\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0With my recent posts on a believer’s responsibility to warn others about the wages of sin, I feel the need to clarify that I am not suggesting rudely shouting into other people’s faces or shaming anyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0When my wife and I lived in Pensacola, Florida two decades ago, there was some local church that encouraged its people to do “street preaching” – a practice which I am not against in theory. But these folks took the most offensive approach possible. They would stand on the corners of busy intersections and shout through megaphones, “GOD HATES YOU!”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Strangely enough, I never witnessed any passerby dropping to his knees in repentance.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Yes, our God distinguishes between good and evil, and He holds the wicked accountable. But He takes no joy in punishing sin. His wrath is an outpouring of justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Not payback.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Not hatred.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The Apostle Peter was a bit more restrained and a bit more positive with his megaphone:<\/p>\n\n\n
\u00a09<\/a>“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n 10<\/a>But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n 11<\/a>Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives\u00a012<\/a><\/span>as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.\u00a0\u00a0That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.\u00a013<\/a><\/span>But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”<\/i> (2 Peter 3:11-13)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n As believers, we are expected to speak the truth, but the rule has always been – and always will be – “Speak the truth in love”. (Ephesians 4:15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0With my recent posts on a believer’s responsibility to warn others about the wages of sin, I feel the need to clarify that I am not suggesting rudely shouting into other people’s faces or shaming anyone.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0When my wife and I lived in Pensacola, Florida two decades ago, there was some local church […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4984"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4985,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4984\/revisions\/4985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}