The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
June 2, 2002
In
This Issue:
Just
What is Offensive Behavior?
By
Steve Klein
Just What Is Offensive Behavior?
Not long ago, a six year-old boy kissed a classmate in school and was punished. At another school, a fourteen year-old boy was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor offense for calling a fellow student a "fat cow"; he could face hundreds of dollars in fines. On the other hand, a professional basketball player recently slugged a player on the opposing team, and the referee didn't even call a foul. Could it be that the two schoolboys might have gotten lighter punishments if they had slugged their classmates. In the mixed up world we are living in, maybe so.
Incidents such as these illustrate just how confused our society is about what constitutes decent conduct. Having thrown out THE BOOK which God gave us to determine such things, leaders in government, education and sports are treading water in the sea of our cultural immorality -- grasping at the sinking wreckage of political correctness, values clarification, and multi-cultural sensitivity in a vain effort to keep themselves afloat. What constitutes offensive behavior? They don't have a clue! The good and the innocent are punished while the vile and the perverse get off free. It is as it was in the days of Israel; the wicked "make a man an offender by a word, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and turn aside the just by empty words"(Isaiah 29:21).
The Scriptures typically use the words "offend" and "offense" to refer either to causing someone else to sin or to sin itself. The reason that no one seems to know what is offensive anymore is that no one knows what is sinful! We need to learn. And we need to learn that, no matter how unjust men may be in identifying and punishing sinful offenses, there are real and just consequences for offending.
Sin is a transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4). The consequences of sin are far worse than a five-day suspension for a baseball player or a missed ice cream party for a six-year old. Those who "offend" by sinning have an extremely unpleasant future in store. At the end of time, Jesus "will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:41-42). The fate of those who "offend" by causing others to sin isn't any better. Jesus said, "It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea..." (Luke 17:1-2).
Regardless of what others may do, you and I need to resolve ourselves to "give no offense."
--By Steve Klein