Post by Cindy on Mar 8, 2021 11:34:42 GMT -5
When a Christian's family is going through a hard trial due to one or more family members turning away from Christ and following a false gospel or cult or simply living in sin the parent is often tempted to not rock the boat by lovingly telling that person the Truth. Instead they will sometimes say that they just want to keep peace in the family by letting the person do whatever it is they're wanting to do. I've seen all kinds of situations where this happened. Some of the situations I've seen where the parent did this include: a teen who is actively having sex wanting to have their heterosexual partner live in the house with them (in their bedroom of course); the same thing involving a homosexual partner; a child who is addicted to drugs and living a life of crime but has been told that they can go to rehab or jail and the child chooses to go with an LDS rehab instead of a Christian one; a child that has become confused and thinks they might be gay; or an adult child decides they're gay; or an adult child decides they're transgender. Every single one of these situations where the Christian parents decided that they wouldn't "rock the boat" because they wanted to keep peace in the family, turned out horribly for everyone!
First, the Christian parent(s) lost their testimony and in some cases, lost their faith. This is why the Lord warns us and says ““If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’” (Luke 14:26–30) Jesus obviously didn't mean we should literally hate our parents, children, or spouse. After all, He tells us over and over to love everyone. What He is saying is that we must love Him much more then we love our own close earthly family members. If we do love Him most of all, then we won't be tempted to just "keep the peace" and "not rock the boat." Instead, we will obey Him and lovingly tell the person the truth. I am not saying that a parent should not love a child or adult child that thinks they're gay or transgender, or who has an alcohol or drug problem. That would go against what the Lord teaches us! Of course we're to love them! But at the same time we're to lovingly tell them that those things are not good, and explain why they aren't good and what the consequences of going that way can be. We should also explain what the consequences of being obedient to the Lord are - both short term- (this life) and eternal.
If they insist they're homosexual or transgender, we should let them know that because we love them we will always tell them the truth and that means we will call them by the pronoun and name that they were given at birth since that is what God created them to be and what they are regardless of what they choose to pretend. If they choose to stay with a false teacher or cult after we've lovingly explained to them and shown them from the Bible why that person, ministry or church is false then we continue to love them and simply tell them we will continue to pray for them. If they aren't over the age of 18 then we can insist they have nothing to do with it, but otherwise we have to allow them to fall down, knowing the Lord will be there to pick them up again.
Addiction is a horrible thing for anyone to have to deal with. Thankfully it to is something the Lord can handle in an instant. I've seen it happen and it's amazing! The old secular "wisdom" that once someone is an addict they're always and addict" is not true - not when God takes care of the problem! “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) I always recommend Teen Challenge for addicts, as they deal with both alcohol and drug addiction in both kids and adults. It's 100% Christian. They introduce the person to Jesus and disciple them for a year, and the person is indeed born again and brand new when they accept Christ and trust Him to deal with everything in their life, including the addiction. They have a great success rate too! Obviously not everyone succeeds since not all of them will accept Christ. But I'm sure there are other good Christian ministries for addiction too.
I don't mean to sound like a know it all, because I'm not. But I do know one thing and that is that Jesus will never let us down and neither will His Word. As long as we obey Him, we will be blessed. It's hard because we tend to believe Satan and the World's lies instead of God's Truth. The good news is that the more often we trust and obey, the more times we will have a victory that we can remind ourselves of the next time!
First, the Christian parent(s) lost their testimony and in some cases, lost their faith. This is why the Lord warns us and says ““If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’” (Luke 14:26–30) Jesus obviously didn't mean we should literally hate our parents, children, or spouse. After all, He tells us over and over to love everyone. What He is saying is that we must love Him much more then we love our own close earthly family members. If we do love Him most of all, then we won't be tempted to just "keep the peace" and "not rock the boat." Instead, we will obey Him and lovingly tell the person the truth. I am not saying that a parent should not love a child or adult child that thinks they're gay or transgender, or who has an alcohol or drug problem. That would go against what the Lord teaches us! Of course we're to love them! But at the same time we're to lovingly tell them that those things are not good, and explain why they aren't good and what the consequences of going that way can be. We should also explain what the consequences of being obedient to the Lord are - both short term- (this life) and eternal.
If they insist they're homosexual or transgender, we should let them know that because we love them we will always tell them the truth and that means we will call them by the pronoun and name that they were given at birth since that is what God created them to be and what they are regardless of what they choose to pretend. If they choose to stay with a false teacher or cult after we've lovingly explained to them and shown them from the Bible why that person, ministry or church is false then we continue to love them and simply tell them we will continue to pray for them. If they aren't over the age of 18 then we can insist they have nothing to do with it, but otherwise we have to allow them to fall down, knowing the Lord will be there to pick them up again.
Addiction is a horrible thing for anyone to have to deal with. Thankfully it to is something the Lord can handle in an instant. I've seen it happen and it's amazing! The old secular "wisdom" that once someone is an addict they're always and addict" is not true - not when God takes care of the problem! “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) I always recommend Teen Challenge for addicts, as they deal with both alcohol and drug addiction in both kids and adults. It's 100% Christian. They introduce the person to Jesus and disciple them for a year, and the person is indeed born again and brand new when they accept Christ and trust Him to deal with everything in their life, including the addiction. They have a great success rate too! Obviously not everyone succeeds since not all of them will accept Christ. But I'm sure there are other good Christian ministries for addiction too.
I don't mean to sound like a know it all, because I'm not. But I do know one thing and that is that Jesus will never let us down and neither will His Word. As long as we obey Him, we will be blessed. It's hard because we tend to believe Satan and the World's lies instead of God's Truth. The good news is that the more often we trust and obey, the more times we will have a victory that we can remind ourselves of the next time!
!!
