We are clearly instructed to "avoid such men as these." The NIV translation says, "Have
nothing to do with such people."
And the King James says, "from such turn away."
Avoid such men as these.
Have nothing to do with such people.
From such, turn away.
The Bible clearly tells us what sort
of persons to turn away from, yet most of us allow these very persons into
our homes, lives and minds every single day.
Not only ours, but our children's as well.
Right after the Bible tells us to "avoid
such men as these" and "have
nothing to do with such people", it says:Avoid such men as these.
Have nothing to do with such people.
From such, turn away.
"For
of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women
laden with sins, led away with divers lusts," (verse 6, King James)
The NIV translation goes into even
more detail:
"They are the kind who worm
their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down
with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires," (verse 6, NIV)
I find it interesting that right after
the Bible tells us to avoid certain kinds of people, It then warns us that
those sort of people find a way to "creep"
or "worm" their way into
your home. While most of us are certainly agreeable to avoiding personal contact with such people, we have no problem watching them on TV, listening to their music, reading about them in magazines or books and watching their movies. And although at the time this
scripture was written, the television, movie and music industry didn't exist, it
can certainly be seen as a prophetic warning of the effects these mediums would have and the modus
operandi they would employ. Scripture
says that their mode of operation is to "creep
in" or to "worm their way
in". Once in, scripture says their
effects are to "lead captive"
and to "gain control", to "lead
away and sway with all kinds of evil desires".
I was watching a sermon the other day,
and I found one of the statements the Pastor made to be particularly
noteworthy. He said something to the
effect that we should be careful what we find humor in, for what we laugh at,
we are, in essence, agreeing with. This
is because for us to find something funny, we must first find it agreeable. That is what makes it funny to us, because we
identify with their humor and, in essence, have a shared point of view. If we didn't, we wouldn't find it funny, we
would find it offensive or at best, neutral. Remarkably,
many of those who profess to be Christians nowadays seem to be in bondage to
love of self, love of money, boastful, arrogant, ungrateful, malicious gossips,
without self-control, conceited and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of
God, holding to a form of godliness but denying its power. Many self-professed Christians have become like the sort of
people we are explicitly instructed to avoid.
Many self-professed Christians have become "led
away and swayed with all kinds of evil desires."
If the Bible says to avoid certain
people, then you do it regardless of whether they are in your presence or you
are watching them on TV, listening to them on the radio, reading about them in a magazine or watching them in a movie. You do it regardless of whether you really
love that person's music or whether you really enjoy that particular television
show. A lot of us really need to take a
look at what we consume for entertainment.
Christ said we are to consume Him (John 6:50-58), but if we were to take
a look at how much of our time is spent consuming Christ, versus how much of
our time is spent consuming the things of this world, where would we stand?
"Whoever wants
to be my disciple must deny themselves
and take up their cross and follow me." (Matt 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke
9:23)
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