Is it wrong for a Christian to say that something is wrong? A little more specifically, is it wrong to say that a certain lifestyle is wrong? I’ve been amazed, not to find how many people outside the church say that it is – that’s a given – but how many professing Christians think that it is. We should “live and let live”. We should not judge, some say, or we too will be judged.

I’ve addressed the issue of judging in my post “Is It Wrong to Judge?” I made the point that Jesus was not telling us to have no opinions of what is right or wrong when he said “do not judge”, but to make our judgments and observations with love and self-analysis, and not with hypocrisy.

While the church should indeed be “tolerant” in the sense that everyone, no matter what their background or history, should be welcomed and loved, there is no room for tolerance of sin in true Christianity. Yes, I said that three letter word, virtually banned even from many churches and denominations. I said it because Jesus Christ (remember him – the foundation of and reason for our faith?) said it. He told the adulteress that he was not condemning her, but he also said:

“Go now, and leave your life of sin” (John 8:11).

Jesus was not being “judgmental” in the sense that we think of the word, but he was making a judgment: some things are wrong. Some lifestyles are sinful. Some things are unacceptable to God. In fact, some things are an “abomination” to God. You don’t have to read very far in either the Old or New Testaments to find that some lifestyles are going to keep some people out of heaven, for all eternity – and the alternative is not a party. Should we not be warning people of that fact?

If we are going to remove from the Bible the parts that don’t suit Homo-Political Correctus, there will not be much left, and we are in effect saying “This is not the word of God. There is no word from God. God has not spoken. God is who we make him up to be by consensus. Right and wrong is what we say it is.” We have, essentially, become our own god. We have put ourselves in the place of our Creator. As the serpent counseled Eve in the Garden, we have decided that “We shall become like God”.

Don’t offer me any man-made god or man-made religion. I have better things to do with my time, like polishing my shoes or counting the blades of grass on my lawn.

Jesus Christ  (who did he think he was anyway?) didn’t go around preaching tolerance of all lifestyles and helping people to fulfill their desires, dreams and potential: he went about telling them to:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 4: 17).

He said “But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13: 3).

In the “Great Commission” to his disciples, he told them that they must go about “teaching them (converts) to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28: 20).

This was a vital part of the message of the early church: it was necessary not only to believe in Jesus as Savior, but also to repent of sin in order to gain eternal life.

The parameters that God has set for his creation – man –  are clearly set in His message to us.

If we fail to consider this, and if we condemn discernment and wise lifestyle choices, we are guilty of creating our own god, of pointing people in the direction of death and not life,  and of calling Jesus Christ and the Father “liars”.

• APOLOGETICS