Preferences or Conviction

There is a phenomenon that has grown somewhat during my lifetime that I feel has constantly caused disunity among the very folks that need unity. The folks involved are the conservative, Holiness and Evangelical groups. I see constant division and lack of fellowship because of beliefs that are different. This is amazing seeing that most of these groups use the same Bible (KJV). What I see has nothing to do with individual growth and maturing in the Lord. These main problems stem from the leaders and older saints who will not live by scripture. Instead they enjoy living by their personal convictions, which have become their standard of holiness. De 12:32 "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it." It is sad that some even are proud and boastful of having standards above normal holiness. At some point, pride always leads to destruction. Who do you think you are to receive a standard that no one else has?

This has come about through misunderstanding of the Holy Spirit. You may recall hearing people say that a scripture means one thing to one person and another thing to the other person. The Bible is of no "private interpretation" and that means the Spirit inspired and meant what He meant, not what folks need or want at the time. We make the scripture too blurry by using this manner to interpret the Bible. The Holy Spirit had ONE thing in mind with each verse He inspired. He did not intend for the Word to be fuzzy and omni-directional. Our duty is to pray and fast that the Spirit will show us what He meant, while we are reading the Holy Scripture. Most verses are clear to a truly saved person. Few verses need special help. Too many people discuss what they think God wants, and do too little reading to really see what He wants.

This also happens in personal lives. When one individual states that the Spirit told him something, yet the same Spirit told another individual the opposite or different manner of living. This is impossible! God cannot have double standards. He is a God of equity! What is wrong? Men would rather preach their personal convictions than the clear, saving gospel of Jesus Christ! It is easy to come up with a manner of life change, in your mind, and THEN get some scripture to back up what you FEEL. Yet we are actually supposed to study scripture and let the scripture show us the changes needed in our lives. (Most sermons and lessons consist of very little scripture and lots of opinion.) One sad result is that many people will not follow clear scripture unless they feel "convicted" to follow it. "Doers of the Word" are always blessed

It is my belief that there is no such thing as personal convictions related to ones salvation and that individuals use this expression to justify their personal preferences of salvation.  One man may have been saved in a barn and another saved in a church, each feels the only way to experience salvation is by the method of their personal experience.  This idea of personal conviction has been misused and became a tool of disunity (which is an abomination to God). Many churches do not associate because they don't have the same personal convictions. If something is wrong for me, it is wrong for every Christian in the world. If it is to be done by me, it ought to be done by every Christian in the world.

When a believer had an area in his life that caused a struggle (NOT SIN) and the Spirit had to nudge him to control that area; he dropped that area instead of controlling it and proceeded to preach that it was wrong to do that area. Example: A person may get involved in fishing, hunting, shopping, working, etc too much. God will always call for you to moderate your life with Him as the center and forefront of your heart. Anything that threatens to keep you from His Lordship will cause jealousy on His part and He will move your heart to be careful! Exodus 34:14 "For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." He is not threatened by your fishing, etc. unless it gets too much attention. We are to moderate our lives to put Him in supremacy. Yet many will feel this call to take care and stop it altogether; THEN they will preach it is a sin to do the thing they should have controlled. My father stopped drinking coffee because someone told him that it was as bad as drinking a beer.  It contains a drug—caffeine and it harmed your body.  For several years my father felt he couldn’t drink coffee.  Then one day he started again.  Someone asked him why he was drinking coffee when he had a conviction against it.  His reply, I thought it was my conviction but found out it was someone else’s.  If it was wrong for him then it would be wrong for everyone. 

Now we have splintered groups who won't fellowship because they have different convictions that have no Bible basis. If you ask them about it, they say, "It's just my personal conviction". There are enough things to do and not do that are in plain Bible English that would keep us reaching for a closer walk for years.

