Dirty Sinner

I'm just a dirty sinner who's in so deep that I don't even know it. That's pretty much what you're telling me. You've got it in your head that I'm wrong, I'm living in sin, I'm headed to hell, and I need to repent, and BIG TIME. But I'm not. I'm just not. I haven't committed that sin that you're judging me for, because it wasn't a sin. Yes, I am a sinner, and I need to repent on a daily basis, but what you're talking about was no sin. I don't regret it, I'd do it again, and Jesus is not disappointed in me for doing it.

If the Spirit convicts me of the daily sins I commit, why wouldn't he convict me of this one? When I lie, when I compromise my standards, when I judge others unjustly, the Spirit convicts me. I feel bad for what I did, knowing it was wrong, and I'm sorry for those things. But the Spirit never convicted me for this one-- because it wasn't wrong. If this one is "so much worse," wouldn't the Spirit convict me even more strongly? It isn't sin.

What you're telling me is wrong is just the psychology of tradition taking its toll on you. Whatever it is that I'm doing might not be traditional, but it doesn't mean its wrong, and much less sin. What I'm doing is not un-Biblical, its not hurting you, me, or my soul.

There are so many things that the church is convicting people of that I'm not sure are actually sinful. So many churches have a list of do's and do not's that aren't all so legitimate. The "do not's" have been on that list for so long that no one questions them. Anyone who had doubts was just shut down, and still so today. Most of them are sin, of course, but some of them really aren't. And a lot of the questionable ones are what's splitting up churches. If God doesn't condemn it in Scripture, and He hasn't convicted me about it, how can you tell me that I'm in the wrong?

Romans 14: 5-9 says "One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living."
I understand if you've decided to abstain from something because you're better off without it, but that's not particularly true for everyone else. So please don't judge others according to your own standards. Correct brothers according to Scripture, but don't judge them according to yourself.