THE LINE BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG AND DEALING WITH ISSUES OF MORALITY

Decision making is tough. Differentiating between right and wrong can sometimes be tough. Making a decision based on what is right and what is wrong is very tough. It all depends on the decision to be made and the situation at hand. Who determines what is right and what is wrong? Religion? The president? The UN? The people? In my mind it is extremely dangerous to leave matters of morality up to human beings, mainly for the reason that as human beings we are flawed. By nature we are selfish, judgemental and indecisive. Our ideas of right and wrong change on a regular basis as new laws are passed and new religions are established, with a small committee of human beings deciding what is best for the other few billion human beings that exist. This is why I choose to base my ideas of morality on what God defines as being right and wrong. To make myself clear, this does not mean that I am bound by religious laws and rules, but rather that because God is the creator of the universe, he is all powerful and all knowing, he created me in his own image and died on the cross so that I may live, he therefore knows what is best for me and I think it only logical that I follow his guidelines on how to live my life. I am a Christian in the truest sense of the word. In the sense that I believe that Jesus died to atone for my sins and thus I live accordingly. But even with God's guidelines (in the form of the Bible) things can be misinterpreted and some may not clearly understand what is written. I therefore find it necessary to share how I deal with tough situations and moral decisions.

From this point onwards I am going to speak from the the perspective of a follower of Jesus and predominantly to, but not restricted to, other followers of Jesus. The main question that I would like to pose, and then answer is this:

How can you tell if something is right or wrong and when presented with a choice how do you make the right decision?

So you've been put in a position where you have to make a choice. Do you take the drink do you decline? Do you punch the guy back or resolve the issue? Do you cheat in the test or not? Now, for someone who doesn't have a biblical moral compass they are kind of making the rules as they go so it's not such a tough decision, but as a Christian, how do you handle the situation? I would propose a number of steps:

1) Your conscience:
God has been so kind as to bless us with something called a conscience. That little alarm that goes off in your head when you know you are about to do something wrong. The problem is that some people have made a habit of ignoring their conscience. This is a huge issue because if you're not a Christian then step one is as far as you go. Your flawed self is determining what is right and what is wrong and even for Christians it is easy to ignore your conscience and give in to temptation. It's not always a good idea to trust your own conscience. As we grow up we are exposed to so much wrong and evil that often our own ideas of morality become distorted and the line between right and wrong becomes blurred. So if you can't trust your own conscience then where do you turn? This brings me to step number 2.

2) Fellowship, discipleship and accountability:
A big part of being a Christian involves fellowship, discipleship and accountability. Living in fellowship means to be surrounding yourself with like minded people who you can trust and in this case who are also living for Jesus. Discipleship means opening yourself up to be teachable and positioning yourself to teach others as well as having people in your life who you are accountable to. It is important to have people in your life who you can trust more than your own conscience so that when you are presented with a difficult decision or a situation and your conscience fails you, you have somewhere to turn to. Often it is good to seek guidance from older, wiser and more mature folk that have perhaps had to deal with similar issues or had to make similar choices.

3) The Bible:
The Bible is the word of God. I believe that it is clear on all issues and situations. It is not ALL knowledge but rather SUFFICIENT knowledge for us as human beings. It's on a need-to-know basis. God is so precise and intentional that at the time he sent Jesus human civilisation was at a point in its development where languages were well established and the struggles that we have to deal with on a daily basis were not going to change much over the next few thousand years. Jesus could teach the people of the time and his words would still apply to us now. Issues such as drunkenness, lust, anger. Things that human beings succumb to and tools that Satan uses against us. If you are in a position where you can't trust your own conscience or somebody else's, the Bible is a good place to turn to to find answers. If you look hard enough and properly you will find what you are looking for.

(Also, to add onto this step, the better you know your Bible and the teachings of Jesus and later of Paul, the apostle, and the closer your relationship with God, the more your heart and God's heart will align and the more you will be able to trust your conscience, which in effect will become the voice of the Holy Spirit. But we will get to that later.)

4) WWJD
What Would Jesus Do. Yes I know. Typical right? But how often, in reality, is this notion actually put into practice? When one looks past the cheap bracelets and the recurring hypocritical statements there is an echo of truth and profoundness to this idea. As Christians we claim to be "Christ-like." His followers who strive towards his example of righteousness, compassion, kindness and love. His example of living. It is therefore only fitting to ask the question "what would Jesus do?" Perhaps, in the instance that the above concept has in some views been overly and hypocritically used and thus lost its sentimentality, I should put forward another notion. If Jesus was standing next to you, simply observing, what would you do then? What decision would you make and how would you deal with the situation that you find yourself in?

The last thing I want to mention, which does not necessarily count as a step, is personal conviction. This is when you feel convicted over something specific in your life. When the Holy Spirit brings a sin into the light. Perhaps something that you have been doing all along, thinking that there's no issue and then all of a sudden God shows you that maybe there is an issue. I've found that conviction comes at times where I have been going deeper with God and he then brings to the surface issues in my life and strongholds that are keeping me from embracing him more and engaging in the fullness of his love. Convictions are personal and need to be felt that way to be real. For this reason it is virtually impossible to get somebody else to submit to your convictions. It can be frustrating mentoring or observing a young Christian and seeing their shortcomings when they don't necessarily see them as shortcomings, but until a person fully submits to God and allows HIM to change them, they will not change, or even see why they should change. You can tell somebody of your conviction and as a result they might also feel convicted but you cannot force a conviction upon somebody.
As an example, I used to watch a lot of pirated movies and television programmes and I have a friend who refuses to watch pirated material because it is technically theft and is illegal and she felt a personal conviction over the issue whereas I wasn't bothered about it. Until the day that I realised and understood for myself that, wait a second, this is actually illegal. Just like murder is illegal. But until I felt that conviction for myself it didn't affect me.

A lot of issues are situational. They are unique and lie within a certain context. A big issue that a lot of Christians are facing is drinking (alcohol). How much can I drink? Is it OK to drink at all? Jesus drank wine didn't he? But the issue of drinking goes beyond these questions as it is a situational issue. There are background questions to be asked before the simple ones can be answered. Where are you drinking? Who are you drinking with? Why are you drinking? How will your drinking affect those around you? The Bible doesn't say that you can't drink but it does say that you shouldn't get drunk. It also says that you shouldn't cause a fellow brother or sister in Christ to stumble. If you are with a person who used to be an alcoholic then maybe it would be wise to not submit them to temptation and it would be right to not have a drink. If you are with a young believer or an unbeliever you need to think about what message you are sending by having a few drinks. There are many factors that need to be taken into consideration when faced with difficult situations or decisions. There's not always a straight out right and wrong. It's not always clean cut.

Narrow is the path to heaven and few walk it, but none can walk it without Jesus to guide them. So lean on him. Lean on him for guidance and directionality. Lean on him in prayer and he will gladly and lovingly and gracefully show you the way. Look to him for he is the definition of righteousness and through his grace you can become righteous. If you choose Jesus you no longer have to struggle with right and wrong and issues of morality. Right will come naturally and wrong with fall away.

This is what I know to be true.
These are just my thoughts.