Post 2: The Other Extreme

           In my last post, I talked about one extreme our culture participates in: anything is 

allowed. Some Christians (and some non-Christians), in response, go to the other extreme: 

nothing is allowed. This post is geared towards this extreme. Philipians 4:8 still applies, 

but not as stringently.

           The Bible is violent. The Bible talks about sexuality and rape, theft and and murder. 

Obviously Paul doesn’t mean that we can't allow or think about anything that could 

potentially be negative. But when we think, are we looking at things the way God does? 

When we think of sex, are we thinking about some hottie (lust) or how God wants us to 

save it for marriage (purity)? When we think about relationships, are we thinking about 

getting what we want (selfishness) or how to put the other person first (honor)?

           The world isn’t perfect, therefore we won’t always think about perfect things. But no 

matter what is going on in our minds, it can be looked at biblically (and therefore allowed). 

Look at the cross! It is the height of our rebellion against God (and very violent to boot), 

but we are to focus on the sacrifice God made for us.

           Nothing is off-limits to think about, really. Rape, murder, sex, theft, people, etc. But 

it is how you think of these things  determines whether or not it passes Philipians 4:8 (last 

post). It is also how you look at these things that will determine your conduct and feelings, 

which, in turn, will determine the image you project to non-believers. 

           Everything's connected if you think about it. It all starts with what we put in our 

minds.

Post 1: A Sick Culture

           This world is messed up. Just turn on the television. Turn on the radio. Go talk to 

people. As a friend of mine puts it, our society is full of “disease”. Unfortunately, Christians 

have been sucked into this society and molded by materialism. Now you can’t tell a 

Christian from a non-Christian. We’ve lost our saltiness (Matthew 5:13). Christians act, 

talk, and look like everyone else.

            Though, as usual, there are multiple ways of looking at this issue, it can come down 

to what we put in our minds and what we feel with our hearts. If we dwell on good things, 

our external image to nonbelievers will change because we will! But that’s jumping ahead. 

Let’s look at our culture, first.

            Think about the (somewhat) current batch of movies out there. Machete Kills 

(enough said, really). Hunger Games: Catching Fire (kids kill each other, etc.). Iron Man (a 

messed up guy messing around with women and killing others).

            Now, there are often positive elements to movies. I know that. But think about what 

are in these movies. Killing, sex, lying, and cheating. Worst of all, these things are glorified 

as the height of everything we should desire. Now let’s check out a different outlet our 

culture uses, music. Yeah, it won’t be any better.

            “Timber” by Pittbull (party scene, and you know what that entails…). “Counting 

Stars” by One Republic (relatively okay love song, actually). “Dark Horse” by Katy Perry 

(another sex and party song).

            Now contrast that to Philipians 4:8:

            “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, 

whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, 

whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise , 

think on these things.” (KJV, emphasis mine)

            As a friend of mine put it: if we WATCH what the world watches, if we LISTEN to 

what the world listens to, if we TALK like the world talks, and if we DRESS like the world 

dresses, we are the world. We are no different than they are!

            The question I pose for you (and myself): what do you think about? When everyone 

is quiet and nothing is happening, where does my mind float? If we aren’t thinking about 

things biblically or biblical things (that was fun to write), then we aren’t any different than 

the people God calls us to evangelize.

            The world is messed up, and Christians aren’t doing anything about it. We call them 

to follow Jesus as we head to the same parties they do. We tell them Jesus loves them as 

we sit down to watch illicit and violent movies. We tell them that Jesus is #1 in our lives as 

we listen to songs about how having a good time is #1 in our lives.

            Are you sensing a pattern here?



(Now, before someone can go to the other deep end, let me just say that no subject is off-

limits to think about. More in my next post. Also, I am far from perfect here. This is a 

wake-up call for me, too)

(Is It Ever Okay to Sin? Post 5) Food for Thought

            You know, sometimes I manage to annoy even myself. I came across an article online that 

detailed a biblical case for telling a lie. I told myself, “You better save this somewhere; this would make 

for an interesting blog post.” Naturally, I don’t do that. Now I can’t find it. That is reason #100,362 I’m 

excited for a new heavenly body when Jesus rolls around. Maybe I’ll remember something then!

            But here it is nonetheless (from memory): the ninth commandment states that we are not to bear 

false witness. To paraphrase and simplify, Christians just say that we are not to lie. But this writer 

brings us back to the language of the actual passage (found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5). It 

doesn’t say not to “lie”, but to “not bear false witness”.

            He argues that this passage is speaking from a court perspective. "Bearing false witness" is 

legally inclined, whereas "lie" is more of an everyday term. The passage is speaking as if there is a 

judge (or a mediator) and an accuser (or defendant) present. We are not to lie to these people when we 

speak. In this situation, the mediator and the accuser deserve the truth, therefore we must be honest.

            How does this change whether or not we can sin (specifically lie) in extreme situations? It 

changes things because we can judge whether or not the people we are speaking to deserve the truth. If 

Nazis knocked on my door asked if I was hiding Jews, I could lie to them because they do not deserve 

the truth. They intend to harm. They are being neither just in judgement nor merciful.

            This person balances that illustration with the fact that almost everyone deserves to hear the 

truth, therefore we should always tell the truth to those people. It is only in extreme situations (such as 

war) where we can lie. This sums up his position.

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            I have to admit, the writer was convincing. He got me with the war illustration. How else can 

nations have useful intelligence agencies if they can’t lie to gain information and stay one step ahead of 

other nations? I admit, I do not know. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Christian spy/pastor, and he was fine 

with lying to an enemy. If you read his books on theology (try The Cost of Discipleship) and Eric 

Metaxas’ biography on him, you’ll learn that this guy was a strong Christian.

            Going back to the Bible, God never condoned sin (though he blessed some of the sinners in it). 

Therefore He never condoned lying. The author would maneuver around this fact by saying that lying 

to those who do not deserve the truth is not a sin. God doesn’t have to condone something that isn’t 

sinful.

            Again, I am extremely irked that I can’t find the article. You could read it yourself. Anyway, I 

have one main problem with the whole “you can lie (bear false witness) to those who do not deserve 

the truth” position:

            To counter the "Nazis at the door" example, I will use the "Are you a Christian?" situation. Say 

you are at a church with all your close friends and family members. A gunman then comes inside and 

walks to you. He says, "Are you a Christian? If you say yes, everyone here dies. But if you deny your 

God, everyone goes free." There have been countless Christians who have been shot to death by 

answering yes to this question. Mothers and fathers have watched their children get beaten to death. All 

because they refused to deny Jesus.

            Using this logic, however, it is okay to deny Christ because the murderer doesn’t deserve the 

truth. Often these people are terrorists, so they would fall under the category of those who can be 

misled.

            I don’t know about you, but denying our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is never justified. He 

gave you eternal life, but you would trade Him for this short life? It would be okay to deny Christ under 

this position. That's the problem with saying that sin is okay in extreme situations.

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            This debate can get heated, but I don’t think it needs to be. We all can agree that, even if it is 

ever okay to sin (lie), it would be in extreme situations that we will probably never experience 

anyway. Going back to the premise of my position, we can be sure that God won’t tempt us beyond 

what we are able to handle (1 Corinthians 10:13). That is how I take this often philosophical debate and 

make it practical. We can argue over the finer points of scripture, but we can come together and agree 

that in our day-to-day lives, God won’t give us more than we can chew. There is always a way to 

glorify Him in whatever situation we find ourselves.