God be in control of how many kids we have..we both grew up lost and accepted Christ as early adults. I want to be off the birth control and he is unsure and said he is okay with what we have.. I want to allow God to make that descion.. one thing is for sure I won’t do something that my husband doesn’t want.. As I want to be a wife that submits to her husband.
Would you make your wife carry a child if she was raped? I think it’s easy for men to say that they would never have an abortion because they aren’t the ones that would have to carry a rapists baby.
Carrie let me ask you. Is it morally acceptable to kill an innocent cild who is the product of a rape?
So do you feel that people that have/had sent their child/children to public school are going to hell? Just curious…..
Beth,
No, I don’t believe that every sinner goes to hell. Otherwise we’d all be in a whole lot of trouble.
I just believe that we need to be discerning enough to know sin when we see it, bold enough to call it what it is, and humble enough to repent of our own sins.
Hi, first and foremost I have been reading your blog and using your site quite a bit over these past months. (I have 8 blessings of my own). I just want to say KUDOS to you for your strength in expressing your beliefs! ( I feel the same about each of the major issues discussed) In saying that, I noticed someone said something about love. If we didn’t love we wouldn’t care and telling the truth of sin is hard, but with Christ leading the conversation He can make even the worst subjects palletable. Conviction is based on the condition of the heart as well. I just wanted to say I see love there, its just hard for any of us to see these issues stated clearly in black and white with no flowers to make it pretty!
Good job!!!!!
In His Love,
Ginger Thomas
I appreciate you answering my question.
Did that last comment make sense? What I’m trying to say is I appreciate that you DID answer my question.