These personal convictions eventually replace God's Word as the guideline for holiness in some hearts. Sermons and classes begin to be based on these "convictions" rather than clear Bible teaching. The next step leads to a "holier-than-thou" feeling which then breeds the disunity. Many well-meaning men became cultic in their groups because of "personal convictions" separating them.  A good example is a church  where the women were under strict dress standards and you are judged by your outward standard of dress rather than by your relationship with Jesus Christ.

You know that God has only one standard of holiness. All who meet that standard (by grace and gracious works) will live forever and reign with Jesus Christ. Anything above and beyond that standard is useless. Anything less will be judged by a righteous God.

Now this brings me to the legal aspect of personal convictions (preference) and Bible convictions.

The United States of America Supreme Court said a man can't hold those beliefs as convictions if he can't describe them. A belief is not a hunch or feeling and it is not "it seems to me." The Court must know why you believe that? Show proof of your beliefs in the Bible." Most people will say "I don't even know if it is in the Bible but it sorta seems to me ..." and the Court says that the problem with "well it seems to me" is that feelings change rapidly and as a consequence they are not going to honor hunches, feelings or "it seems to me." You must be able to take your beliefs straight from the Bible and the Bible only, and then make them oral.

The second thing the Court said that you must be able to have knowledge of those beliefs. This becomes important because we like to hide behind a title. We say "I am a Christian." Those are descriptive terms. Can you tell the Court what that means? It is not simply enough to tell the Court a general term. You must tell the Court what those terms mean. In this matter of many beliefs and believers, the Court suddenly realized there had to be a test. It said there must be a way that we can determine which beliefs are to be upheld and which beliefs will not be honored and protected by the First Amendment.

 The Yoder Case, Religious Freedom, Education, and Parental Rights by Shawn Francis Peters is a good place to start to understand personal convictions and Bible based convictions.

In 1972, the Court came down with a test which involved Christian education. A man named Jonas Yoder who lived in the State of Wisconsin, was an Amish man. He told the State of Wisconsin "I am not going to send my children to your schools anymore." The state of Wisconsin said, in effect, "you can't do that. You have to send your children to our schools." Yoder said "I don't think you hear me. I am not going to send my children to your schools." The state said, in effect, "Mr. Yoder, if you don't send your children to our schools, we will have to arrest you.

They took him to Court and he didn't do so well. He lost and the court said "Now you had your day in Court. Send your kids to our school." He said "I am not going to."

He lost his appeal and they said "Send your kids." And he said. "I am not going to do it." Finally, he got to the US Supreme Court and they said to Mr. Jonas Yoder "You don't have to send your kids to that school because the First Amendment protects you." With this case, they laid down the test that is now to be used on all subsequent cases to determine which beliefs are to be protected and which are not to be protected.

The first thing the Court did in defining the test was to say this. "It doesn't matter what your belief structure is, or who you are, every single religious belief you have is one of two types." They said it is either a CONVICTION or a PREFERENCE. The Court said that is all there is. We don't find that there is any other type of belief.

Then the Court went on to define the two. Because in the United States of America only CONVICTIONS are protected by the constitution. PREFERENCES are not.

What is a PREFERENCE? This is a very strong belief. It is a belief that you hold with great intensity and strength. In fact, that belief can be so strongly held that you can go into full time service in the name of that belief. You can be a minister of the gospel, a Christian school teacher or a missionary. Indeed, this is a strong belief. The second thing that makes this belief strong is that it is a belief that you can hold with such intensity that you give all or most of your wealth to it. I don't know very many people who have given everything. The Court said you can do that and still have only a preference.

The third thing is that your belief can have such strength and fiber to it you can be energetic in proselytizing other people. You can stand on the street corner and witness. The Court said you can have all of that zeal and still only have a PREFERENCE.

Then notice one final thing. They said you can be so convinced that this belief is good that you want to teach it to your children. Now that is a very important thing. We can hold our faith so dear that we want our children to live the by that same faith so they will go to heaven. The Court said you can believe all of that and still only have a PREFERENCE. Here is what makes a belief a PREFERENCE. It is a very strong belief but it is a belief that you will change. You prefer it. That is why we call it a PREFERENCE. But you will change that belief under some circumstances.

