If they were actually born again Christians they would hopefully judge righteously and that shame would hopefully come from conviction. Ive never seen any actual converts here shaming anyone that I can think of, just righteous judgment and rebuke. Maybe Im misunderstanding what youre saying Jackie.
Hi Zach, I wasn't necessarily talking about people here on this forum. Just in general. No Christian is immune from misinterpreting Scripture and preaching on the misinterpretations. Also some Christians preach tradition as if it was written as a Biblical commandment. Tithing is a good example, like Jeanne said. Yes, I believe that there are many false converts that preach about tithing to gain money. I believe there are genuine Christians that preach stuff like this in error or ignorance or whatever reason that they're not directly at fault for. That's just an example.
If someone I knew to be born again came to me and told me I was doing something wrong, I would take it very seriously and do some examining of myself and the Scriptures. I wouldn't just assume they were trying to shame me for something I was not guilty of. Assuming my own innocence in such a manner would make me guilty of pride in addition to whatever else was going on. You have no idea how many people have left this forum because they were rebuked for sin or false doctrine and assumed that they were right and we were wrong. Raymond was just the most recent example of that, but there have been many, many others. One lady, who seemed to be a new Christian, wasn't here for very long before she got offended when someone else was rebuked for wrongdoing and left because we 'weren't loving and forgiving'.
I do try to not react with annoyance or anger or any other bad emotion. Admittedly, I'm not good at this, and I often let my pride get the best of me, especially when I've not been reading my Bible daily. I think sometimes though what can happen with believers is we have no idea how to properly rebuke someone. We forget about Matthew 18, and many times we lack wisdom on how to rebuke someone (whether sharply or not). I think we often let our emotions get the best of us, which may or may not be the best way to rebuke somebody. I don't know enough about biblical rebuke myself.
I know lots of people have left this forum because they didn't like what you guys said to them. That probably comes from a few things like 1. not being used to rebuking or having no understanding of it, 2. having little or no understanding of what love or forgiveness are in the Bible, or 3. They're a false convert anyway. I'm hesitant to say that someone who hates being rebuked is always a false convert. I don't think anyone's flesh particularly loves being rebuked. I'm welcomed to being corrected though.
I already find it hard enough to feel shame when I do "little sins" (mostly the socially acceptable ones, like little white lies), let alone enough to be in total hysterics every time.
I'm not being judgemental but it would be well worth never feeling OK with "little white lies" because they really aren't that little and are the sorts of things that do need to be got rid of out of our lives. When tempted to do this, stop and take the time to think and decide that you will only ever answer or say what is truly honest. I see it as being very important that a person stops and examines themselves in these situations.
Please don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that I don't feel ever shame for telling little white lies. I'm just being honest in saying sometimes, I don't always feel shame over individual sins that are more socially acceptable. Sometimes I don't even realize I've committed them. I'm also not attempting to justify any particular sin. My point was that I don't always feel even the littlest bit of shame, let alone enough to go into hysterics (with sins like that). That's all.
