“Is dobbel sonde?”

 

Kom ons stel eers vas wat is sonde?

Sonde is enige aksie wat ons verhouding met God en met ons medemens laat skade lei. Dit (die sonde) is gewoonlikk iets wat ons van God af wegtrek.

God het ons gemaak ooreenstemmend met Sy eie natuur. Sonde verbreek ons verhouding met God.

 

Sonde het ons wereld betree nadat Adam ongehoorsaam was deur God se opdrag te verontagsaam, wat van ons dus geestelike sondaars maaks. Ons word gebore met ‘n sondige natuur en ‘n natuurlike geneigdheid om te sondig maar meer nog hierdie sondige natuur wat ons van Adam geerf het wil God verwerp.

 

Dit word in Engels as “Imputed sin” beskryf. As ons dit in finansieele of wettige terme gebruik dan beteken dit dat jy neem iets wat aan iemand behoort en plaas dit oor of krediteer iemand anders se rekening daarmee. Meer eenvoudig gestel ek wil graag ‘n rugby span ondersteun nou ondersteun ek die die plaaslike rugby span, daar is nie nog ‘n span nie dit is die enigste span op die dorp, ons word geasosieer met die span en in ons geval is die span “Sonde”

 

Sonde is natuurlik elke mens se aksie wat loodreg teenoor God se wet staan

Sonde neem ook baie verskillende vorms aan

 

Hier is ‘n paar griekse woorde:

“Awon” beteken sondigheid of kwaadwillige oneerlikheid(1Sam.20:1)

“Rosha” Rusteloosheid of iets wat buite beheer is.(Jes.57:21)

“Chata” Om die merk of punt te mis, of om van koers afte bly(Rig. 2:20)

In die Nuwe Testament vind ons die Griekse woord

“Hamartia”, Dit is amper soos die Hebreuse woord “Chata” maar gaan verder deur te se dat ons nie net die merk of die puntmis nie maar dat dit ontstaan het uit die wil of natuur wat daartoe gelei hetom die oortreding te pleeg.(Rom.6:1)

 

Sonde, alle sonde verwerp God, dit verwerp ook Sy gesag en Sy voorskrifte.

 

Kom ons kyk nou na dobbel , is dit sonde of nie?

Wat is dobbel?. Merriam-Webster beskryf dobbel as volg: “Om ‘n spel te speel waartydens jy dit waag om geld of eiendom te wet, sonder die vaagste benul wat die uitslag gaan wees, met die hoop om te wen.”

Om vas testel of ‘n spesifieke handeling of in die geval dobbel, sonde is,sal daar noodwendig verder en dieper gesoek moet word asnet ‘n skrifgedeelte wat moontlik die handeling aanspreek, nerens in die Bybel word daar spesifiek na dobbel verwys as sonde nie.

 

Ek wil ter verduideliking ‘n heeltemal ander woord wat ook nerens in die Bybel voorkom as voorbeeld gebruik. Die woord Drie Eenheid, kom nerens in die Bybel voor nie en as gevold daarvan word dit voortdurend deur sektes as argument gebruik om hulle geloof te verdedig, hulle beweer dat as die woord nie in die Bybel voorkom nie, dit nie gebruik mag word om God te beskryf nie. Die feit dat ons in ‘n Drie Enige God glo, spruit uit baie navorsing en menige kruisverwysings asook talle bewyse uit die Bybel wat ons in staat gestel het om onteenseglik te bewys dat Die Vader, en Die Seun, en die Heilige Gees – Een God is .

 

Net so as die Bybel nie spesifiek ‘n beweerde sonde of handeling aanspeek nie moet ons Bybelse voorskrifte en beginsels noodwendig gebruik om dit te bewys.

 

“Check list”

Om Dobbel of vir daardie rede enige ander onsekere handeling as sondete identifiseermoet on‘n paar vrae uit die skrif as riglyn gebruik:

 

1. Glo ek en is ek oortuig daarvan dat dit wat ek wil doen reg en goed is.(Rom.14:23)Enige iets wat jy nie uit geloofsoortuiging doen nie is sonde.

