This past week we had yet another session of the brethren getting on his/her high horse because of something we say and/or do.

Please dear ones, heed this warning. Be careful who you share your life with, who you are honest with about your personal and private home life. Don't be so quick to let your "secrets", or sins, or vices, or faults, or obsessions, or likes, or loves, or...  out in the open, UNLESS you fill in the blanks of the where, when, why, how much or how long, and what type/style of the "thing" in your life that most of the brethren hide or fail to disclose, for the reasons why I am writing this now.

Yes, I am being vague, and I apologize for that.

My husband is great, and he is especially passionate about reaching out to brothers and sisters, and trying to encourage them in life. He also seeks to challenge their thinking on doctrine. But last week he made the "mistake" of being honest with someone about something, and without them knowing the who, what, how much... etc the listener took it upon themselves to brow beat him over the phone.

 

Why is it that we have to preface everything we say about our life, especially with things that someone might believe is wrong, such as TV, movies, books/authors, sports, hobbies, computer/internet, music, ..... I have personally seen the looks...you know the type of look that a NON-TV person gives when a TV watching Christian lets it be known that they watch TV. 

 

Because of our recent confrontation, I am sure that we need to explain the who, when, how often,... immediately following the disclosure. 

 

Many people grew up in homes where TV was on every waking moment, and for some household members, was on all night too.  And that was when TV was not as bad as today.  But if you indulge in TV programs, you almost have to share your watch list, and explain that simply because you watch EMERGENCY doesn't mean your set is on 24/7; or that you are in agreement with everything seen, said, and done. OR the maybe the person watches only specific channels or programs or news or sports or limited time each day/week.

 

This is true for sports fans. Does a football fan have to hate the sport bcz there are advertizers who promote drinking?  Is it wrong to like basketball bcz players live immoral personal lives?

 

How about newpapers?  They are full of garbage...dear abby, gossip, horoscopes, one sided political statements.... are they any better than the TV  or sports?  Isn't sin a sin a sin a sin...if indeed the "thing" in dispute is a sin according to Scripture.  Mind you I am not saying sin isn't sin. 

 

You might even recall my own gripes with romance novels, even Christian ones put unrealistic ideas into the minds of women-married and single. Then when ones husband, father, beau, isn't as "romantic" or regal as the hero from the novels, it hurts. Fiction is often hard to keep in it's proper place when it is so appealing to our female emotions and spirit...but I digress...

 

WHY do we have to prepare a statement to explain, not necessarily justify, our choice of entertainment--for lack of a better word?  WHAT makes brethren think it's right for them to call one on the carpet for this choice? 

 

It has become quite tiresome to have to be on guard from the bretheren who are ready to lunge and plunge a knife into your chest when you engage in some activitiy or pastime from which they have chosen to abstain.

The saddest part is that often is the case, that the brother or sister who decided to launch an assault on me/us on one matter, is/was, humanly speaking, engaging in much more gross activities, and appears to have rebuked me/us to take or keep the focus off themselves.  Kind of the mote and the beam scenario.

 

Mind you that what has often hurt the most about this happening, is that they go by their own experience and not the facts of the situation. (refer to the previous mentioned TV paragraph) On top of that, to be calling a "friend" to encourage them, to see how they are doing, and have them turn on you, so to speak, well, it HURTS!  It would be nice if the "friend" could put off their sermon until the next phone call.  I know the verses about rebukes, and reproachiing, correcting etc...  but there is a proper time, place and manner, and often is the case, these facts were not considered, to my knowledge.

 

The reason I am writing this is not to justify anyone or condemn any specific person. No. This is my plea to the bretheren at large, be sure you have all the facts before you start hurling stones and weighty words at someone who has come to you aid.  It is rather like a person drowning in the ocean, and the lifeguard swims out to them, risking his/her own life, and when they get to the victim, he/she starts telling them how ignorant and stupid it was for them to swim out risking their life for another  person.  Or a sick dying man killing the only dr. who is capable of performing the surgery he needs to live. 

 

But sisters, we do this type of thing all the time. I am NOT saying we should condone sin, but at the same time we need to be careful to have all the facts, to have the right spirit, to be sure our own life and heart and mind, are perfectly in tune with Christ and God before we start to preach harshly at others.

 

I apologize for this being so.... jumbled.... it's been on my mind for a week now, and it is hard to say that we have to stand against sin, but we have to be sure the situation isn't a mote v. beam one.  If we strive for that, I think that there will be far less controversy personally between brethren and the Holy Ghost will have free course to convict of sin and bring true repentence.