No, I have no idea how to give a dog the hiccups or cure them.
But, this may interest you…
James the brother or half-brother of Jesus wrote, “He who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” James 5:20
At first, this seems very churchy or stereotypically Christian, but on closer investigation, hopefully, we can get past the abuses of this text and understand the author’s gracious intent.
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Are we to be actively involved in identifying the sin in others and turning them from it?
While the folk remedies for the hiccups are many, so are the cliche catch phrases for getting people to stop doing what others think isn’t right. Somehow we’ve got it in our ever drifting religious christian heads that we are supposed to be running around with spatula in hand flipping sinners before they get too done on one side.
What is often overlooked, is that this passage which has been used for people outside of Christianity or the church, is actually addressed to those inside the church or Christians. James says in the preceding verse, “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back…”
We’ve taken this and other verses and Old-Testamentized them along with our attitudes and behaviors. For example, in Deuteronomy 12:3, God told His people to go out from among them and ” tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their idols with fire, cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place.” Certainly, this is not a new covenant, Christ-Directed, gracious and loving approach in dealing with sinners.
So, instead of being salt and light, Christians have become Sin Ninjas.
Believers camouflaged in “kindness,” are ever poised to strike and point out the wrong in others. So instead of being salt and light, Christians have become Sin Ninjas. There are numerous verses that I’ve heard quoted that have been “turned” inside-out like this one. What was meant for the church has been targeted to those outside of it. In the next couple of posts in this series, I will list a few more of those and then discuss how we are suppose to act towards sinners both inside and out.
Are we to be actively involved in identifying the sin in others and turning them from it?
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Excellent observations about the passage. The ‘among you’ is missed in the ‘go out and catch them’ emphasis, and the focus is so readily on the multitude of sins rather than the fact that they are being covered.
“save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.” might be regarded a Ninja-oriented admonition?
[Jude 1:23]
There is another example where the Spirit will cause us to cut to the quick about sin: sheep abuse by so-called “leaders”. Warnings need to be crisp & clear, though not lacking for love. Sometimes complicating, is how many leading in error today are doing so by proxy; they themselves are following after some false or reckless teacher(s). I pray for wisdom & insight regarding, though in confidence that it will not so much be about what we say or how we say it, but rather the faith we bring for God to set it right; faith that Almighty God in Christ can save or destroy — He holds the power and grace to do it!