Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Explore the Bible for Yourself, Part 50 of 52
IDEA: Some situations in life are not reflected in the Bible, but we have to bring principles behind explicit instruction to bear on the situation.
PURPOSE: To help listeners think about how you apply the biblical text to situations not in the biblical text.
When you think back to your growing-up years, what lessons did your parents teach you?
When your parents taught you those lessons, how did they teach them to you?
[May refer to Robert Fulghum's book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things.]
Haddon's lesson in not stealing: Would you learn that you should not steal guns from the Colvin boy, or would you learn more than that?
I. Sometimes we have to apply the Scriptures to situations that the Scriptures do not directly address.
Is it wrong for you to covet your neighbor's automobile or her television set? The Bible never commands that. But you can take the command about coveting and bring it over to our times because you recognize that there is a principle behind it.
Do you know any place where the Bible explicitly prohibits pornography or voyeurism?
If the Bible doesn't prohibit it, is it necessarily all right?
If a counselor tells us that clients who are sexually dysfunctional are shown pornography, is this wrong?
There are two explicit commands in Exodus 20:14 and Jesus' interpretation in Matthew 5:28. How do you think they apply?
If someone asked, "Is it wrong to go to a company party where they have an open bar?" the Bible does not speak about that. What would you have to consider? First Corinthians 8: The principle there is that I will look at those situations with Christian liberty limited by love. I'd have to think about it.
Take the issue of birth control.
Should a Christian couple use birth control?
If they are pro-life, then does it follow that they must do nothing to prohibit life? If they choose not to use birth control, can they impose that practice on other Christian couples?
