Just because someone is my friend who believes opposite of what I do, does not mean I believe what they do. You meet people of all sorts in this world, and believe me, it is possible to be friends with someone whose beliefs are completely opposite yours, without compromising an inch on your own beliefs. This is common sense. Idiots will have you believe that just because you associate with someone else, that you must agree with their beliefs? Seriously? Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners. It did not make him a tax collector or sinner. Look up the phrase "Association fallacy" in wikipedia and you will know what I am talking about.
Folks these days seem to want others to walk on eggshells. Folks, disagreeing with someone doesn't mean you dislike them or want to have nothing to do with them. I dearly love my girlfriend. Does not mean that we agree on everything all the time, yet I would gladly give my life for her. I have never seen such a dumb, idiotic lot of people in my entire life, and it is not God's people who are dumb, it is Satan's people who are dumb, they rise up and say, "look --- there is a Christian interacting with a non-Christian --- surely, he has left his faith." Remind you of a passage in the Bible?
"And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Matthew 9:9-13
The bottom line is this:
- Jesus talking or eating with a tax-collector or sinner didn't make Jesus a tax-collector or sinner.
- A Christian talking with a non-Christian doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian walking with a non-Christian doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian buying something from a non-Christian doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian instructing a non-Christian doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian learning from non-Christian College professors doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian visiting a foreign non-Christian country doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian writing a letter to a non-Christian doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian buying a house from a non-Christian doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian using a non-Christian realtor to buy a house doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian renting from a non-Christian landlord doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian ordering goods from a non-Christian retailer doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian interacting with his non-Christian friends or relatives doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian visiting his old mother or father who have not accepted Jesus does not make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian working for a non-Christian employer doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian eating food cooked by a non-Christian doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
Get my point?
Folks, the lack of common sense plaguing our society today is an abysmally dismal trait. Once someone has accepted Jesus, nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing can separate them from the love of Christ:
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35-39
Folks these days seem to want others to walk on eggshells. Folks, disagreeing with someone doesn't mean you dislike them or want to have nothing to do with them. I dearly love my girlfriend. Does not mean that we agree on everything all the time, yet I would gladly give my life for her. I have never seen such a dumb, idiotic lot of people in my entire life, and it is not God's people who are dumb, it is Satan's people who are dumb, they rise up and say, "look --- there is a Christian interacting with a non-Christian --- surely, he has left his faith." Remind you of a passage in the Bible?
"And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Matthew 9:9-13
The bottom line is this:
- Jesus talking or eating with a tax-collector or sinner didn't make Jesus a tax-collector or sinner.
- A Christian talking with a non-Christian doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian walking with a non-Christian doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian buying something from a non-Christian doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian instructing a non-Christian doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian learning from non-Christian College professors doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian visiting a foreign non-Christian country doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian writing a letter to a non-Christian doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian buying a house from a non-Christian doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian using a non-Christian realtor to buy a house doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian renting from a non-Christian landlord doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian ordering goods from a non-Christian retailer doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian interacting with his non-Christian friends or relatives doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian visiting his old mother or father who have not accepted Jesus does not make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian working for a non-Christian employer doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
- A Christian eating food cooked by a non-Christian doesn't make the Christian a non-Christian.
Get my point?
Folks, the lack of common sense plaguing our society today is an abysmally dismal trait. Once someone has accepted Jesus, nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing can separate them from the love of Christ:
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35-39