Is It Sinful to Do Something Unwise?

The Bible Bashed Podcast

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

So at the end of the decision -making process, essentially what you're doing is you're basically, you know, you're talking through what are the non -negotiable dissent issues, what are the wisdom issues, and then, you know, there might be a very small category at the end of like just pure preference kind of issues.

00:32

All right, Tim, the question for today's episode is, is it sinful to do something unwise?

00:39

It's important as you read the Bible to notice the fact that the Bible does categorize different moral actions in a variety of ways.

00:47

So it's important to think through how the Bible comes to us as it relates to these kind of topics. And there are, as you read through the

00:53

Bible, there's going to be categories for things that are objectively wrong in all times and all places.

01:01

So there are commands that God has given to us which are not just, you know, flexible commands.

01:08

There is a very real category in which you trust the Lord with all your heart. You don't lean on your own understanding in all your ways of knowledge and how to direct the path.

01:16

And so there is a category in the Bible for a command, like for commands that God has given to us which have no wiggle room.

01:24

But then when you're talking about this category of wisdom, wisdom issues in general, and then as it relates to wisdom issues in the

01:32

Bible or wisdom literature, and there are books of the Bible that are devoted to wisdom. And when you're in that realm of discussion, the rules are a little bit different.

01:42

So, you know, as you read through the Psalms and Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, you're in Job, I mean, you're in the language of wisdom.

01:52

And, you know, the Jews basically had this category of wisdom literature.

01:58

And there are a bit of different rules for this category than there are for the language of legal precepts or the other ways in which

02:05

God speaks to us in his word. And so it's difficult to answer this question because there's a variety of things

02:12

I wanna say, but I can't say them all at once. So I'm gonna try to say them. But I can't say everything at once, but I'm gonna try to say them in an order that makes a little bit of sense.

02:22

But you could start with like the most obvious thing, you know, to knowingly do something that the

02:28

Bible says is foolish. It's very difficult to distinguish that moral action from sin in that way.

02:35

So if you know the Bible puts something forward to you as something which is a wise thing to do, if you just knowingly reject it.

02:43

And I would even say, even if you unintentionally rejected it if there's revelation on it,

02:49

God expects you to know what his revelation says and to just embrace folly or to behave in a foolish way.

02:57

There's no virtue in that. I mean, there's no virtue in being foolish.

03:03

And to be foolish is to, it's very difficult at that point to distinguish that from sin.

03:10

But you do need practically, you do need to have some sort of category for wisdom issues. And you do need to think through how wisdom issues generally work.

03:17

And, you know, as a category, I wanna say that there is a distinct category that you might describe in the language of wisdom issues that aren't technically wrong in and of itself to commit or to violate.

03:31

But, you know, if you like, there's a lot of moral actions that operate on a scale, essentially is what

03:37

I'm trying to say, operating between, you know, very, very unwise to a little bit unwise.

03:44

And there are sowing and reaping principles that are attached to this kind of category in that, hey, maybe you have freedom to pick, to plot a certain course within certain boundaries, but then you're gonna reap what you sow.

03:56

And if you, you know, engage in, you know, actions which are objectively foolish, you may get a lot of bad consequences to come from that.

04:04

So it may not be technically wrong, so to speak, but then you'll experience the fruit of your actions along those lines.

04:11

And so with, you know, sin issues, you have a very clear category of right and wrong that isn't just situational.

04:19

You know, it isn't just fuzzy. You have rights, things that are right and wrong. And I mean, obviously like raping -

04:28

A sin. It's always gonna be wrong. Yeah, objectively wrong in all times and all places. And, you know, if you were, had a, you know, a mass murderer holding a gun to your head and saying, hey,

04:39

I'm gonna shoot you if you don't do this. I mean, there are categories for saying no. Do your worst, right?

04:45

And so there are things like that. But then, you know, as you think through a lot of the Proverbs along these lines, you know, the

04:51

Bible says, spare the rod, spoil the child. Well, that is a statement of general truth.

04:56

And, you know, statements of general truth along those lines do admit exceptions.

05:02

And then you might ask yourself, well, what do you do if you have a court order from, you know, the government basically saying to you that if you, you know, spank your child, then you're gonna have your child taken away from you.

05:14

And you're in a context where you're married to an unbelieving wife and she's calling that abuse. And she is going to call the police on you and have your children separated from you.

05:24

And that way, do you stick your guns to that point and just say, well, hey, I'm gonna lose my kids. I'm gonna never be able to see them again or possibly even go to jail.

05:33

Or do you view that moral action in a little bit of a different way? Is that a wisdom issue, which is a statement of general truth?

05:41

And, you know, there's, do you have a category for saying, hey, I'm gonna have to engage in something which

05:47

I think is objectively foolish because I have a gun to my head. But it's not like the, you know, the objectively, morally wrong kind of category.

05:56

It's just in a different category. So, you know, those would be kind of test case scenarios to see do you have different categories that you're working with along these lines.

