Would A Loving Christian Say Anything That Might Offend Someone Or Hur

[Guest]

Would A Loving Christian Say Anything That Might Offend Someone Or Hurt People’s Feelings?

 

A Short Question Taken From A List Found On About.com Christianity..

This Is Intended For Both The Believer And The Seeker Alike. Believer's Bible Input Is Welcome.

Any Sincere Expression And Question From Seekers Should Be (Prayerfully) Salted With Truth And With Love.

 

[MissPlaced_56]

Well fresnoJoe,

 right off the top of my head, i can only remember 2 occasions when OUR LORD offended or hurt anybodys feelings...OOooo wait! make that 3......

HE offended the pharisees and the sadducees  and they had it coming!

then there was Matthew 16:23....Where JESUS said to peter "Get thee behind me satan....

this must have broken peters heart for a little while....can you just jmagine being peter in that moment in time......

and then we have the rich mans son....

[desi2007]

Yes it can happen, sometimes to speak the Truth in Love hurts, and some are offended.

[Guest]

Frequently, if the Christian is doing there job, if we admonish, teach, or correct, feelings will be hurt and people will be offended if we are telling the truth.

 

Every obedient Christian, tells other the Gospel. The Godpel offends people, that cannot be helped. People often ignorantly believe and hope that their good deeds, will get them to heaven, ot at least they have not done enough bad to go to Hell. Some, thing that by their association with a particular religion, like Mormonism or Roman Catholocism, that they will enter Heaven. Tell them the truth that apart from the grace of God and the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, they have no hope and will go to Hell, and most will be offended. What then shall we do, shall we keep the gospel from them, so as to not offend them? Or shall we tell them the truth in hope that they will accpt Jesus by faith?

 

EPH 4: 11And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,

 

15But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

 

 

Is it unloving to offend people? Of course it can be. But consider Jesus, love incarnate, who said this:

 

     13“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14[“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.]

      15“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

      16“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ 17“You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? 18“And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ 19“You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? 20“Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. 21“And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. 22“And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

      23“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 24“You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

      25“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26“You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

      27“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28“So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

      29“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31“So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32“Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. 33“You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?

      34“Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, 35so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36“Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

 

My suspicion is, that those to whom Jesus was speaking, were plenty offended, yet He loved them enough to die for them.

[enoob57]

We fight to allow God His Glory... not with carnal weapons but with His Word!

As The Word produces the Truth of God so everyone who is of lie will be angered and offended!

John 15:20-25
20 Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me,

they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  21 But all these things they

will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.  22 If I had not come and

spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  23 He who hates Me

hates My Father also.  24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have

no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.  25 But this happened that the word

might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'
NKJV

It helps to expect it so you are not taken back when it happens! I try always to have the mind set I am fighting

for those who do not know they need to be fought for!  Love, Steven
 

[missmuffet]

Yes,we are only human.I think it is wise to go to that person and apologize when you realize what you have done.That is what God would want us to do.

[The_Patriot21]

every day, for different reasons. We are only human-sometimes we get angry and say things that hurt, sometimes we say something that we didnt intend to be offensive, but it offended someone else, and sometimes, we have to-sad fact is, truth hurts, and we live in a world that if you tell someone that theyre living in sin, they will be offended. As christians, we should always work toward being careful with what we say-that we dont strike out in anger, and to pay attention to those around us, and if we notice something we said inadvertently hurt someone, we try to correct it, and if its a situation where the truth needs to be said-we say it in a loving way-it may still offend them, but at least the effort was put forth.

[Qnts2]

I agree, we should not be offensive, but I also agree, scripture says the gospel is offensive.

 

I understand that Christians are human, and offenses do occur. We do need to be careful, and be quick to apologize. Our only offense, ideally would be the offense of the gospel. It doesn't always work that way.

 

I guess I come from a different direction. So many in the church are so wary of offending, that they have tried to soften the gospel in order not to offend. But scripture says, the gospel is an offense to those who are perishing. You can not share the gospel without offending. It is the nature of man when hearing the gospel. It will either be good news, or it will be offensive.   

[missmuffet]

I agree, we should not be offensive, but I also agree, scripture says the gospel is offensive.

 

I understand that Christians are human, and offenses do occur. We do need to be careful, and be quick to apologize. Our only offense, ideally would be the offense of the gospel. It doesn't always work that way.

 

I guess I come from a different direction. So many in the church are so wary of offending, that they have tried to soften the gospel in order not to offend. But scripture says, the gospel is an offense to those who are perishing. You can not share the gospel without offending. It is the nature of man when hearing the gospel. It will either be good news, or it will be offensive.   

To many around me it is considered offensive.

[Floatingaxe]

I agree, we should not be offensive, but I also agree, scripture says the gospel is offensive.

 

I understand that Christians are human, and offenses do occur. We do need to be careful, and be quick to apologize. Our only offense, ideally would be the offense of the gospel. It doesn't always work that way.

 

I guess I come from a different direction. So many in the church are so wary of offending, that they have tried to soften the gospel in order not to offend. But scripture says, the gospel is an offense to those who are perishing. You can not share the gospel without offending. It is the nature of man when hearing the gospel. It will either be good news, or it will be offensive.