2. Sal ek God daardeur kan eer en verheerlik ?. (1Kor.10:31)Of julle eet en of julle drink of wat julle ookal doen, doen alles tot eer van God

3. Gaan ek iemand hiermee benadeel of negatief beinvloed ?.(1Kor.8:9)Maar pas op dat hierdie vryheid van julle nie vir die wat swak is, ‘n aanleiding tot sonde word nie

4. Gaan ek moontlik deur dit wat ek wil doen iemand anders laat sondig ?.

( Rom.14:13) So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.(Luk.17:1) “Dit is onvermydelik dat daar dinge kom wat mense laat struikel. Maar ellende wag vir die menwat die oorsaak daarvan is.”

5. Waarom wil ek dit doen?, wat wil ek daardeur bereik?.(Kol.3:23) En wat julle ook al doen, doen dit van harte soos vir die Here en nie vir mense nie.

6. Gaan dit my verhouding met God benadeel?.

7. Sal ek sonder twyfel vir Jesus kan vra om langs my te staan terwyl ek dit doen?.(Ef.5:15-17) Wees baie versigtig hoe julle lewe: nie soos onverstandige mense nie, maar soos verstandiges.Maak die beste gebruik van elke geleentheid, want ons lewe in ‘n goddelose tyd. Moet daaarom nie onverstandig optree nie, maar probeer te wete komwat die Herewil dat julle moet doen.

8. Sal dit die Here se goedkeuring wegdra (Ef.5:10)Vra jou voordurend af of iets vir die Here aanneemlik is

9. Stel ek ‘n voorbeeld vir mense wat my as ‘n kind van die Here sien(Ef.5:8.)

Vroeer wasjulle die ene duisternis, maar nou in die Here is julle lig. Leef dan as mense van die lig

As dit wat ek wil doen nie ooreen stem met een van die bogenoemde vrae niedan moet ek dit nie doen nie, want dan is dit sonde.(Jak. 2:10)As iemand die hele wet onderhou en in een opsig struikel, is hy skuldig ten opsigte van al die gebooie

1Kor.8:12)

 

“Dobbel” en die gevolge daarvan is dit sonde ?.

Eerstens gaan terug na ons “Check list”

 

As jy jou hoop op “Dobbel” sit, dan vir daardie tyd plaas jy jou hoop op die noodlots gode Meni of Gad Jes. 65:11.(Meni en Gad was saam beskou as noodlots gode),Maar julle wat van die Here afvallig geword het,julle wat my heilige berg vergeet het, julle wat vir dieafgod Gad offermaaltye hou, wyn inskink vir die afgod Meni. Jy vra sekerlik nie terwyl jy dobbel vir God om jou te help nie ?.

 

As jy jou hoop op Meni sit dan is jy indirek besig om ‘n ander god (‘n valse god) te vertrou en is dan besig om die eerste gebod te breek Ex. 20:2God se Hy is‘n jaloerse God as jy jou hoop op ander gode sit danglo jy dat daar ander gode is wat jou kan help. As jy Hom voluit wil dien, dan verbied Hy jou om ander gode te dien(Ex.20:5)Jy mag hulle nie vereer of dien nie, want Ek die Here jou God, eis onnverdeelde trou aan My.

 

Ons se inderwaarheid vir God dat ons Hom nie vertrou vir ons daaglikse brood en vir ons daaglikse behoeftes nie , ons sal eerder op ons eie dit wil doen en vir Meni vra om ons te help.

 

As Christene glo ons in ‘n God van orde wat nie ons toekoms en dit wat met ons gaan gebeur aan die noodlot oorlaat nie, Hy het ‘n plan met elkeen van ons

 

God het gese dat ons vir ons daaglikse brood moet werk,nie dat ons partykeer op ander gode moet staat maak om dit vir ons te gee nie.

(Gen.3:19) net deur harde werk sal jy kan eet.

Ons bid ook dat Hy ons sal beskerm teen die bose dat ons nie sal struikel as ons in versoeking kom nie , maar ons waag dit op ‘n terrein waar satan heers.

