No, Jesus didn’t ‘hang out’ with sinners

No, Jesus didn’t ‘hang out’ with sinners

by Matt Walsh May 11, 2017

I was recently informed by a fellow Christian that it’s perfectly OK for a follower of Christ to march in a gay pride parade because, as he explained it, “Jesus hung out with sinners.” It was far from the first time that I’ve heard a clearly objectionable act justified on these grounds. This is just one of the many dubious slogans that has overwhelmed and suffocated the faith in our country. For many of us, our faith is really nothing more than a collection of these empty mantras, which we confidently shout over and over again, hoping repetition will make them true.

Of course, “Jesus hung out with sinners” is a loaded statement. There’s always some erroneous insinuation or conclusion attached to it. “Jesus hung out with sinners, therefore [xyz].” Jesus hung out with sinners, therefore it’s OK for me to do whatever it is I’m doing right now. Jesus hung out with sinners, therefore I need not follow whatever commandment or moral teaching we’re currently discussing. Jesus hung out with sinners, therefore this sin that we’re discussing isn’t as bad as you suggest.

I’ve heard “Jesus hung out with sinners” as a sincere justification for going to strip clubs and gay bars. I’ve seen “Jesus hung out with sinners” trotted out during debates about pornography. Somehow “Jesus hung out with sinners” tends even to enter discussions of abortion. “Jesus hung out with sinners, therefore killing babies is alright.” Generally, whatever the application, the argument is always that Jesus “hung out with” such and such a sinner, which means He didn’t mind such and such a sin.

Last week I wrote a piece about misconceptions around the idea of Christian compassion, and many of the critical responses hinged on this theme. One example:

“Matt, this was nothing but a badly disguised anti-gay diatribe. Jesus would have hung out with the people you are judging. Jesus wasn’t judgmental and in your face like you. He didn’t shove religion down people’s throats. Jesus hung out with sinners….” Etc. and so forth.

Leaving aside the bizarre contention that any discussion of Christian morality is automatically “anti-gay” (I didn’t mention gays in the post at all), what we have here is just your standard “Jesus hung out with sinners” formulation. Jesus “hung out” with people who sinned, ipso facto Jesus had no problem with the sins they committed. And if it were true that Christ merely “hung out” with people, this line of logic would hold a little water. 

Memorial Day 2017

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeo

An 18 year old girl attending a Christian academy finds out she is pregnant, chooses life, and is not being allowed to participate in graduation. At first I was a bit outraged at this, but after prayer and considering all sides of the argument I'm going to have to side with the school's decision. 

No, they're not denying her the diploma, she will be a high school graduate come June. She did sign an agreement signifying that she would follow guidelines of behavior and the school is holding up their end of that agreement. Yes there were some students that committed some vandalism, but to compare the life of a baby with some minor property damage is beyond the pale. 

Hooray that she chooses life for that baby, and that shows character, but so does standing up for your agreement and admitting your transgressions and taking the consequences for those actions. If this was a public school this would be a different story, but this was a Christian covenant school which holds to higher standards. 

Yes, teens make mistakes, and in 16 years she's going to find that out the hard way. Heck, when that baby turns two that young mother is going to learn all about the Doctrine of Total Depravity. I say this in love Maddi; take your lumps and praise the Lord every time that baby takes a healthy breath, this will be a huge blessing. (The responses to this article are worth reading too)

Brothers and sisters - how secure is your church? I suggest your greeters make sure they have 911 on speed dial

False Teacher of the Day I think we all need to review Titus 1:1-16 and practice what Paul preached

Runner up False Teacher of the Day. He may be the runner up, but his audience may be the goats of the decade

Is exposing false teaching an ad hominem attack? Not if you do it biblically 

Spurgeon Thursday - Christian Soldiers

5 

The Church of Christ is continually represented under the figure of an army; yet its Captain is the Prince of Peace; its object is the establishment of peace, and its soldiers are men of a peaceful disposition.

The spirit of war is at the extremely opposite point to the spirit of the gospel. Yet nevertheless, the church on earth has, and until the second advent must be, the church militant, the church armed, the church warring, the church conquering. And how is this?

It is the very order of things that so it must be. Truth could not be truth in this world if it were not a warring thing, and we should at once suspect that it were not true if error were friends with it. The spotless purity of truth must always be at war with the blackness of heresy and lies. ~ Charles H. Spurgeon

WWUTT Wednesday - Look At Me Being Humble!!!

I've always been very skeptical of those who profess to have the gift of healing and the gift of tongues. Not to be picking on Benny Hinn (I'll let the IRS do that) but where are these people he is said to have healed? In fact there is no documented evidence that a single one of these miraculous healings ever occurred. Mr. Hinn should be leaving a swath of perfect health in his wake as he jets around the globe.

And what verse in the bible covers "being slain in the spirit" anyhow?

Then there's glossolalia, the phenomenon of speaking in an unknown language, especially in religious worship. "Unknown language" is not what the bible says speaking in tongues is all about. If a visitor from Central Mongolia walked into your church and desperately wanted to hear the word of God but doesn't speak English, and the person sitting next to him who only speaks English suddenly begins translating the sermon in flawless Buryat so that the visitor understands, that's the gift of tongues. Suddenly babbling in something no one in the room understands is not. If I was in one of these churches that I've heard about that locks the door until someone starts speaking in tongues, after a long enough pause I'd break out in tongues:

Iyay eed-nay a andwich-say. Otty-pay Ake-bray!