Love Does Not Require Us To Applaud Sin

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:7-8).

What is sin?
"Sin is lawlessness, breaking the law of God. Sin consists of not only missing the mark, but hitting the wrong thing. All of us have sinned." www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_560.cfm

As modern cultures have turned away from the knowledge of and respect for God and the Bible, the concepts of love and sin have become distorted as well.  In this distorted view the only way a person can be considered "loving" is to applaud popular sins.  Of course, it is still acceptable to condemn unpopular sins...until they become popular again.  In this post, I will refrain from giving examples of popular and unpopular sins because many people have become so emotionally attached to certain sins that they will not listen to any negative comments related to their pet sins but they will also heap condemnation on the sins of others.  Also, the popular sins of today may fade out of popularity to be replaced by new popular sins in a future generation.  Just think about the popular sins of past centuries, which we now condemn.  Someday, future generations will condemn us as well.  But, it is likely that they too will have their own popular/pet sins as well, which they will excuse.

We cannot allow our current culture to determine what is right and wrong, merely because of what is popular.  Human sacrifice, genocide, and slavery have all been considered, "good" and "popular" at various times.  Instead, we must firmly anchor ourselves in the Truth of God's Word to determine what is right and wrong.  Cultural norms are constantly changing but the Bible does not change because God does not change.  

Here are some Bible verses on this topic:

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8 
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"God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?" Numbers 23:19

​"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever" Isaiah 40:8

"Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens." Psalms 119:89
everydayservant.com/top-13-bible-verses-god-never-changes/

If I Love Myself, I Will Not Excuse My Own Sins. 
We are commanded to love God and our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39).  If we love ourselves, we will see the value that God has given us with His image and Christ's blood.  Therefore, we will want to avoid or stop doing any activity that will cause harm to our lives.  Sin is anything which violates God's original design for our lives.  For example, if you own a car, you have the freedom to do anything you want with your car, even if it is destructive.  You can put oil in the gas tank and gasoline in the radiator if you want but it will damage the car because it violates the manufacturer's original design.  Likewise, with our lives and bodies, which God has given us, we have freedom to sin.  However, we do not have the freedom from the consequences of our actions: our cars and lives will be severely damaged or destroyed.  This is why I do my best to take good care of my car, by following the manufactures instructions and design so that I will not have to pay for expensive, unnecessary repairs, due to my own foolish choices.  Likewise, I also do my best to avoid damaging my life by following God, the Creator's original design for my life.  Just as cars come with an instruction book or owner's manual, which helps us to avoid damaging our cars unnecessarily, God has also provided us with an instruction book for our lives, the Bible.

If I Love My Neighbors As Myself, I Will Not Applaud Their Sins.
If I saw my neighbors putting oil in the gasoline tanks and gasoline in the radiators of their cars, if I loved them, I would not applaud their destructive actions.  If my enemies were doing something bad to their cars, I might be tempted to either applaud their mistakes or keep quiet, but this would not be the loving thing to do.  Instead, a loving neighbor, would warn them of the dangers of their actions, point out the proper instructions in the instruction book, and help them reverse their mistakes before any further damage can be done to their cars.  Likewise, if we see our neighbors sinning, we should, if we truly love them, gently and respectfully warn them of the dangers, show them the proper way to live according to the Bible, and help them make the necessary changes to their lives in order to avoid any further consequences.  

We also need to remember that the Bible calls us first to correct sins in our own lives before trying to correct others.  “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." (Matthew 7:3-5) 

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