 

Die ander gevaar is dat ons nog ‘n ander god gaan aanhang en dit is Mammon

( Matt. 6:24 ) “Niemand kan vir twee base tegelyk werk nie. Hy sal of die een minder ag of die ander een hoer, of vir die een meer oorhe en die ander een afskeep. Julle kan nie God en Mammon dien nie”.,kyk ook(Luk. 16:13)

 

Wat wil ek met die geld doen as ek dit wen ? ( Gewoonlik is dit materialisties van aard ) is dit binne die wil van die Here of nie ?

 

Ek moet alles doen tot eer van God – as ek dobbel doen ek dit tot God se eer ?

 

Is daar klein of groot sondes ( Die bedrag wat ek waag is so klein dit maak nie saak as ek verloor nie .) My klein bedraggie wat ek wed is deel van die groot dobbel bedrag wat dalk miljoene kan wees .

 

Die miljoene wat daar nou is word ‘n versoeking vir swakker gelowiges en hulle kan dalk versoek word om ‘n kans te waag en dalk ook kan sondig in die proses

Ek as Christen mag nie my broer laat struikel nie

As ek dobbel skyn ek my lig vir Jesus ?

Sou Jesus gedobbel het toe Hy op aarde was ?

Ons lewens word heen en weer geskud soos golwe , God wil nie he dat ons so onseker moet wees oor die toekoms nie.

God wil ons seen maar terwyl ons ander gode dien sal hy dit nie doen nie en ons is die oorsaak dat ons nie geseen word nie.

 

Party mense se ”Ek dobbelnet vir die prêt, en ek weet wanneer om te stop”.

.” Dit plaas die Christen in die posisie waar hy onnodig kanse moet waag met geld wat hy hard voor gewerk het .As gelowiges weet ons dat alles wat ons het aan die Here behoort, ons dobbel dus letterlik God se geld weg. So dobbel in enige vorm, is nie aanvaarbaar vir ‘n Christen nie. (1Tess.5:22) Bly weg van alles wat sleg is

Dobbel is verder, wins uit iemand anders se verlies. Om te wen met dobbel beteken dat iemand voor jou moes gekom het om vir jou wen te betaal, die wenner put dus genot en maak ‘n wins uit die verloorder se verlies en wanhoop.Omas Christen munt te slaan uit iemand anders se hartseer en verlies is nie aanvaarbaar nie, en beslis nie wat Jesus vir ons voorgeskryf het nie, (Moenie aan jou naaste doen wat jy nie aan jouself gedoen wil he nie).

Met die “Lotto” is daar honderde duisende of selfs miljoene verloorders vir net ‘n paar wenners en die meerderheid wat wet op die Lotto het gewoonlik nie eers genoeg geld vir kos nie wat nog van geld om weg te dobbel.

Om te dobbel vir die genot daarvan toon ‘n traak-my-nie-agtige houding teenoor jou medemens en die gawes wat jy van God ontvang.

Om te dobbel met die doel om baie geld te wen toon dat ek nie genoeg geloof in God het om in my daaglikse behoeftes te voorsien nie en dat Fil.4:19 vir my niks beteken nie (En my God sal in elke behoefte van julle ryklik voorsien volgens Sy oorvloedige rykdomin Christus Jesus)

 

“Wat se die Bybel oor gierigheid?”……Daar is baie waarskuwings in die Bybel oor gierigheid en die verlange ny rykdom.

Jesus het gewaarsku (Luk.12:15) “ Pasop en wees op julle hoede vir elke vorm van gierigheid, want ‘n mens is nie afhanklik van die oorvloed van sy besittings nie “ Hy he took gese (Mat.6:19&20)“Moenie vir julle skatte bymekaarmaak waar mot en roes dit verniel en waar diewe inbreek en dit steel nie. Maak vir julle skatte in die Hemel bymekaar, waar mot en roes dit nie verniel en waar diewe nie inbreek en dit steel nie. Waar jou skat is daar sal jou hart wees” Het Jesus geld nagejaag ? Nee inteendeel, Hy het arm geword vir ons (2Kor.8:9) Julle ken die genade van ons Here Jesus Christus: hoewel Hy ryk was, het Hy terwille van julle arm geword, sodat julle deur sy armoede ryk kon word.En (Mat.8:20) “maar die Seun van die mens het nie eens ‘n rusplek vir sy kop nie” Die enigste dissipel wat met geld behep was, was Judas wat Jesus wat Hom verraai het vir 30 siwerstukke.

