Tis the season

[Evangelical]

I came across this article:

FIGURING OUT CHRISTIAN FREEDOM:WHAT ROMANS 14 DOES AND DOES NOT SAY

http://www.ccwtoday.org/article/figu...-does-not-say/

Romans 14 is not about ending disagreements (e.g. play nicely children) but about how to treat one another as the disagreement continues.

Two rules:

1) Refrain from judging or condemning believers whose opinions differ from your own (14:1-12).

- I don't think anyone in the Recovery believes a person who celebrates Christmas is a pagan or is going to hell.

2) Refrain from exercising your freedom in ways that would pressure, embolden, or encourage another believer to sin by going against his own conscience (14:13-23).

- I don't think anyone is forcing the other to do things their way. No one is forcing us to celebrate Christmas and we don't force anyone to stop.

What Romans 14 does NOT say:

1) Romans 14 does not say that all opinions regarding matters of conscience are equally valid.

i.e. There is a right and a wrong about everything. Just because you can quote Romans 14 does not mean what you do is right. Just because you celebrate Christmas and can do so based upon Romans 14 does not make it right. For example, even though Paul said not to judge others for celebrating certain days, Paul made known that observing special days is wrong (see Galatians 4:10).

2) Romans 14 does not say that Christians should go against their own conscience in order to accommodate believers who disagree.

i.e. Don't get upset if I don't say Merry Christmas, and I won't get upset if you do

3) Romans 14 does not say that moral strictness classifies a believer as “weak,” or that an unburdened conscience proves that a believer is “strong.”

Is a weak person one who celebrates Christmas or one who does not?

Based upon Romans 14, we could say the ones that feel the need to keep special days, such as Christmas, are the weak ones. Or you might say we are weak for not celebrating Christmas, we are too "holy". But remember that while Christians are to enjoy freedom, we are also to pursue holiness

4) Romans 14 does not say that Christians should refrain from judging a believer who is engaging in obvious sin.

i.e. Romans 14 cannot be used to excuse obvious sin.

5) Romans 14 does not say that the convictions of the weakest brother or sister should determine the acceptable exercise of liberty in a local church.

i.e. I don't have to change the way I do things to accommodate your weakness in accepting pagan things. I don't have to have a Christmas tree in my church just because you don't feel festive without one. Likewise, you don't have to remove your Christmas tree from your church (if you have one)

6) Romans 14 does not say that strong Christians should hide the exercise of their liberty from the weak.

i.e. The strong ones don't have to hide the fact that they don't celebrate Christmas.

[ZNPaaneah]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

[B]Is a weak person one who celebrates Christmas or one who does not?

Let me rephrase Paul. When you are aware of how deceitfully wicked the world is, how subtle they are at hiding the leaven in the meal, at how they employ hundreds of experts, psychologists, writers, performers, etc to create the TV shows that will be influencing your children.

When you are fully aware of the evil, corrupting influences of the world on your children who may be naive and trusting, then if you are going to go ahead and celebrate Christmas, well then, you better be very strong in the faith.

How about that, does that help?