Danny ChaiHmm, I got some interesting responses to my last entry. I think I should amend what I’m saying. I don’t think my attitude in this area is better than anyone else’s. Far from it. If it wasn’t clear, I think it’s worse, unhealthy. Nor do I think people should be like me in regards to this – if you are, for the love of God, stop it. I’m the one with issues, not the right one.
Basically, I’m the weaker brother. I could have sworn there’s a better passage, but I can only find 1 Corinthians 8:4,7 which says: “So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one…. But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.” Different issue, same idea. I’m the one with the weak conscience. But the passage says although it’s fine to eat those foods in reality, for some people, because their conscience is weak, it actually is defiled. For me, because I am messed up, for me to acquire certain things would be bad, even though it’s not sin in reality.
That’s about the only way I can explain it. I’ve said this over and over before. I know my attitude is messed up. But the weird thing is, even fully knowing that, it’s hard to fix. Wise counsel like Mike, Ted, and Lee have encouraged me to be more free in the past. But as I kind of glean from the passage, I won’t be able to get over it by just starting to buy stuff. Given how I am now, I would be defiled, like the weak guy eating idol meat. I need to change my conscience first, then be free to do things. But how do I do that? I dunno, pray for me.
Hope that makes sense. I’m the one with issues, so you are right to challenge my attitude.
I will say this though, in response to some of the comments. I don’t know if this is what people are saying, but I’m disturbed by the attitude that, if people are bothered by me, that’s their problem, not mine, hopefully God will change them but if not, too bad. Egad. That’s not Biblical at all. I appeal to Paul, who absolutely asserted his freedom in Christ but simultaneously recognized that his actions practically had an effect on others, especially the weak, and was sensitive to that. We can do the same, I think, assert our freedom, recognize our rights, and at the same time, be sensitive to the effects that has on others, especially the weaker brother. Paul recognized that what we choose to do does have an effect on other people. And he didn’t just leave it up to the Holy Spirit to change them; he changed his behavior, even being in the right. I definitely don’t think we should be slaves to what other people think, and in many cases we probably don’t need to change anything at all. I do think we should have the mindset of being sensitive though, instead of just asserting our rights and leaving them up to God. My opinion.
On a total side note, there was once this Christian contestant on Survivor who had this extreme issue with the Immunity Idol. She didn’t want to be anywhere near it and kept saying weird stuff like, it’s not the idol that brings us immunity, it’s Jesus Christ. She was bizarro, but it did make me think – are we Christians kind of too casual with the term idol? Meaning, like American Idol, we have no problem with it. But maybe there is something screwed up about it, the adulation involved, maybe the show is appropriately named. Course I’ve never watched it, so. Plus all the winners seem to be Christians. So as usual, I’m talking out of me arse.