06:07

So then, like in the language of wisdom, I think there's a lot of issues in the Bible where we would be commended to save money, for instance.

06:15

And so the Proverbs, as you're reading through the Proverbs, there's a lot of passages that you're gonna find in the Proverbs that talk about the importance of saving money.

06:22

But then how much do you save, right? Right, yeah. It's difficult to know how much you're commanded to save.

06:29

Now, everyone has to stand before the Lord and make an action that they think is pleasing to him. And, you know, if you feel like a good amount to save is, you know, a lot of that's just dependent on your income and a lot of that's dependent on your situation and how much disposable income you have and everything else.

06:47

But then there isn't really any clear answer that you're gonna find in the Bible about, you know,

06:53

God's amount that you're supposed to save and put away. You know, so you have in the

06:59

Bible, we have principles of saving versus hoarding and you have a whole big long discussion along those lines.

07:04

And so there's guardrails, like you don't wanna just be laying up for yourself treasures on earth and not be laying up for yourself treasures in heaven and just amassing money with no purpose and no intention.

07:14

But then objectively when it comes to it, you know, how much are you supposed to save? Well, it may get a little fuzzy, you know, and it may go up and down and it may be that you set out to have a plan, like a savings plan, maybe that life mitigates against it in certain ways.

07:28

And it may be that like in trying to be faithful to all the things God has says, maybe like a loved one comes up with a need and they're asking you for help and maybe you don't save that month.

07:37

Did you sin because you didn't save? A lot of like wisdom issues involves prioritizing a lot of different commands and principles in the

07:44

Bible. And without just like clear black and white guardrails about the one and only way to do it.

07:52

Does that make sense? Yeah, and if I know one, I know, you know, obviously there's no like, when it comes to saving, for example, there's no command that's like, hey, you need to save X amount of money, but then

08:03

I think we can all pretty safely say that you don't need to save $666, right?

08:11

That would be objectively the wrong amount. We've left the wisdom realm at that point.

08:16

At that point, we're in sin territory for sure. No, okay, joking aside,

08:23

I wanna talk a little bit about that last statement you made where you're basically saying, hey, a lot of wisdom is just trying to juggle a lot of various commands.

08:36

I wanna know a little bit more about what you mean by that, because I think someone could hear that and then say to themselves, okay, well, you know, let's say

08:45

I were put into a position where the gun's held to my head, right? And, you know, they will kill me if I don't do exactly what they say.

08:56

And they say, you know, I want you to lie and I won't kill you, right?

09:03

So when you're saying wisdom is juggling a lot of different commands that God has given us, are you saying like, hey, the wise thing to do is lie in that scenario and then just live with the fact that you did sin, but you get to live and still lead your family and provide for them, all that?

09:26

Right, so what you're talking about is situational ethics. And so then whatever moral absolutes that you find yourself in, you're talking about a category where based on the situation, you may or may not follow through with those moral absolutes in that way because you're trying to prioritize certain commands.

09:43

And, you know, as far as that goes, I'm not a situational ethics kind of person. Now, there's a whole discussion to have about whether or not lying is always permissible in every case.

09:55

We'll leave that aside for a second just to not make this too convoluted. But then, like,

10:00

I'm a moral absolutist in that I believe that there are, you know,

10:06

God's given us certain moral absolutes and they're right in all times and all places.

10:11

And so it's never gonna be right to murder someone. So murder's always wrong. You know, stealing is always wrong.

10:18

They're, whatever these moral absolutes are, God's given us certain things that are inflexible.

10:24

But when I'm talking about juggling commands, I'm not talking about, juggling commands and principles, I'm not talking about violating clear commands of the

10:32

Bible. What I'm talking about is like, Nick, let's say, let's talk about a situation that may be more user -friendly in this way.

10:42

But like, just picking a church, okay? All right, so think about that. Think about that.

10:47

So the Bible says that, you know, we are not to forsake the assembly of the saints together, as is the habit of some, right?

10:55

So, like, we need to join a church. We need to, you know, faithfully attend church.

11:00

We need to join a church. I mean, those are just kind of basic Christianity 101 kind of things, but then the

11:07

Bible doesn't tell us, like, what church we need to go to, right? Yeah. Right, so we have a command.

11:13

We need to join a church. We need to be, and maybe we need to do an episode on that because some people don't agree, but I don't really care.

11:20

But without having to establish, you know, you can be offended if you want, I don't care. But without necessarily establishing that in this episode, it's just, like, there's a command, you know, join a church, there's a command, go to church.

11:33

Those are commands, but then we don't necessarily have, like, in the Bible, a specific, that command is attached to a particular local church for us.

11:43

Does that make sense? All right, so I need to go to church. All right, now, I also need to not get into credit card debt, okay?

11:50

Sure. Like, so, you know, the borrower is slave to the lender and all that, right?

11:55

So, like, how far do I drive to get to a good church, right?

