The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum A paper for BCM

First of all I didn't read your paper, but I picked up a good bit from other posts in this thread, so I'll throw in my 2 cents. Personally, I would be very hesitant and probably wouldn't sign the document. From the struggle with sin in my own life and how much I constantly fail, I just don't see how I could in good faith sign the document. I suppose this may be a defeatist attitude, but it's also the reality of who I am. I'll take one of the "lighter" sins as an example: gossip. If I signed the document, I honestly don't think I'd make it 1 day without breaking the commitment at least to a small degree, unless I just didn't open my mouth. Cursing I could get by on externally, but I do find myself occasionally cursing in my mind even though I don't express it verbally. So it seems the commitment itself is focused on external behavior and not the nature of the heart, which I think could be a problem. As for drinking alcohol, I don't consider that necessarily a sin and actually enjoy having a drink on occasion. Even if I never drank, I don't think I could sign it because I feel like it would be supporting the idea that all drinking is a sin (which I don't think is Biblical). As for the sexually related commitments, I pray often that God will be always be merciful and keep me from falling in this area. I agree with chestnutmare that we should always strive to live pure lives and flee from these sins. But, I still don't know if I would sign a commitment against these. As I said above, I know the root of those sins are always lurking in my heart. When I look back on my life, I can really see God's hand in preventing me from messing up big in those areas. Often, I can see now that He was gracious by removing opportunities at those times when I was particularly weak.

Another big reason why I wouldn't sign the commitment is because I know that the commitment itself might become a snare for me. One of our main motives for living a pure and holy life is out of gratitude and love for him and for Christ. God is concerned about our motives as well as our external actions. The commitment seems to be focused only on external appearances. I could easily see myself beginning to fall into the trap of, say, if I had the desire to look at pornography, to not do it because I had signed the commitment instead of because it's a sin against a holy God. So externally, everything looks good, but internally your motives are being diverted away from God.

Furthermore, I think commitments like this lead to dishonesty among Christians. For example, if you had signed the commitment and then failed in one of the areas, just the fact that you signed the commitment may put pressure on you to cover it up. There is nothing more frustrating to me then being in a group of "Christians" where it seems everybody is trying put on their "best face". Of course, I'm not saying we should go throwing out every single sin we do in front of everyone, but it's refreshing to be able confess sins without worrying that everyone is judging you.

I guess what I'm saying is as Christians we should strive to live holy and pure lives, but I don't think signing commitments is the way to go about it. Hope these ponderings help. If any of my ramblings are un-Biblical, please feel free to correct me.


John