 

Greed and a desire for riches are traps that bring ruin and destruction. “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil,” and Christians are warned, “Do not put your trust in wealth” (1Tim.6:9-10&17-18) 9 But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,. Covetousness, or wanting more than we have, is idolatry. “For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person – such a man is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Ef.5:5). The principle to remember is contained in Heb13:5“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” ……It is the love of money, and not money itself, that is the problem. The love of money is a sin because it gets in the way of worshipping God. Jesus said it was very hard for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God. When the rich young ruler asked Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life, Jesus told him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor. “When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth” (Mat.19:16-22; Luk.10:17-31). By instructing him to give up his money, Jesus pointed out the young man’s main problem: greed. The man could not follow Christ because he was following money. His love of this world interfered with his love for God. ……People are more likely to cry out to God when they are in need than when they have plenty. Too often, the wealthy become complacent and self-satisfied and ascribe their riches to their own efforts instead of acknowledging that every good gift comes from God. The easier our lives become, the more enjoyment we derive from our wealth, the greater the temptation to store up treasures on earth, instead of in heaven. If we focus on earthly things like material wealth and possessions, then we fail to give God the glory and worship He deserves. We are to serve God, not waste our time trying to become rich (Spr.23:4)4 Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.

. Our heart’s desire should be to store up riches in heaven, and not worry about what we will eat or drink or wear. “But seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mat. 6:25-34).

“Why is the love of money the root of all kinds of evil?”……Answer: The Apostle Paul, in his first letter to his young disciple, Timothy, had this to say: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:10). Now this verse is often misquoted as saying, “Money is the root of all evil.” Notice how “money” is substituted for “love of money” and “the root of all evil” is substituted for “a root of all kinds of evil.” These changes, while subtle, have an enormous impact on the meaning of the verse.……The misquoted version (“money is the root of all evil”) makes money and wealth the source (or root) of all evil in the world. This is clearly false. The Bible makes it quite clear that sin is the root of all evil in the world (Matthew 15:19Romans 5:12James 1:15). However, when we reflect upon the correct citation of this verse, we see that it is the love of money, not money itself, that is a source of all different kinds of trouble and evil. Wealth is morally neutral; there is nothing wrong with money, in and of itself, or the possession of money. However, when money begins to control us, that’s when trouble starts.……With that said, let’s consider the question before us: Why is the love of money a root of all kinds of evil? To help us answer this, we must look at the passage in its greater context. Near the end of the letter (1 Timothy 6:2-10), Paul is exhorting Timothy regarding the need to “teach and urge these things” to his congregation, “these things” referring back to earlier material in the epistle. Paul then warns Timothy about false teachers who will seek to warp and pervert the content of sound doctrine for their own greedy gain (vv. 3-5). Now notice what the Apostle says at the end of v. 5: “Imagining that godliness is a means of gain.” These false teachers do what they do for the fame and notoriety they achieve, along with the financial rewards it brings.……Paul wants to steer Timothy away from that trap. In doing so, he tells him the real source of “great gain;” namely, godliness with true contentment (v. 6). Contentment, in a biblical sense, is the recognition that we come into the world with nothing and that everything we have is a gift from God’s hands (vv. 7-8). Yet those who desire to be rich (i.e., those who have the “love of money”) are the ones who are led into temptation and fall into a snare (v. 9). Paul concludes the passage by telling Timothy that the love of money leads to all sorts of sin and evil.……Simple reflection on this principle will confirm that it is true. Greed causes people to do all sorts of things they wouldn’t normally do. Watch any number of TV courtroom dramas, and the crime under consideration is usually motivated by jealousy or greed, or both. The love of money is what motivates people to lie, steal, cheat, gamble, embezzle, and even murder. People who have a love for money lack the godliness and contentment that is true gain in God’s eyes.……But the Bible makes an even stronger statement about the love of money. What we have discussed thus far simply describes the horizontal level of the love of money. In other words, we have only mentioned how the love of money can lead one to commit greater sins against his fellow man. But the Bible makes quite clear that all sin is ultimately sin against God’s holy character (Psalm 51:5). We need to consider the vertical dimension to the love of money.……In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24). This verse comes at the end of a passage in which Jesus tells us to “lay up treasures in heaven” (v. 19). Here, Jesus likens a “love of money” to idolatry. He refers to money as a “master” we serve at the expense of serving God. We are commanded by God to have “no other gods” before the only true and living God (Exodus 20:3; the first commandment). Anything that takes first place in our lives other than our Creator God is an idol and makes us guilty of breaking the first commandment.……Jesus had much to say about wealth. His most memorable conversation about money is his encounter with the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16-30). The young man asks Jesus what he must do to obtain eternal life, and Jesus tells him to follow the commandments. When the man tells Jesus that he has done all that, Jesus tests his ability to obey the first commandment and tells him to sell all his possessions and give it to the poor and to follow him. The young man couldn’t do this; his wealth had become an idol—it was his master!……After this encounter, Jesus turns to his disciples and says, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:23-24). This is a hard saying, especially for 21st century people living in North America. Jesus is saying that wealth is one if the biggest obstacles to coming to faith in Christ. The reason is obvious: Wealth becomes a slave master in our lives and drives us to do all sorts of things that drive us farther and farther away from God. The good news is that what is impossible for man, entering into the Kingdom of God, is possible for God (Matthew 19:26).

