Marty,
You siad:
From this article are we then to conclude that Jesus frequented brothels and taverns just hanging out with the drunks, addicts, and prostitutes? Are we to say it is a wise choice for us to spend our Friday and Saturday nights at strip clubs where drug dealers and pimps conduct their business? Just sort of having a coke at the bar and visiting with the locals? After all, the bible doesn’t really tell us to “abstain from the appearance of evil”.
I would suggest if one saw thier teenage son or daughter coming out of one of these establishments they would be somewhat alarmed and concerned. I would suggest that they may see this as at a least appearing as evil and would exhort their child to abstain from such. But now that we are enlightened by this author that we are not called to abstain from the appearance of evil, this practice should then be accepted. After all we are just having a coke.
If you want to talk context this author takes the ministry of the Lord Jesus completely out of context. If you read Matt 9, Mk 2, and Lk 5 you will see that the sinners and publicans came to Jesus and sat with Him while in the house of Levi. His message was these people are sick and need the Great Physician to heal them. They don’t need clean needles and condoms.
Many today serve the Lord at homeless shelters and food banks taking a message of hope to the hopeless. This is not the “appearance of evil” as this author suggests it is. This is a response to Gods call from Matt 25:45. This is a single verse but many stand upon it. According to the author of this article, they are wrong.
If we are to label this as “proof text teaching” it wasn't just the assembly but many true servants of God practice this. Btw, the assembly taught chapter summary. Yes, context is important, but there are many scriptures that can stand on their own statement such as “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”. The context of this was Paul was speaking in response to the jail guard’s inquiry. Does that mean only jail guards and if we stretch it perhaps the warden can be saved by this method? I don’t think so, but I am not a Talbot graduate.
Marty,
You seem to have profoundly misunderstood what the man is saying in the article. I just re-read it and I see nothing in it that suggests that there is nothing wrong with doing evil things. What he is arguing against is the practice of "baptising" current man-made religious rules and regulations and using them to determine what is right and wrong, rather than applying biblical standards to situations.
In Jesus' times the Pharisees taught that a Jew should never under any circumstances associate with Samaritans, (John 4:9) or associate with people who dealt with Gentiles and/or did not rigourously keep the traditions of the Pharisees (Matt. 9:9-12). Doing these things was considered an "appearance of evil" in the sense that you seem to uderstand it. To them doing these things was seen as just as evil as the examples you give.
Russell is saying that this is an improper use of the phrase, and that is not what it means.
If you wish to argue that it is sinful to go into a bar and drink a coke, you need to make a positive argument for the position. Perhaps you can. But just calling anything you disapprove of an "appearance of evil" is not legitimate. Christians have done this to condemn all sorts of things, including: Playing cards, attending plays and movies of all types, reading novels, watching television, driving cars, dancing, drinking alcohol under any circumstances, on and on.
I have passed out gospel tracts in bars. Did I sin? I have witnessed to prostitutes as they stood on the streets. Did I sin? Someone passing by could have thought I was negotiating for services. Definitely an "appearance of evil" in the traditional sense.
But I do not believe I sinned in either case. To convince me of that, one would need to present clear biblical evidence that what I did was wrong, not just claim it was an "appearance of evil."
Blessings,
Thomas Maddux
