Shut up! You Don't Get To Have An Opinion!

Okay, first off: I’m back, baby!

I haven’t blogged in months. I took time off—though I shouldn’t have, and I apologize—to write a series of books titled Why Not Be Free (more on that to come). During my hiatus, I spoke with several people who cut me off mid-thought to tell me they felt differently about an issue. Case in point: I spoke with a woman yesterday who wanted to date me. I told her I don’t intend to have sex outside of marriage, and she replied that she has needs and doesn’t feel she could do that. FYI, she’s a believer—just saying. I also met someone who asked me about the hot-button issue of homosexuality.

I told this person that the Lord disapproves, as stated in the Bible (see verses from both the Old and New Testaments below). Their reply—as a Christian and a person of faith—was, “I don’t feel that way.” Today I have to state the obvious: “Shut up—you don’t get to have an opinion with Jesus.” How absurd is it to believe we get to have opinions here? And don’t get me wrong: this is NOT a conflict of interpretation—the interpretations are clear. This is a conflict of humanity wanting to live contrary to what God desires.

This is not specifically a homosexuality or fornication issue; I used those as examples because they’re recent in my personal life. Overall, people feel they get to have an opinion when it comes to the will of God. Really? Imagine you’re at work and your boss says it’s standing company policy that all employees arrive on time and be ready to work when they clock in. Your reply: you don’t feel that you—or anyone—has to abide by that, yet you still want to call yourself an employee and draw a paycheck. You want the benefits and pay the company offers but prefer not to follow the policies you feel are contrary to your beliefs—and you teach others to do the same. What insanity and anarchy is this!?

Can you imagine a world in which we cherry-pick which rules we follow and which we don’t? In the Western world we may only vaguely understand what this looks like, but not so in some second- and third-world countries run by gangs, militias, and rebels—where terror, murder, and fear are part of daily life for every citizen. I’m sure they understand this picture far more vividly than those who don’t live in such circumstances.

To land this plane, I’ll say this: it is impossible to please God without faith. The reason is simple—faith creates obedience. If I believe that doing it God’s way will yield better results than doing it my way, then I will do it God’s way. If I believe that suppressing my urges—to steal, kill, have sex before marriage, sleep with the same sex, lie to get ahead, be cutthroat and cruel, etc.—will yield far better results, on earth and in heaven, than giving in to them, then it will be less of a struggle to resist. In contrast, if I think God wants me to do these things, but I also think, If I stop sleeping with whoever, they’ll leave me; I won’t be fulfilled or happy; if I stop being forceful and rude at work or in relationships, I’ll get run over; in the end it won’t work out for my good, then I may like the idea of doing it God’s way—but I won’t feel like it, so I won’t.

Just know: not feeling like doing things God’s way means you and I are agreeing to willfully sin—and we need to repent and strengthen our faith until our lives line up with God’s Word. If we want the paycheck and benefits of being employed by Jesus, then it’s natural that we follow His company policies.

Bible References

Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Old Testament — Leviticus 20:13 (ESV)

“If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; …”

New Testament — 1 Corinthians 6:9 (ESV)

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, …”

Romans 1:26–27 (ESV)

“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.”