The courts have reviewed these circumstances and have found some circumstances that cause people to change their beliefs. Circumstance number one is called 'peer pressure'. A minister studies the Bible and says to himself "here is something I know I must do." He resolves in his heart that he is going to do it. Then he goes out to his friends, other ministers and people in his congregation and states "this is what I am going to do." The other ministers say "hold on just a minute. You may be right. We don't say that you are wrong. But couldn't you tone it down just a little bit? Couldn't you fix it so that we could cooperate with you? Couldn't you come around just a little bit so that is not so offensive to us and maybe you could still get done what you wanted to do." That minister said "this is what I believe." Then little by little he bends. And he proves that what he first said was a PREFERENCE. He preferred it. He wanted to do it. He resolved to do it. But he changed. The Court said that if you can change that belief, that belief is a PREFERENCE.

If a person can ever show you from the Bible where you should change something then you must change it. But we are talking about peer pressure causing good men to change. The Court said if that will change it, it is only a PREFERENCE. There is another area we see peer pressure all the time. Ministers and leaders in the Church come to us and say "I agree with everything you are saying but how am I going to go home and sell that to the congregation back at the church? The people in the church may not agree." That minister or leader knows what he believes is right but the pressure of the people in his congregation causes him to bend. The Court said if you can do that you have a PREFERENCE.

Secondly, they noted a cause of change may be family pressure. That is probably one of the strongest pressures I know of. A man says "this is what I am going to do." His wife says "please don't. You know what is right, but please don't. We just got everything settled; let's not blow it wide open again." And as a consequence that man changes his beliefs. The Court said if 'family pressure' will cause you to change, then your beliefs are PREFERENCES.

A third area of strong pressure which brings out preferences is a lawsuit. I know a lot of men who will say "I am for this but I am just not going to get sued over it. Can you imagine what they are going to do if they sue us?"  This will not cut it in court.

The next area the Court noted that caused people to change was the threat of jail. Would you go to jail for a matter of your faith? Not many are going to understand why you have gone. If you read the histories of the great men of the faith, when they went to jail hardly anyone understood why they went. Although many of the great men of the faith did go at one time or another, would going to jail cause you to change your beliefs? If it would, then your beliefs are PREFERENCS.

The question is, what does that belief mean to you? If you say that you want to do it but have the right not to do it if I don't want to do it, the Court says that is not protected by the Constitution. The last thing the Court said is, "I suppose that a man has to be prepared to die for his belief." Is that belief changeable? You know there are not many things in this life worse than dying, and denying the faith is one of them. Basically, the Court said "would you die for your beliefs?"

A CONVICTION on the other hand, is a belief that you will not change. Why? What creates a conviction? The Court said only one thing. A CONVICTION is when a man believes that his God requires it of him. A belief that is God ordered is a CONVICTION. It is a matter of believing with all of your heart that God requires something of you. The Court said "when you believed that your God has required something of you, you will withstand all of the tests they have spoken about." The Court said that the first thing you should decide, is your belief a CONVICTION or is it a PREFERENCE? Is your belief God ordered? PREFERENCES are simply not protected by the constitution.

Now that Court noted another interesting point about this and it parallels with a story in scripture about the three Hebrews; Shadrack. Meshack and Abednego. The Court said a CONVICTION is not something you 'discover'. It is something you 'purpose'. It is not something you accidentally come across, but something you purpose in your heart as a fabric of your belief system. The Court said your CONVICTIONS will be 'purposed'.

When you study the history of the three Hebrews found in the third chapter of Daniel, you will find that they did a strange thing. When taken into captivity, Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego purposed in their hearts not to defile themselves. It was something about which they determined with resolve. The Court said your convictions must be determined by you or else those CONVICTIONS will not be there. If you require people to stand with you before you will stand, your beliefs are PREFERENCES and not CONVICTIONS.

