{"id":1713,"date":"2016-01-21T01:29:27","date_gmt":"2016-01-21T07:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/focuspressblog.com\/?p=1713"},"modified":"2016-01-21T01:29:27","modified_gmt":"2016-01-21T07:29:27","slug":"source-self-righteousness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/","title":{"rendered":"The Source of Self-Righteousness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">If I were to ask either a non-Christian or someone who has left the church what their chief problem or disagreement is with the church, there is an answer that will be given 90% of the time. Many people who leave the church claim they leave because of the members\u2019 judgmental nature. It\u2019s no secret that the church has a reputation for being critical and condemnatory of other people who don\u2019t believe what they believe. Whether we believe it or not, we are seen as the stiff-necked, \u201cholier than thou\u201d people who believe we are the only ones going to Heaven. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Lord&#8217;s church\u00a0is documented as being one of the largest opposing forces to sins such as homosexuality and with good reason. We are undoubtedly to oppose sins such as these that are abominations to God and are never to put our stamp of approval on them. Unfortunately, our staunch resistance and opposition to these \u201cbigger\u201d sins has led to a severe problem. Whether we admit it or not, we&#8217;ve\u00a0slowly but surely started categorizing sin. Allow me to explain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">We, as New Testament Christians, sit and listen to sermons and Bible classes numerous times each week. Many times the lessons we hear are on topics such as abortion, homosexuality, pornography etc. As a result, we get a heavy dose of sermons that rightfully teach these behaviors as wrong. The negative aspect of that is that when we hear the word sin, these are the activities that emerge in our brain. Thus when we hear a sermon on sin or worldliness, our brain immediately shifts to homosexuality, murder, or some other \u201cbig sin.\u201d Since the majority of Christians don\u2019t struggle with the \u201cbig sins,\u201d when we hear a lesson on worldliness or sin, we mentally check out. This automatically subdues any notion of self-examination or repentance in our minds. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Please hear me out, as I\u2019m by no means saying that hearing sermons on homosexuality or stressing the sinfulness of adultery is wrong. What I am saying is that the constant barrage of lessons on the \u201cbig sins\u201d has led to desensitization in the Lord\u2019s church. Our categorization of sins, whether intentional or not, has led to a group of believers who really don\u2019t believe they\u2019re all that bad simply because they don\u2019t commit any of the major sins. The Bible however, says otherwise. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Isaiah 64:6 says, \u201cBut we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.\u201d One of the most well-known verses in the New Testament is Romans 3:23 which reads, \u201call have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.\u201d We regularly quote these verses but we seem to ignore the implications. What these verses are saying is that we are just as evil as the terrorists who destroyed the world trade centers. We\u2019re just as sinful as the homosexual down the street. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Despite what many New Testament Christians believe by implication, the categorization of sins is completely unbiblical. James 2:10 says, \u201cFor whoever shall keep the whole law, and stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.&#8221; What we don\u2019t realize is that there are some people, even Christians who aren\u2019t participating in any of the \u201cbig sins,\u201d yet they are still living in sin. The same God who sees the murder of 130 people in Paris sees the rated R movies you go to see on the weekends. The same God who sees homosexual behavior sees the sensual, immodest clothing you wear in public. The same God who sees the murdering of innocent babies sees what you\u2019re doing on the Internet. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Maybe part of the reason people in the world see us as self-righteous is because sometimes we are. It\u2019s a travesty that in the church we are afraid to share or confess are struggles because we are afraid of being judged or negatively looked upon. God\u2019s church was meant to be a place where confess our sins to each other and bear one another\u2019s burdens (Galatians 6:2) and help each other in Christian love. Quite the opposite is the case today. We enter our church buildings today under such a fa\u00e7ade, and we try to make others believe we have no struggles. Again, this is not the way it was meant to be. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">What I\u2019m hoping you\u2019ll draw from this article is the fact that the way in which we mentally categorize sins in the church today has resulted in a severe case of false self-confidence. What I would encourage you to do in your Christian walk is to avoid categorizing sin and more importantly, to not overlook the ones you struggle with. Because we have to remember that on judgment day, God is not going to just judge the sins of homosexuality, abortion, and pornography. He\u2019s going to judge every single sin, no matter how little we think they are, right along with what we consider to be the \u201cmajor\u201d sins. He\u2019s going to judge every word we\u2019ve said under our breath and every immoral thought we\u2019ve ever had. Jesus Christ didn&#8217;t just die for the adulterers and murderers. He died for every broken, sinful human being including you and I.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>By Will Harrub<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If I were to ask either a non-Christian or someone who has left the church what their chief problem or disagreement is with the church, there is an answer that will be given 90% of the time. Many people who leave the church claim they leave because of the members\u2019 judgmental nature. It\u2019s no secret [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,59],"tags":[49,328,749,29,65],"class_list":["post-1713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-christian-living","tag-church","tag-judgmental","tag-self-righteous","tag-sin","tag-will","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Source of Self-Righteousness - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Source of Self-Righteousness - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If I were to ask either a non-Christian or someone who has left the church what their chief problem or disagreement is with the church, there is an answer that will be given 90% of the time. Many people who leave the church claim they leave because of the members\u2019 judgmental nature. It\u2019s no secret [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-21T07:29:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/iStock_000008154409_Small-e1453361296958.