12:02

So, like, there are, like, it probably would be wiser, it'd be wiser to go to a church closer to me than it would be to go to a church further from me, right?

12:13

Yeah. So, like, if I'm just weighing that one priority is wiser to go somewhere closer than it is to go somewhere farther away, but then what if all the churches that are around me are heretical churches, right?

12:27

And the only faithful church is further out, right? Well, then I'm saying, well, it would,

12:33

I can't go to a heretical church, right? Now, let's say that, like, there's Orthodox churches around me that are closer and there are

12:43

Orthodox, better Orthodox churches that check more of my boxes that are further, right? Right. Well, then it would appear that it would be wiser to go to, like, we've already said it's wiser to go closer than further, right?

12:57

But then it seems like on the other end of it, like, the church that I think is more faithful is further and not closer, right?

13:06

And so - Sure. So, in that way, I'm being pushed to say it would be wiser to travel further instead of travel shorter, right?

13:15

Now, if you word all of that in the language of legal precept, then I have a very real moral dilemma.

13:22

You see what I'm saying? Meaning, you know, if you say, hey, okay, you base the law off of, you know, the first instance, then all of a sudden, you know, you go -

13:36

God has commanded me to go to a church within a five mile radius of my home. Right. Okay. Right, but then for the person in the second situation, all of a sudden, they're forced into making you know, a worse decision, or like a, you know, not the wisest decision they could make because of a law made that applies to one specific situation and has no, you know, there's no scriptural command anywhere, right?

14:10

Right, right. So, if I don't have this category for wise and unwise, and I only have a category for right and wrong, then my first conviction,

14:17

I need to try to go to a church within like a five or 10 mile radius becomes a law for me, right? Sure, yeah.

14:23

And I don't have the wise, unwise category. And then like that becomes informal conflict with my other, you know, convictions, which say

14:32

I need to be this amount of picky about the kind of church I go to, if that makes sense.

14:39

So basically, you need, so the more complicated decision -making actually gets, what ends up happening is you have like guardrails,

14:46

I need to go to church, right? I need to go to the church that has a gospel, right? Yeah.

14:52

So I need to go to a church that has a gospel. I need to go to church somewhere. I need to join a church, be a part of a church, you know, practice in one another commands, you know, be faithful to those things.

15:01

And so, you know, essentially I have like, I have certain guardrails that are absolute in the decision, but then there's a lot of things that are just wiser and, you know, maybe wiser and maybe unwise, more unwise.

15:15

And then I'm trying to weigh, like, in terms of the totality of the decision, a lot of different factors.

15:22

So part of that, you know, picking the best church I can figure out how to pick might involve considering how much money

15:28

I have to travel every week, right? Yeah. You know, part of it may think about, well, how much time do

15:34

I have, you know, and how much time do I want to devote to driving every week? Not just in a selfish way, but just in a practical way, like, you know, is it wise to drive two hours to go to church every week if you don't have to, right?

15:49

You know, and then like, there's no perfect church, right? And so it may be that there are certain, you know, this church has, you know, wiser, you know, music.

16:00

You know, this church has wiser teaching, right? Sure, yeah. And so then which of those is more important?

16:07

And I have, you have to weigh certain things. So at the end of the decision -making process, essentially what you're doing is you're basically, you know, you're talking through what are the non -negotiable dissent issues?

16:17

What are the wisdom issues? And then, you know, there might be a very small category at the end of like just pure preference kind of issues, right?

16:24

But that which shouldn't be taking very much, you know, space in the calculation. But then the point there is just to say that not everything is black and white, right?

16:32

Right and wrong, right? So how much Bible reading do you read every day, right? Like, is there a magic number?

16:41

Well, no, I mean, it'd be better to read more than less, right? But then I don't think anyone's in sin for not doing our monthly

16:48

Bible challenge that we're currently doing, right? Yeah, you know, that may be wise for some people.

16:54

It may be unwise for other people in different situations, right? So it could just like, there's no one right way to do it.

17:03

There's just a lot of, there's a lot of things like that. You know, what is the best way to get the

17:09

Bible in your head? There's a lot of ways to do it. And some are more wise than others and some accomplish certain things well and other things not so well.

17:17

And so it seems to me that you need this category of wisdom just to help you to make decisions.

17:25

Okay, fair enough. This has been another episode of Bible Bashed.

17:34

We hope you have been encouraged and blessed through our discussion. We thank you for all your support and ask you to continue to like and subscribe to Bible Bashed and share our podcast with your friends and on social media.

17:45

Please reach out to us with your questions, pushback and potential topics for us to discuss in future episodes at BibleBashedPodcast at gmail .com

17:55

and consider supporting us through Patreon. If you would like to be Bible Bashed personally, then please know that we also offer free biblical counseling which you can take advantage of by emailing us.

18:06

Now, go boldly and obey the truth in the midst of a biblically illiterate world who will be perpetually offended by your every move.