Today we see many well meaning leaders in our Church say, "I believe that I ought to stand for this issue but I will only stand if some church authority tells me I should stand. If I can find some other people to stand with me, then I will stand." The question has to be asked, "as great as those people may be, what do they have to do with what God requires of you?" If other people have to stand with you before you will stand, your beliefs are PREFERENCES and not CONVICTIONS.

Now you remember what happened to the three Hebrews. They were taken before the king and the king was upset. He said "Do you know what you have done?" Before they could even answer the king, he did a strange thing. He broke the law. He said, "I am going to give you a second chance. The next time, when those instruments play, if you bend down (worship) all will be well. If not, nobody is going to deliver you out of my hands. You are dead men."

Now you know what I think most of us would have done? I believe most of us would have said, "Praise the Lord, we are alive! We are breathing! God has given us another chance!" We would have been excited. The three Hebrews did not do that. They said "King, we don't have to be careful how we answer you because if you give us another chance or not, nothing is going to change. We have resolved we are not going to bow and that is not going to change."

What the three Hebrews were telling the king is "this matter of our faith is non-negotiable!" The Court said if you can discuss the negotiation of your faith, your faith is a matter of PREFERENCE and not CONVICTION because CONVICTIONS are non-negotiable.

Why? How do you negotiate something that is God ordered? The Court said you can't. So if they can get you into a dialogue where you negotiate, the Court said this is a matter of PREFERENCE and not CONVICTION.

Lets recall what the three Hebrews said because it is right on point. "King, we believe that our God can deliver us, but even if you throw us into that furnace and God does not deliver us we are not going to bow." What they were saying to the king is "whether we come out of the furnace or not our beliefs stand firm." The Court said if you must be assured of victory before you stand, your beliefs are PREFERENCES and not CONVICTIONS. This is the test they are narrowing in on more and more because most of us are more concerned with 'winning' then with 'standing'. Bear this in mind, in the Christian faith we do not fight 'for' victory, we fight 'in' victory.

A CONVICTION, they say, will always show up in a person's lifestyle. They said "What is on the inside of a man is always going to show on the outside of a man. You do not have the right to say you have a CONVICTION unless we can somehow see that you are living that CONVICTION with some element of consistency.

However, when they begin to apply the test people began to squirm. They ask "Do they have this right?" The Bible says a strange thing about this. Found in the book of James, "Don't tell me about your faith, show me your faith." Why? Because "faith without works is dead." It is like a body without the spirit. It may be there, but it is meaningless. It is 'dead'. Because the thing that provides the breath that gives life to our faith is our works. If that is absent, then it is all useless. Therefore the Court came back and said "We need to see your faith in action and we need to see it in order to prove that it is sincerely a CONVICTION."

What we need to learn is this. If we say that our belief is a matter of CONVICTION, then where did, and now do, we get our CONVICTIONS from? Where do we get all our beliefs from? Don't we get them from the Bible? When a child comes to Church school for the first time, don't we teach that child that to disobey what the Bible says is a sin? Could it be that the Court says the opposite of CONVICTION is SIN? You must be able to make a stand and prove it from the Bible. And you must keep standing for that or else it is not a conviction. If the Bible requires it, it is God ordered. If it is God ordered, it is a CONVICTION. If it is a CONVICTION and if God ordered it, what is it called not to do it? It is a sin, because it is disobedience to what God has ordered. That is the classic definition of sin.

So before you say something is a CONVICTION, you must be prepared to take a stand to say if I don't take a stand it would be a sin. If you say "I have a CONVICTION about certain matters of a Christian lifestyle - the refraining from the use of alcohol - you must say the opposite is a sin or it is not a CONVICTION. A person who says "I believe I ought to do something, but I think I should be more tolerant, a little more open minded about this," his beliefs are only a PREFERENCE and the Court says "make up your mind what you believe!"