Preaching the avoidance of sin is not condemnation. Jesus was in fact the first to bring up the issue of eternal fire and condemnation. I'd say around 1/4 to 1/3 of the NT is about the avoidance of sin(mostly in the epistles)
And what did he bring up the other 3/4 to 2/3 of the time?
Why don't nonbelievers "know them by their love", if that is what Christ says?
Also the reason why Jesus talked to the Pharisees that way was because of they're denial in Jesus's Divinity and his authority. The arrogance of the Pharisees is mostly rooted in the denial of Jesus's divinity and that is what the big problem was.
How is that? The Pharisees kept the law. So, why would they have a problem with Jesus' divinity, then, if they were obeying God?
Why would the sinners welcome him, if they were not obeying the law?
We must ask ourselves, WHY do people feel condemned when the issue of sin is brought up? The guiding of the christian flock away from temptation is the Church's job. Nearly 3/4th of the book of Revelation is just that; the church dealing with the issues in regards to sin and lukewarmness within Church members
Lukewarm about chastising others, and patting yourself on the back, like the Pharisee and the tax collector?
To whom did Jesus tell this parable, and why?
Luke 18
9
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about[a] himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other menrobbers, evildoers, adulterersor even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
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The only way a person would feel condemnation is if he has personalized sin so much in his life, that it is actually a part of him and his lifestyle. SO when it is preached against, he takes it as a personal assault to his integrity because he has integrated it so much into his lifestyle that it has become a part of him.[/QUOTE]
I used to go to a Pentecostal Church, and have seen a number of them that take specific verses very seriously:
1 Corinthians 11
14 Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, 15 but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. 16 If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practicenor do the churches of God.
Pretty clear. They have a portrait of the Last Supper - and Jesus has short hair. They took this as a clear "sin".
If you argued against it, do I then assume that you feel condemned because you are guilty?
