Danged if you do, and danged if you don’t

Step 3 of the lesson “Guard Your Actions” is focused on Romans 14:15-18, and the more clear rendering of these verses, I think, is given in the New Living Translation Romans 14:15-18. Verse 16 is tricky because it’s easy to miss the idea that we do have influence over whether others speak evil of us, or not. We exercise this power by controlling our actions. For example, in faith, you may believe social drinking is acceptable, but if practicing it brings harm to another person, you could be danged for causing their harm. You earn a bad name when you could have avoided it. The best habit then is not to drink (both publicly and privately—so as not to be hypocritical).

We can avoid earning a bad name by controlling our actions. That is a reasonable sacrifice to earn a good name before God and men, but some people (non-Christians, or Christians who drink socially) are likely to criticize you for NOT drinking alcohol in their presence. Why? When you abstain, you set yourself apart. Others see this separation as you assuming some moral high ground. This makes them feel inferior. To reduce your stature, they slander you. But we desire a good name before God and man (Romans 14:18), and if we must choose one over the other, we choose God.

The—garret* is a good source of Christian news items, and if you look around you can find some example applications of Romans 14:15-18 in today’s Christian world.