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"focus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"focus\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/21\\\/source-self-righteousness\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/21\\\/source-self-righteousness\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"focus\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/410e95ca4492328087bb414318cdbf13\"},\"headline\":\"The Source of Self-Righteousness\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-21T07:29:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/21\\\/source-self-righteousness\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":904,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/21\\\/source-self-righteousness\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/iStock_000008154409_Small-e1453361296958.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Church\",\"Judgmental\",\"Self-righteous\",\"Sin\",\"Will\"],\"articleSection\":[\"All\",\"Christian Living\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/21\\\/source-self-righteousness\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/21\\\/source-self-righteousness\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Source of Self-Righteousness - Focus Press\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/21\\\/source-self-righteousness\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/21\\\/source-self-righteousness\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/iStock_000008154409_Small-e1453361296958.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-21T07:29:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/410e95ca4492328087bb414318cdbf13\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/21\\\/source-self-righteousness\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/21\\\/source-self-righteousness\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/21\\\/source-self-righteousness\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/iStock_000008154409_Small-e1453361296958.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/iStock_000008154409_Small-e1453361296958.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":400},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/21\\\/source-self-righteousness\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Source of Self-Righteousness\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/\",\"name\":\"Focus Press\",\"description\":\"Renew Your Mind\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/410e95ca4492328087bb414318cdbf13\",\"name\":\"focus\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4e5532d3006379364a1bcb0a0f8e1b7d691f4349940d94d5b41a4267b04ead18?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4e5532d3006379364a1bcb0a0f8e1b7d691f4349940d94d5b41a4267b04ead18?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4e5532d3006379364a1bcb0a0f8e1b7d691f4349940d94d5b41a4267b04ead18?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"focus\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/author\\\/focus\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Source of Self-Righteousness - Focus Press","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Source of Self-Righteousness - Focus Press","og_description":"If I were to ask either a non-Christian or someone who has left the church what their chief problem or disagreement is with the church, there is an answer that will be given 90% of the time. Many people who leave the church claim they leave because of the members\u2019 judgmental nature. It\u2019s no secret [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/","og_site_name":"Focus Press","article_published_time":"2016-01-21T07:29:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/iStock_000008154409_Small-e1453361296958.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"focus","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"focus","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/"},"author":{"name":"focus","@id":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/#\/schema\/person\/410e95ca4492328087bb414318cdbf13"},"headline":"The Source of Self-Righteousness","datePublished":"2016-01-21T07:29:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/"},"wordCount":904,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/iStock_000008154409_Small-e1453361296958.jpg","keywords":["Church","Judgmental","Self-righteous","Sin","Will"],"articleSection":["All","Christian Living"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/","url":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/","name":"The Source of Self-Righteousness - Focus Press","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/iStock_000008154409_Small-e1453361296958.jpg","datePublished":"2016-01-21T07:29:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/#\/schema\/person\/410e95ca4492328087bb414318cdbf13"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/iStock_000008154409_Small-e1453361296958.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/iStock_000008154409_Small-e1453361296958.jpg","width":600,"height":400},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/01\/21\/source-self-righteousness\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Source of Self-Righteousness"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/","name":"Focus Press","description":"Renew Your Mind","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/#\/schema\/person\/410e95ca4492328087bb414318cdbf13","name":"focus","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4e5532d3006379364a1bcb0a0f8e1b7d691f4349940d94d5b41a4267b04ead18?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4e5532d3006379364a1bcb0a0f8e1b7d691f4349940d94d5b41a4267b04ead18?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4e5532d3006379364a1bcb0a0f8e1b7d691f4349940d94d5b41a4267b04ead18?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"focus"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus"],"url":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/author\/focus\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/iStock_000008154409_Small-e1453361296958.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}