Matthew 25

[Shannonw]

37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?

39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'



How do we justify all the anger and loathing displayed for various members of our world community in light of what Jesus says about love and support or our neighbor?

If we believe in the last judgement, won't every nasty posting we have made here about immigrants, for example, be queried at the Judgement Seat in the last days?

[Deepcallstodeep]

For that matter... might not every nasty posting or unkind word about anyone come back to haunt us one day, period? When we accuse our brethren in Christ, we are in fact falling in with the enemy who stands before the throne accusing us before the Lord, day and night. BTW, I need to constantly remind myself of this, also...

I'll add a bit to your question, too. My pastor was talking about this the other day. He was talking about reconciling this very scripture with also the need to watch out for our borders in a spiritual sense (think of all the drugs pouring into our country, the bloodshed that goes into that market, or even the market for items made with slave labor... do we all purchase free trade coffee? Do we know who made that shirt we just bought, and under what circumstances, or in our massive consumerism and greed do we just not care?). We condemn illegal immigrants while we go off to the superstore chain to purchase items made in sweatshops, which keeps people in other countries in a state of poverty and hopelessness. I'm positive I have done this without even knowing it.

However, we are told to honor the laws of our land, and the government that the Lord has put in place. Where the laws are unbiblical, I guess we pray and try harder to be a voice for the Lord in the political arena.

I dunno. Sorry Shannonw, I think I am adding only befuddlement to your post! :) Looking forward to hearing other responses from those much wiser than me.

[Beth O]

37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?

39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'



How do we justify all the anger and loathing displayed for various members of our world community in light of what Jesus says about love and support or our neighbor?

If we believe in the last judgement, won't every nasty posting we have made here about immigrants, for example, be queried at the Judgement Seat in the last days?

I agree we should help the needy. This is not the same as getting along with the world in the name of tolerance and diversity. Unity without truth is null and void. We must stand up for the Biblical principals we learn in Gods Word.
For instance, I believe abortion is murder. I will stand up for this truth, no matter how upset the world might be with me.

James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

[Beth O]

For that matter... might not every nasty posting or unkind word about anyone come back to haunt us one day, period? When we accuse our brethren in Christ, we are in fact falling in with the enemy who stands before the throne accusing us before the Lord, day and night. BTW, I need to constantly remind myself of this, also...

I suppose it depends on what you consider a nasty posting or unkind word. I have found that the truth offends more than any thing. So if someone comes on this board preaching a different gospel other than the gospel of Christ, should we not tell others the true gospel. The one that is preaching the false gospel, most likely will consider the post nasty and unkind.

Galatians 1:8-9 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.



I'll add a bit to your question, too. My pastor was talking about this the other day. He was talking about reconciling this very scripture with also the need to watch out for our borders in a spiritual sense (think of all the drugs pouring into our country, the bloodshed that goes into that market, or even the market for items made with slave labor... do we all purchase free trade coffee? Do we know who made that shirt we just bought, and under what circumstances, or in our massive consumerism and greed do we just not care?). We condemn illegal immigrants while we go off to the superstore chain to purchase items made in sweatshops, which keeps people in other countries in a state of poverty and hopelessness. I'm positive I have done this without even knowing it.

I suppose if we know a company is doing business in an unethical way, we should not shop there. ie, I just found out the ebay supports planned parenthood. I did a lot of business with ebay. Not anymore.


However, we are told to honor the laws of our land, and the government that the Lord has put in place. Where the laws are unbiblical, I guess we pray and try harder to be a voice for the Lord in the political arena.

As Christians we should follow the laws in our Country, unless they go against Biblical principals.

[Shannonw]

I hear you. Find my apologies here:
http://www.rr-bb.com/showthread.php?t=9275&page=2

[Beth O]

I hear you. Find my apologies here:
http://www.rr-bb.com/showthread.php?t=9275&page=2

I wasn't looking for an apology here? :scratch Just thought we were all giving our opinion on the subject? :scratch Wait a minute there was no apology from you and that thread you linked??? :scratch Did I miss something? :scratch