“Romans 14:1Welcome those who are weak in faith, but do not argue with them about their personal opinions.”
People who are weak in the faith have all sorts of odd ideas on what is permissible and what is not. People strong in the faith even can have odd ideas on what is permissible or not. Even one person’s creed might sound odd to someone else. I think in general that we should not be argumentative, and unite more under love of Jesus.
Theology has a place, and it is what we operate under, but if we get super strict and make up rules on what is permissible or not, we might be messing up. After all under Jesus, we have great freedom.
1 Corinthians:8 9 Be careful, however, not to let your freedom of action make those who are weak in the faith fall into sin.
And that is a good reason to be extra careful around someone new in the faith. You don’t want to set up a “rule” they think is okay, and discourage them out of the faith.
With the latest Pokemon craze, you hear stories of parents who wouldn’t let their kids play pokemon growing up because it is pit fighting of monsters. Or you think of Pat Robertson talking bad of Dungeons and Dragons. People who play know it is only as dark as you make it, like a drama play, or a movie or a book. So maybe a lot of people haven’t given Christianity a chance because thy think it oppresses their fun and enjoyment of the arts.
Some rules are okay if you apply them to yourself. Just like discipline, rules are best self taught and maybe applied to your kids at best. What is a good rule for one person might not be a good rule for another person just how they operate.
For instance, one person might have been an alcoholic. And for him, applying to himself, it might be a good rule to not have a first drink. But when someone says that no one should ever drink ever, people who drink in moderation and not get drunk might get worked over for there might be nothing wrong with that.
Now, even more importantly and remember this if nothing else: If you’re around someone weak in the faith and struggling with say alcoholism, don’t make light of it or offer them drinks if you know their rule is not not have a first drink. Don’t trip up those weak in faith. I even hold back a lot of my beer jokes in unknown company. I don’t want to make light of it and someone to forget their convictions. I think this happened before with me…
Anyway, welcome those weak in faith. Encourage them to grow in spirit and love. Don’t put up stumbling blocks in front of them, or hoops to jump through.
A little faith does big things. Have a little faith. Jesus loves you. I know. Jesus is LORD!
Matthew 17:20 “It was because you do not have enough faith,” answered Jesus. “I assure you that if you have faith as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this hill, ‘Go from here to there!’ and it will go. You could do anything!”