Neither Right Nor Left

by Stephen Bastin

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Swerving to miss the ditch on the right will usually land you in the ditch on the left.  Neither ditch is the place to be.  Keep it right in the middle and you will be fine (that is assuming that everyone is traveling in the same direction).

Joshua was faced with the challenge of leading Israel after the death of Moses.  He was charged with taking them into the promised land.  A flooding river stood before him and beyond that the armed citizens of Canaan.

As God challenged Joshua to lead Israel on a great adventure, he instructed him, “Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.”

On the right is the tendency to make laws where God has made none.  There often exists the feeling that God’s laws are not detailed enough and they need to be supplemented by more detailed legislation so that everyone will know exactly what is right and what is wrong.

On the left is the feeling that “times have changed.”  The laws of God are too strict for a more “enlightened” generation.  There must be a loosening of what God has commanded in order to get along in a modern world.

Consider the matter of smoking.  I cannot count the number of times I have been told that smoking is wrong because you are “defiling the temple of God” which is your body.

That quote is from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 19.  Was Paul concerned with Christians smoking.  A casual look at the chapter should be enough to convince anyone that smoking is not the issue.  The issue is fornication.  Paul is arguing against Christians having a sexual relationship with a “harlot.”

Is smoking a filthy habit?  Yes.  But so is wrestling pigs.  But things are not sinful because they are filthy.  If that were true then there are a whole lot of things from which Christians should abstain, like playing football in the rain!

But, it is argued, smoking leads to disease and death.  So does eating out.  There are innumerable cases of people getting sick from eating at some restaurant or fast food place.  Some of them even die.  Some years ago a child in the congregation where I was preaching got E Coli from eating at a buffet restaurant.  Should everyone have quit eating out?  That was certainly dangerous to one’s health and the health of one’s children who were exposed by the choice of their parents.

In the matter of hair styles, proper clothing to wear when worshipping and a host of other matters, laws have been made which are not to be found in the Bible.  Men love to make laws and bind them on other people!

On the other side it is argued that Christians ought to be accepting of homosexual behavior.  It is even argued that people are born homosexual and therefore we must accept that as normal behavior.

In the first place we are not born with a particular behavior.  Behavior is always a matter of choice.  Some people are kleptomaniacs.  Does that mean that we ought to legalize stealing?  Other people are pyromaniacs.  Does that mean we ought to legalize burning down buildings?  Psychiatrists tell us that such people cannot help what they do.  So we lock them up because their behavior is dangerous to society.  A good argument can be made that homosexuality is dangerous to society.   For starters, if everyone were homosexual, this would be the last generation!

In the second place, God places homosexual behavior in the category of things that He does not like.  In both the Old and the New Testament, homosexual behavior is identified as a  sin.  Moses wrote (in the Old Testament), “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.”  Paul wrote (in the New Testament), “For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.”  This is in the context of people who have refused to acknowledge God.

Many other laws of God have been set aside.  There is no behavior in the Bible labeled as wrong which someone does not argue ought to be acceptable.  Sinners want to sin.  They do not want people telling them they are wrong.  Sin is fun and some people have decided that if a particular choice is pleasurable then it must be all right.

For that matter, I do not find it pleasant for someone to tell me that I am wrong!  Well, guess what.  I have been wrong.

God labels things right or wrong based on His right as Creator to inform His creation as to His desires.  You may argue with God if you choose, but He is going to win in the end.

God does not want us making laws where He has not legislated and He is not happy when we choose to ignore the laws that He has made.  We need to turn neither to the right or the left, but keep the commandments of God.  The way to peace with God is found in obeying God alone.