The apostle Paul, in Romans 12:1-2 says, 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will.
We must pursue having the mind of Christ; because only through having His mind can we make godly decisions. If we refuse to study God’s Word, and we have access to it, then there’s no way that we can make godly decisions. The reality is that I’ll make godlier decisions a year from now, than right now, because my knowledge of God and what He wants has increased. We cannot do what we don’t know.
Let me give you an example: There was a Christian man who worked across the parking lot from an abortion clinic. During his work-day he made it a point to read the bumper stickers of the individuals who went there. Some of the bumper stickers said, “Prayer changes things,” “Visit us at First Baptist Church,” etc. One day the man even bumped into a minister reading outside of the clinic who had brought his granddaughter to have an abortion.
Now, do these individuals who had abortions feel bad for participating in murder? The answer is that they will only feel bad if they have the knowledge that life begins at conception (Isaiah 49:1, Job 31:15, Psalm 139:13-14). If they suppress this, then there won’t be one ounce of remorse.
Let me give you another example: Mark Dever was a conservative Southern Baptist professor back in the days when our seminaries were liberal. Mark was teaching a theological seminar one day and he made an assertion from Scripture about God. A student in the class interrupted him and said, “Excuse me Mark, but I like to think of God as wise, but not meddling; compassionate but not overpowering; resourceful but not interrupting. That’s how I like to think about God.” Mark responded, “Thank you Bill for telling us so much about yourself, but we’re here to learn about God from the Bible.”
Our knowledge must constantly be brought in under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, or we will simply do and say what we “feel” is right. However, the sad reality is that if we don’t have the right knowledge, then our feelings will always lie to us, because our feelings are directly related to our knowledge! At salvation, we “felt” bad for our sins because we KNEW we were sinners in need of a Savior (The Holy Spirit revealed this knowledge to us). We “felt” convicted because the KNOWLEDGE of our sin and God’s righteousness condemned us. When we sin, we “feel” bad only because we KNOW that we have sinned. If we don’t understand across the board what sin is in every situation, then we won’t feel bad for sin that we don’t KNOW is sin. We must labor in the study of God’s Word so that we can be transformed through the renewing of our minds. This is the only way that we can test and approve what God’s will is “his good, pleasing, and perfect will.” None of our minds are fully renewed yet. Let us therefore continue on to maturity in Christ.
What are your thoughts?
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“Now, do these individuals who had abortions feel “bad†for participating in murder? The answer is that they will only feel bad if they have the knowledge that life begins at conception (Isaiah 49:1, Job 31:15, Psalm 139:13-14). If they suppress this, then there won’t be one ounce of remorse.”
At one part of this paragraph, you state that they “will only feel bad if they have the knowledge that life begins at conception…” Then at the last part of the paragraph, you say that “if they supress this [knowledge], then there wonlt be an ounce of remorse.” On this point, I must disagree. As one who has worked in this ministry, I can tell you that many “feel” remorse without ever having been told that life begins at conception. In our area, there are fourteen year old girls – some homeless – who get an abortion. The only education they get is public school – MAYBE. In this setting, I can certainly tell you that they’re not hearing that life begins at conception. Here, the schools actively tell them that this fetus is not a life until birth. In spite of this, they come to Christian pregnancy centers out of remorse and guilt – and don’t even understand why they feel this way.
As for people who have the knowledge that life begins at conception, I certianly agree that people can supress knowledge, but they can’t supress guilt. It will naw at them until they release it properly (at the foot of the cross) or it will kill them.
I think this is poor illustration for the facts you are trying to convey. I agree with your premise, though. If I feel something contrary to what the Bible says I should feel, then my duty is to change the way I feel. I am to love the LORD my God with all my heart, with all my soul (includes feelings), and with all my strength.