Teach morals or teach Jesus?

The primary objective should be showing them your own Christ likeness. Be humble, loving, moral, and they will notice. Becoming Christ leads them to Christ.

If you only teach morals then whose morals do you teach? Everyone has their own set of morals. You end up teaching moral relativity. Jesus/Scripture represents moral absolutes from which we derive a standard set of morals and the definition of what sin actually is. Can't point out sin to the sinner unless it is first defined.

MasterYourLife said:

To an unbeliever who sins, is there any good in saying: sin is wrong? Will this result in them being saved?

Or is it better to direct them towards Jesus?

Perhaps both, but I don't see the point of only including one.

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I found it more effective in my witness to show that sin is wrong when I don't participate with them rather than pointing out what they do. Instead of seeing someone out to get them for every fault they make, they just see someone who lives differently than themselves. It usually leads them to wonder and ask questions, opening a door for me to share my worldview and eventually the gospel.

Now, if I were presenting the good news, I would have to point out their sin. I follow the pattern that Ray Comfort uses, it is easy and to the point.

MasterYourLife said:

To an unbeliever who sins, is there any good in saying: sin is wrong? Will this result in them being saved?

Or is it better to direct them towards Jesus?

Click to expand...

I think it depends on the situation. Bible tells that eternal life is for righteous.

These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Mat. 25:46

I think it would be good to teach what it means to be righteous. And own example is good way for that. Righteousness is the opposite of sin.

He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he can't sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the devil. Whoever doesn't do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who doesn't love his brother.
1 John 3:7-10

MasterYourLife said:

To an unbeliever who sins, is there any good in saying: sin is wrong? Will this result in them being saved?

Or is it better to direct them towards Jesus?

Perhaps both, but I don't see the point of only including one.

Click to expand...

There will be many in hell who were perfect in their morals.

Depends upon your goal. The Reformers had a concept of "civil righteousness." Not saving, but good for society. There are plenty of areas where Christians and non-Christians can agree on good behavior. Those things should be encouraged. Jesus taught that we should care about everyone, and those behaviors promote general welfare.

Actually that's not so different from teaching morals to Christians. Salvation isn't based on morals for Christians either, so the major reason is that they're how God wants us to behave, and presumably God wants that in large part because it's good for those around us.

So moral behavior for Christians comes from our commitment to Christ, and for non-Christians doesn't, but still, the purpose is similar.

There is nothing that prevents somebody who has a few crazy ideas about himself to be a great moral teacher in other respects. The one simply hasn’t got anything to do with the other.
Besides, Jesus was not a ‘great’ moral teacher. He was not an utterly bad moral teacher either, but his morality was lacking too much to be called ‘great’.
I certainly don’t think somebody who didn’t consider slavery wrong to be a great moral teacher. As a human being living in the first century his moral stance of slavery may be somewhat excusable, as the Son of God, it imost certainly isn’t. And that’s just one example. His completely unjustified rage at people doing their jobs in the temple is another one.










Sarkari Result Pnr Status 192.168.l.l

Just saying: "That is wrong because the Bible says so", I see as being troublesome, but showing them how they actions can and or does hurt others and maybe themselves can help. Sin should burden the sinner and cause them to seek relief.

MasterYourLife said:

To an unbeliever who sins, is there any good in saying: sin is wrong? Will this result in them being saved?

Or is it better to direct them towards Jesus?

Perhaps both, but I don't see the point of only including one.

Click to expand...

Knowing our sin is part of what drives us to Jesus-because through Him is promised the forgiveness of God. Why do I need Him if I feel righteous already in myself? The ten commandments/moral law prepare us to understand our need for God. The law shows us what is right even though it cannot give us the power to achieve that righteousness on its own. In this sense the law is a teacher-that reveals or discloses sin. So that we can learn that there's something very much wrong going on here in this world-and in ourselves. The ugly selfish ways we often treat each other and the way truth is so often forsaken and the pain and harm that results is not called for, not necessary, not the way things "should be". With this sense, we're all the more ready to accept a better way when its offered.