At 11:27 AM 10/13/00 -0400, William J Marengo, Jr. wrote:
>Respectfully and lovingly brothers and sisters,
>
>First, I am perplexed by the consistent use of the clause phrase, "well,
>maybe it's not right for you but if it's right for another, it's not
>wrong". There are rights and wrongs. There are absolutes.
>...
It is true that there are absolutes.
It is also true that there are some areas where we need to give grace to our brothers
and not be judgmental, but be convinced in our own minds. See Romans 14, especially
Romans 14:5.
>If we continue to use the related clause, "I see nothing wrong with it so
>it's okay", we are in big trouble!
Are we? Are we not under law, but under grace?
Seriously, we need to avoid sin, but also avoid the trap of legalism. For example, I
avoid Halloween "celebration" because I have no desire to exalt demons or witchcraft.
I'm certainly not to proud to open the door to trick-or-treaters, smile at them, and
give them some of God's Word in their little bags, though. I'm also not above doing
something righteous and holy instead of such "celebration."
>Secondly, in the case of a church ran Oct 31st function, so be it. At
>least they are getting the kids away from the celebration of halloween.
>
>BUT (emphasis, not yelling) if they are mirroring similar halloween
>practices (in particular costumes, jack-o-lanterns, etc) then there is a
>scent of compromise in the air.
>
>Compromise is the key word to both statements above. Again I say,
>"Careful".
>
>See 1 John 2:15-17.
Amen.
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