“What does the Bible say about luck?”……Answer: The American Heritage Dictionary defines “luck” as follows:……1. The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events. 2. Good fortune or prosperity; success….to gain success or something desirable by chance: “I lucked out in finding that rare book.”……The main question is, do things happen by chance? If they do, then one can speak of someone being lucky or unlucky. But if they do not happen by chance, then it is inappropriate to use those terms. Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 states, “I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.” Much of what Ecclesiastes shares is from the perspective of a person who looks at life on earth without God, or life “under the sun.” From such a perspective—leaving God out of the picture—there seems to be good luck and bad luck. ……A runner in a race may be the swiftest, but because someone in front of him stumbles, he trips over him and falls and does not win the race. How unlucky for him? Or a warrior king may have the strongest army but some “chance” arrow shot up into the air at random by a no-name enemy soldier just happens to pierce his armor in its most vulnerable location (2 Chronicles 18:33) resulting in that king’s death and the loss of the battle. How unlucky for King Ahab? Was it a matter of luck? Reading the whole of 2 Chronicles 18, we find that God had His hand in the matter from the beginning. The soldier who shot the arrow was totally unaware of its trajectory, but God in His sovereignty knew all along it would mean the death of wicked King Ahab.……A similar “chance” occurrence takes place in the book of Ruth. Ruth, a widow who was caring for her widowed mother-in-law, seeks a field to glean grain to provide for them. “So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech” (Ruth 2:3). Elimelech had been the husband of her mother-in-law, Naomi, so Boaz was a relative of hers and was generous to Ruth. As Ruth returns home with a great deal more grain than Naomi expected, “her mother-in-law asked her, ‘Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!’ Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. ‘The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,’ she said. ‘The LORD bless him!’ Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. ‘He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.’ She added, ‘That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers.’” (Ruth 2:19-20). So Naomi did not see it as a “chance” occurrence but as the providence of God, as do others later on (Ruth 4:14).……Proverbs 16:33 states a general principle: “The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the Lord.” This refers to the use of casting lots (similar to the tossing of a coin or the rolling of dice) to settle certain judicial cases. The case involving Achan in Joshua 7 is an example in which the principle of Proverbs 16:33 is used to find the guilty party. Proverbs 18:18 states something similar: “Casting the lot settles disputes and keeps strong opponents apart.” Again, the idea is that God’s providence plays the determining role in the results of the casting of lots so that judicial conflicts can be resolved no matter how great the contention. Proverbs 16:33 would indicate that something as random as the rolling of dice or the tossing of a coin is not outside of God’s sovereign control. And, therefore, its results are not merely of chance.……God’s sovereignty involves two aspects. God’s active will or sovereignty would involve something He causes to happen such as the leading of wicked King Ahab into battle (2 Chronicles 18:18-19). Ahab’s death was not merely the result of a randomly shot arrow, but as 2 Chronicles 18 reveals, God actively directed the events that led Ahab into battle and used that randomly shot arrow to accomplish His intended will for Ahab that day. ……God’s passive will involves Him allowing, rather than causing, something to happen. Chapter1 of the book of Job illustrates this in what God allowed Satan to do in the life of Job. It is also involved in the evil that God allowed Joseph’s brothers to do to Joseph in order to accomplish a greater good, a good not apparent to Joseph until years later (Genesis 50:20).……Because we do not have the curtains drawn back to see what is taking place in heaven, we cannot always determine whether God’s active or passive will is involved in the events of our lives, but we do know that all things that take place are under the umbrella of His will, whether active or passive, and, therefore, nothing is a matter of mere chance. When a person rolls the dice to play a board game, God may sometimes cause the dice to land a certain way, but more often than not in such inconsequential matters, He may allow the dice to land as His laws of nature would determine without any active involvement. But even when He is not actively involved, how the dice land is still under His sovereignty.……So it is for any event of life; no matter how small (Matthew 10:29-31) or how large (Daniel 4:35Proverbs 21:1), God is sovereign over all (Ephesians 1:11Psalm 115:3Isaiah 46:9-10), and thus nothing is merely the matter of chance.……From an earthly perspective, things may seem to happen at random, but throughout the whole of Scripture, it is clear that God is in control of all of His creation and is somehow able to take the random acts of natural law, the free will of both good and evil men, and the wicked intent of demons and combine them all to accomplish His good and perfect will (Genesis 50:20; Job chapters 1 and 42; John 9:1-7). And Christians, specifically, are given the promise that God works all things, whether seemingly good or bad, together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

