Aimiel
Well-known member
Now back to our topic: Mean TOL Members...
I don't think that it is 'mean' to be loving of sinners enough to point out that they need to repent. It would be mean if we were to gloss it over, or deny it, altogether, as many seem to do. If someone is overtaken in a fault, we are to restore them to fellowship. That takes place in the community of faith. If someone rejects The Truth, we aren't supposed to agree with them and bless them or even bid them Godspeed. We are to have more righteousness than the Pharisees, not less. We are to be examples to the world, if we are to preach The Gospel, but we aren't to compromise The Word of Truth. Meanness is saying something that couches sin, which will cause some 'little one' to stumble. That is the last thing that we should desire to become, a stumblingblock for the lambs. Jesus loves His Lambs, and no one will be fitted with a millstone for causing one of them to stumble. That was what The Word tells us would be better than the fate of those that do such things. The Lake of Fire is what He is referring to, and He wasn't kidding.
I don't think that those that prefer name-calling and mudslinging are good examples of The Lord. I don't even agree that doing so in political campaigns is necessary, but that's just me. I also don't believe in apologizing to sinners for their sin. We need to call things for what they are, and not apologize for The Word of Truth. As Paul Simon said, "...just give me some tenderness beneath your honesty." Too many use Truth as a weapon of self-exhaltation instead of using it to attack the enemy. The enemy is not the sinner, and it is not the Taliban or the Chinese. The enemy makes use of our un-saved neighbors and relatives (as well as potential friends) and when he does, we need to recognize that spirit and come against him, not the one whose puppet-strings he is pulling.
I don't think that it is 'mean' to be loving of sinners enough to point out that they need to repent. It would be mean if we were to gloss it over, or deny it, altogether, as many seem to do. If someone is overtaken in a fault, we are to restore them to fellowship. That takes place in the community of faith. If someone rejects The Truth, we aren't supposed to agree with them and bless them or even bid them Godspeed. We are to have more righteousness than the Pharisees, not less. We are to be examples to the world, if we are to preach The Gospel, but we aren't to compromise The Word of Truth. Meanness is saying something that couches sin, which will cause some 'little one' to stumble. That is the last thing that we should desire to become, a stumblingblock for the lambs. Jesus loves His Lambs, and no one will be fitted with a millstone for causing one of them to stumble. That was what The Word tells us would be better than the fate of those that do such things. The Lake of Fire is what He is referring to, and He wasn't kidding.
I don't think that those that prefer name-calling and mudslinging are good examples of The Lord. I don't even agree that doing so in political campaigns is necessary, but that's just me. I also don't believe in apologizing to sinners for their sin. We need to call things for what they are, and not apologize for The Word of Truth. As Paul Simon said, "...just give me some tenderness beneath your honesty." Too many use Truth as a weapon of self-exhaltation instead of using it to attack the enemy. The enemy is not the sinner, and it is not the Taliban or the Chinese. The enemy makes use of our un-saved neighbors and relatives (as well as potential friends) and when he does, we need to recognize that spirit and come against him, not the one whose puppet-strings he is pulling.