The Right Answer to All the Wrong Questions

How many times have you been confronted with a question that begins with, “Is it alright for a Christian to . . . ?”  I’m guessing that it has been more than once.  Probably a lot more than once.

When I was a young teenager, the answer was typically a gracious “Sure” or a steadfast “No.”  The latter, as I recall was usually preceded by an emphatic “Heavens,” which only made me more curious about the “why” of the “not.”  Sometimes the negative answer was accompanied by the respondent pointing to someone who appeared to be down-and-out and the addition of the phrase, “Do you want to grow up to be like him?”  Well, no, not really, but that’s not what I asked.  At least I got black and white answers.

When I was a young adult, the answer went something like this:  “Do what you think is right.”  That sounded appealing, but it never meshed too well for me with the scripture that says “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.”  As appealing as it sounded, I wasn’t that sure that I was discerning enough to determine what was right.  Unfortunately, when push came to shove, I made a lot of bad choices.  Which is why I am so burdened about how we help others deal with this matter. 

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