 

“What does it mean that we are not to cause others to stumble?”……Answer: The concept of not causing others to stumble is found in Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8. In these chapters, Paul talks about personal convictions and our responsibility to our fellow believers in Christ. He highlights several topics over which believers have disagreements—food, drink, and sacred days. In Paul’s time, the disagreements were mostly concerning Jewish law versus the new freedom found in Christ. We experience much the same type of disagreements today, even over the same topics, to which we could add things like body piercings, tattoos, clothing style, movies, video games, books, and alcohol/tobacco. These are all areas for which the Bible does not provide specific instruction and yet are areas in which many feel conviction. Some of these things can lead to worldliness, sin, impurity or even just become an obsession/idol. But, on the flip side, legalism and avoidance of anything the world has to offer can also become an idol. ……Paul tells the Romans, “So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brothers way . . . So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Romans 14:12-13, 22-23, NIV). Paul is telling us to enjoy our freedom in Christ, but along with that freedom comes the responsibility to protect those around us who have doubts about that freedom. ……The example of alcohol is relevant here. Alcohol is not inherently evil, and the biblical prohibitions are not against drinking but against drunkenness. But someone who tends toward alcoholism very often knows he must not drink at all and believes others shouldn’t drink either, even in moderation. If a Christian has a friend who is convinced drinking is wrong, then drinking around that person may cause him/her to “stumble” or trip up. The Greek word for “stumble” gives the sense of stubbing one’s toe. As Christians, we are forbidden to do anything that may cause our brothers and sisters in Christ to stub their toe, spiritually speaking. Stubbing the toe can cause a person to fall in the spiritual sense, or to damage or weaken their faith. In all things, the important lesson is to “make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (Romans 14:18). In this way, God is glorified, believers are edified, and the world sees in us “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).