{"id":3301,"date":"2011-08-02T01:00:24","date_gmt":"2011-08-02T09:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/?p=3301"},"modified":"2011-11-18T21:38:49","modified_gmt":"2011-11-19T05:38:49","slug":"gray-issues-part-4-%e2%80%93-like-lambs-to-slaughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/2011\/08\/02\/gray-issues-part-4-%e2%80%93-like-lambs-to-slaughter\/","title":{"rendered":"Gray Issues Part 4 \u2013 Like Lambs to Slaughter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

by Elder Peter Lim<\/em><\/p>\n

In a 1993 a movie, a newly married couple was propositioned by a wealthy man whether the wife would spend a night with him for $1 million. Reluctantly they agree to the arrangement and the rest of the movie deals with the consequences of that decision. I wouldn\u2019t recommend that anyone watch this movie but the dilemma posed is interesting. The question is, how far would you go for money? Would you be willing to sin for it? A Christian would understand that God hates sin…so this ought to be a relatively easy question to answer. Of course sin at any price is not acceptable. But what if the situation was altered just a tad so that the wife wouldn\u2019t necessarily have to go all the way and cross the “adultery line?” \u00a0Most people would be tempted to overlook the motives of the heart in order to get the money and redefine the sin border. This is where I believe most failures occur in the hearts and minds of Christians.<\/p>\n

By now, you\u2019ve probably gotten the point that I\u2019m not going to draw definitive lines for you to cross or not cross. Of course I\u2019m doing this deliberately since I would not want you to try to live up (or down) to my standards. We sinners have a tendency to want our lines clearly defined as if THAT\u2019s the issue. Instead, consider Proverbs 7:6-27:<\/p>\n

6 For at the window of my house
\nI looked out through my lattice,
\n7 And I saw among the naive,
\nAnd discerned among the youths
\nA young man lacking sense,
\n8 Passing through the street near her corner;
\nAnd he takes the way to her house,
\n9 In the twilight, in the evening,
\nIn the middle of the night and in the darkness.
\n10 And behold, a woman comes to meet him,
\nDressed as a harlot and cunning of heart.
\n11 She is boisterous and rebellious,
\nHer feet do not remain at home;
\n12 She is now in the streets, now in the squares,
\nAnd lurks by every corner.
\n13 So she seizes him and kisses him
\nAnd with a brazen face she says to him:
\n14 \u201cI was due to offer peace offerings;
\nToday I have paid my vows.
\n15 \u201cTherefore I have come out to meet you,
\nTo seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you.
\n16 \u201cI have spread my couch with coverings,
\nWith colored linens of Egypt.
\n17 \u201cI have sprinkled my bed
\nWith myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
\n18 \u201cCome, let us drink our fill of love until morning;
\nLet us delight ourselves with caresses.
\n19 \u201cFor my husband is not at home,
\nHe has gone on a long journey;
\n20 He has taken a bag of money with him,
\nAt the full moon he will come home.\u201d
\n21 With her many persuasions she entices him;
\nWith her flattering lips she seduces him.
\n22 Suddenly he follows her
\nAs an ox goes to the slaughter,
\nOr as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool,
\n23 Until an arrow pierces through his liver;
\nAs a bird hastens to the snare,
\nSo he does not know that it will cost him his life.
\n24 Now therefore, my sons, listen to me,
\nAnd pay attention to the words of my mouth.
\n25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
\nDo not stray into her paths.
\n26 For many are the victims she has cast down,
\nAnd numerous are all her slain.
\n27 Her house is the way to Sheol,
\nDescending to the chambers of death.<\/em><\/p>\n

Why is this foolish young man walking by this woman\u2019s house? Is there no other way to get where he\u2019s going? According to verse 9 he goes by her house repeatedly and interestingly enough, during the darker hours. He must\u2019ve reasoned to himself that walking by this woman\u2019s house isn\u2019t a sin, even at night. Perhaps he has even flirted with her in order to get her attention. She comes out and meets him, dressed inappropriately. Maybe he justified in his own mind that her clothing shouldn\u2019t be an issue. Or maybe he even liked the fact that she wore edgy clothing, not like the \u201cnice\u201d girls of his day. Sure, her feet don\u2019t stay at home but is that so wrong? Is that one of the Ten Commandments? She uses religious talk and flattery and assures him that there\u2019s no way that they\u2019ll get caught. Her religious talk seems shallow but he thinks he shouldn\u2019t judge her. She \u201cencourages\u201d him. Fornication would be wrong, but is something wrong with caresses? It\u2019s just a massage. No danger can come of that. Her husband will be away so there\u2019s no chance his friendship with her can be misunderstood. All this time, he is unaware of her true motives and follows her like a lamb to slaughter. He shouldn\u2019t have let his heart turn to her ways nor strayed into her paths.<\/p>\n

There is so much more we can talk about here but my intention isn\u2019t to write a commentary on this. The point has already been made that this foolish young man disregarded all the warning signs because he reasoned to himself that what he did wasn\u2019t sin until it was too late. It is this kind of danger that we face whenever we start trying to define the sin border. Instead of fleeing from youthful lusts, we would rather pharisaically stay on this side of the sin border and ignore the hidden motives of the heart. As redeemed people who understand our own weaknesses and the supreme holiness of God, our desire and our actions must reflect a heart that hates sin and does all that we can to stay far away from it, instead of placing ourselves in the middle of the path that leads to destruction. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, we must be conservative and stay away from any questionable activities. We must do this not because we are so paranoid that we might cross the sin border, but because we love God and His holiness. Let us not be as na\u00efve as to be led like lambs to slaughter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Elder Peter Lim In a 1993 a movie, a newly married couple was propositioned by a wealthy man whether the wife would spend a night with him for $1 million. Reluctantly they agree to the arrangement and the rest of the movie deals with the consequences of that decision. I wouldn\u2019t recommend that anyone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elders-corner"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3301"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3303,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3301\/revisions\/3303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}