Personal Convictions

By: Brandon James Scott Scholl

I had a conversation the other day with a friend of mine about drinking alcohol. Now, as of this moment, he and I are both underage and haven't drank before. However, I won't mind having a drink when I"m older just not with the intent to ever get drunk. He, however, prefers to stay away from most forms of alcohol. Perhaps maybe a glass of wine every blue moon when he's married, but nothing really beyond that. His reason? Because he's crazy and weird enough that he doesn't need anything to alter him.

Now, I don't disagree with him on this at all. In fact, it's a different reason than what I'm used to. This friend of mine wasn't raised as to be afraid of alcohol either. As we continued talking about all of this though, it changed the subject to people and their personal convictions.

A personal conviction, in my own words, is something that perhaps God has or is working on you in your walk of life. An example of this would be something like the type of music that you might listen to. Some people may not have a problem listening to all genres of music while someone else may feel convicted that listening to rap music isn't in their best interest or it simply is just something they shouldn't be around.

In different situations I've dealt with, there are people who believe that a personal conviction that God may be working on within themselves should be preached and pushed on other people as a universal conviction. An example of this is when the person who feels convicted listening to any form of rap music tells all the people they are around that rap music is, let's say, the work of Satan. I have actually worked with people who have told me Rap music as well as loud Rock music has a negative force and undertone in it that is a spiritual attack and we, as Christians, shouldn't take part and listen to it. Perhaps I may consider myself to be a rebel, but I don't see things in this way or even agree with this claim.

See, one of the MANY problems I've seen Christianity start to run into is the belief that we should be the police for every other person that claims to be a Christian. Granted, we are supposed to be able to hold other Brothers and Sisters accountable. However, that doesn't mean that every aspect of our person Christian walk should be explained and applied to everyone. In my experiences, I have been told from numerous people things like "Rock and Rap music are the tools of the Devil", "Psychology and Sociology are wrong because it takes God out of the equation of life", or my personal favorite "Debating about Doctrine and Theology is unbiblical, wrong, and that's what the Enemy simply wants us to do. Instead, we should just simply love and embrace each other because that's what Jesus wants us to do."

To be fair, there are some beliefs that are universal. Things such as,

“You shall have no other gods before Me." ~Exodus 20:3

"You shall not murder." ~Exodus 20:13

It scares me how close minded some Christians can be to these things simply because they can't understand the difference between personal and universal Biblical convictions. It actually is quite sad that it has turned into this type of lifestyle. I mean, people used to do their research and not take people's word on things that they believed. Not because they didn't necessarily trust Pastor So and so, but because they made a point to read their Bible and learn how to apply these doctrines to their life.

So, when you're talking to a Brother or Sister in Christ, or maybe you're talking with friends who perhaps aren't Christians, think about what you're talking about with them. Is what you're talking about a personal or a universal Biblical conviction?

How To Handle Yourself

~Brandon James Scott Scholl

So where do we, as Christians, draw the line between keeping our mouths shut or saying what may need to be said to get something brought to attention? Off and on, at various times in my life, I have been in positions where I can either open my mouth and voice my opinion and concern or I can close it out of fear of how I will be judged by my fellow Christians. Now, I’m only 18, so this can be construed as I’m just a hormonal teenager who thinks they know it all. However, with that said, I’m done. This is not out of anger and I’m not yelling. What I’m saying is those of you who are in whatever position that you have the choice between saying something and keeping your mouth shut, open your mouth and say what you think. I am not saying all Christians are like this and I should put the fine print in here. When you are the person that is in a place of authority in your church there is something to keep in mind: A good leader is a servant to his people. I was told that by a great man who is an amazing leader in my opinion. With that said, I will no longer be putting up with hypocrisy from people that don’t have opinions based on the bible. There is nowhere in the bible that says I should be tolerant of anything like that. In fact, if the bible did say something like that then Jesus shouldn’t have a said a word to the pharisees. Bottom line is if you are going to claim that someone is wrong then you’d better be able to back that up with scripture if you’re in authority and try to make a point to take care of the people you’re over.

Also, just because you ask questions at your Christian church to your elders at your church doesn’t mean that you are someone with a weak base of faith or that you are second guessing. If there is a claim that you are wrong or that there is a problem in your life then you should be able to question those claims provided that you can biblically claim it.

And another thing before I finish my rant. Just because there’s a lot of things going on in your life such as working on Sunday because you aren’t financially sound or you can’t make it to church because something else came up doesn’t mean that God is punishing you or that you have something huge in your life that God is beating on you for. Those of you who are like this should probably get in touch with these people first and ask them if there’s anything you can do to help them. Otherwise, keep your mouth shut.