It occurs to me that the “judge not” mantra has so permeated the modern church that it is little wonder much of what the Spirit-led apostles taught in their epistles is ignored.
Promiscuity and fornication are wrong? Judgment!
Lust and adultery are wrong? Judgment!
Idolatry and drunkenness are wrong? Judgment!
Homosexuality and divorce are wrong? Judgment!
Like Thomas Jefferson’s attempt at stripping the New Testament of anything miraculous, the modern church in practice strips everything down to a “Love your neighbor as yourself” message, consigning the bulk of the messages to the early church’s culture alone so that the narrow, intolerant judgments of the apostles and others no longer have to be dealt with.
I was just reading in Ephesians a little bit ago, and I wonder what sort of taste that God-breathed book leaves in your mouth as you read it. Wives, submit to your husbands in all things; children, obey your parents; husbands, love your wives… Ignoring for a moment everything else Paul wrote, are those three simple commands characteristic of your church, of your family? (This question is exponentially more important if you are a church elder, a position for which you must be blameless.)