Aleks Tapinsch, who has his own website focused on his native country of Latvia, All about Latvia. If you wonder what is the news in Latvia or just wonder what Aleks is up to lately, check out his site.
Aleks had this to say in response to the discussion on what laws would be in a Christian nation.
"But what should be done with the sin of gluttony in the country of Christ? It seems Americans are suffering from it the most. And not only food, but also gluttony for stuff.
How can we talk about the sins of homosexuals when majority of our church members are obese and what's worse they don't even care? When was the last time you heard a sermon on gluttony?
Sloth should also be outlawed, shouldn't it? Anyone who does not work should not eat. We should scrap all those government programs providing financial help to the needy, the unemployed and the poor. They're just lazy, after all.
And what are we going to do about liars in Christian Exodus? Burn 'em."
My question would be, what should be done with these problems now in the church?
I believe we are to hold one another accountable on spiritual issues so that we can be where God wants us to be. As Ryan Dobson said in his interview with me, holding one another accountable is what we do if we actually love one another. Also, we are disciplined by God because of his love for us (Rev 3:19, Heb 12:7). We need to work on developing relationships with one another and being humble enough that proper Scriptural discipline can occur without conflict in our midst.
I have a tough time finding Scripture that condemns gluttony. There are 2 in the Old Testament (Deut 21:20, Prov 23:21) that would be adequate. But the principle of Christian Freedom is large enough and firm enough to stand on concerning gluttony (Gal 5). We are called to be free from anything that controls our lives besides Christ (Rom 6:5-23). Christ came to make his people a free people. If we are controlled by our flesh, then we are limited in how much we are controlled by Christ. If we truly love our brothers and sisters in Christ, we will try to help them overcome anything that controls them besides Christ. Unless, of course, we aren't focused on being the people God wants us to be and want to blindly adhere to our nation's religion of tolerance.
Now onto the "anyone who does not work should not eat" comment. It seems almost like Aleks was quoting Scripture. 2 Thessalonians 3:10-11 states: "For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone will not work, neither let him eat.
For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies." We are called to be loving and feed the hungry in other parts of Scripture (Isaiah 58:5-12, Matt 25:34-46, Rom 12:20). Romans even goes as far as saying we are to feed our enemies. Thessalonians offers a balance to those passages, a harsh balance that my body wants to say is unacceptable. However, it is when we submit to beliefs in Scripture that grate us the wrong way or stop doing something we love because Scripture condemns it that we know we are truly following Christ. For even the people that don't know God follow their hearts and do what they please. We are called to follow God's heart and do what he pleases even when it isn't or heart or our pleasing. So when we see a hungry person we should feed him. Then we should try to find him a job to feed himself. If he refuses to work, then we should refuse to feed. Harsh, Yes. Scriptural, Yes.
And liars. That one is the worst because it is so divisive and destructive to relationships. A glutton or slothful person only hurts himself. A liar destroys those around him. There is nothing that will be disciplined more harshly in my children than lying. Proverbs 19:22 says, "It is better to be a poor man than a liar."
Slothfulness, gluttony, and lying are things we should be dealing with now as a brothers and sisters in Christ. We don't have to wait until we have governmental authority behind us (and I would be scared if we did) to help those stuck in sin around us. Nor do we have to wait for governmental authority to crack down on us in order to overcome our sin. We are called to be like Christ.
Watch out of the potholes.
