Differences
Good Morning,
The spiritual mess the world is in stems from our trying to think about life with no differences, such as “all religions are the same,” or “all personal choices are fine,” and other foolishness ideals. Of course, there are differences! Some people say an individual can identify as a dog or another gender – both assertions are simply stupid. Children pretend. Maturity faces facts. We are being told there is no difference in genders, no difference between right and wrong, and no difference between sinfulness and holiness. Theologically we are being told that there is no difference between Old Testament and New Testament or between folks before the Mosaic Law and folks after the preaching of the Apostle Paul.
Of course, there are differences!
God made the difference clear between nations.
Exodus 11:7 ‘But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.”
God chose Israel and did not choose the others.
God said that the Old Testament-Jew was to consider some animals as unclean and that those animals should not be eaten.
Leviticus 20:25 “Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean…” Of course, that changed with the ministry of the Lord and the beginning of the New Testament church. Things changed after a certain point in time.
Right and wrong both exist, and the preacher’s job is to point out the difference.
Ezekiel 44:23 “And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.”
I rebel against the idea that there is nothing really “wrong.” I am disgusted with pastors who will not take a stand against anything. Taking a stand is the pastor’s job! As Paul told Timothy, “…reprove, rebuke, exhort…” (2 Timothy 4:2)
We live in a society that tries to make every religion the same, one in which we all end in the same place. What nonsense! Many religions of the world think Jesus is a blasphemous liar. Other religions, consider Jesus just another man. Jesus made it very clear that He was God in the flesh; that is what made the Jews so angry. Jesus is either completely crazy, an absolute liar, or HE IS GOD in the flesh. Muslims tell their people that blowing up others will get them to their “happily ever after,” while other religions say being good and saving lives will get them to Heaven – both cannot be correct.
Differences are assumed and logical. Have we not been told that there are always changing and new variants of COVID, and that each needs to be treated differently?
There are differences in social cultures around the world. Until the last hundred years, there were folks in Iowa that probably did not know what rice was, and some people in California who did not know what grits were. What idiot is trying to tell us that everybody is the same. That philosophy is the most ridiculous statement on the planet. There are such vast differences that we should be careful whom we choose to marry; for a divided home is a mess.
Our political parties are not the same. Now, there are a group of liberal conservatives (like saying, clean dirt) who are trying to draw the conservatives to line up with liberalism. They are trying to merge conservative and liberal philosophies, but that is not possible. Conservatives believe in small government and in protecting the sanctity of life in the womb; liberals do not believe those things. They are not the same; they are not even close – they are diametrically opposed.
Just because somebody is religious does not mean they are pleasing to God or that they will go to Heaven. The various versions of the Bible are different, seriously different. Churches are different. It is a regular occurrence for one of our members to knock on the door of a faithful member from another church and to find out that person has no idea if they are saved and going to Heaven. Most of the time, our member is able to show them the Bible and to help them get saved. There is a difference!
Rock and roll is different from hymns like ragtime is different from jazz. Wear your basketball uniform to an NFL tryout and see if there is not a difference in sports.
Men and women are different, and if a body is exhumed one hundred years after death, our scientists can tell from the remains if it was a man or woman – we are not the same.
All that to say that some behavior is wrong; do not be embarrassed to say so. Some behavior is bad enough for you to avoid spending time with them, even if they are Christians.
Romans 16:17 “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.”
I do not have to be unkind to the person who thinks differently, but I also do not have to pretend they are right in their ideas. The word “queer” has a simple dictionary definition, as does man, woman, dog, giraffe, and piano. No matter what society says, adultery, fornication, whoremonger, and drunkard are all Bible terms with Bible definitions.
Pastor