We Apostolic Pentecostals get real picky and choosy about what sins we get upset over. People have affairs, and we get them counseling, and try to restore them and their marriages. People get caught up in substance abuse, and we help them get into rehab and nurture them back to health. This is great! This is proper. This is the work of the Good Samaritan.
But if someone supposedly violates one of our standards of holiness? Out comes the whip; it’s time for a public flogging! Even if it’s just based on rumor or speculation, we feel the need to run them out of church on a rail! I mean, think of the children! We don’t want anyone getting the wrong impression that we approve of such things, do we?! Of course not! And, if we don’t overreact, the horror will spread! Ug. This is nonsense, and absolutely not in keeping with Christian charity, nor even with our previous attitude.
And then there’s the opposite of the self-righteous extreme. The sins we think just don’t count. What about lying? And I mean bald-faced, straight-up lying? Repeatedly? Unashamedly? Some people apparently think this is fine. I guess they think it’s acceptable as long as it’s done in service to a cause they believe to be righteous. But do they really think God cares what purpose they think it serves? And if you only hear about it from someone else, you think, “Nah, they can’t have said that. That would be ludicrous. No one would try to say that, would they?” And you wind up giving them the benefit of the doubt, and the lies continue, and worsen.