The Sin of Destroying Another's Confidence in the Lord

Since the earliest posts, this blog has reflected the idea that it is a really, really bad thing to destroy someone else's faith.  I believe that it is one of the sins that will blindside on Judgment Day—some folks will have no idea that they ever committed it. And yet, in some cases it will be judged as worse than murder if that destruction of faith was the reason someone missed heaven.

Jesus taught about the sin of destroying trust in God from a framework of child abuse—abusing God's children.¹ And in keeping with this blog's policy of comparing real life to scripture, here is the support for that statement in three gospels and a letter from Paul:

Matthew 18:6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Mark 9:42 Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

Luke 17:2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.

1 Corinthians 8:12 Thus, sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

Note that both Matthew and Mark use the phrase "ones who believe in me." Although that phrase is missing in Luke, it is clear from the previous verses that Jesus was continuing a discourse on those who would believe. Paul's letter was written to the believers in Corinth.  We will get back to that "sentencing phase" of judgment at the end, but first we need to establish (a) Who You Are in Christ's eyes, your value, and (b) How the Enemy Attacks what God values.

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 Who You Are in Christ's Eyes

I belong to a race of conquers, priests, and kings. So does everyone who has been born again. One day I was asking God about this: Why do so many people seem to be off the road on this? They are either in one ditch thinking that they are a miserable sinner or they are in the opposite ditch thinking of themselves 'more highly than they ought'; why can't Christians be more middle-of-the-road about this? His answer surprised me. "There is no middle of the road." But it made sense. God does not look at us on a sliding scale. We are who He made us, and while our personal choices have substantial influence over outcomes and circumstances, they do not change who He says we are. We are precious enough to die for.  You did not notice Jesus coming down, hanging on a cross for the redemption of Lucifer, did you?

 How the Enemy Attacks what God Values

If I were your enemy, I'd seek to dim your passion,  dull your interest in spiritual things, dampen your belief in God's ability and His personal concern for you, and convince you that the hope you've lost is never coming back—and was probably just a lie to begin with.
~ These are the opening words of Priscilla Shirer's book, Fervent.

She goes on to say that if she could dim your passion, she could lower you resistance to discouragement. She could chip away at your hope, at your belief in God and what He can do, and she "could chisel down your faith to a whimper." She'd make you want to give up and never try again.

That is how the enemy attacks. That is what happened to KatieLyn. That is what happened, and those around her aggressively refused to believe that she was, as Shirer puts it, "a victim of satanic sabotage."  True, the enemy's attacks are usually covert and inconspicuous, but you do not have to be hit in the noggin with a tire iron to realize that KatieLyn's dream was sabotaged.

All the while that the enemy was lying to her, "You're not up to this, that's not really God's plan for you!" God was there holding out her dream if only she would run to Him and take it.

The Sin of Destroying Confidence in the Lord

Whatever is not of faith is sin. ~ Romans 14:23
Without faith, it is impossible to please God. ~ Hebrews 11:6 

The fourteenth chapter of Romans speaks to not judging your brother.  (Brother here means your fellow believer.) Specifically, Paul uses diet choices as his example, but the principles of how to treat other believers are applicable to all issues. The main thrust of the teaching is that you do not cause your brother to stumble and lose faith—even if you know you are right.
But you, why do you criticize your brother? Or you, why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before the tribunal of God. ~ verse 10

When your criticism has destroyed someone else's faith, your criticism has made it IMPOSSIBLE for that person to please God. Damaging, wounding, or destroying another person's faith is sinning against the Messiah. I did not invent that idea; I read it in the Bible.  cf 1 Corinthians 8:12


Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. ~ Romans 14:13

Gwen deliberately put stumbling blocks in KatieLyn and Joe's engagement. Even though Gwen admitted that she was not clear on God's will for the marriage, she passed judgment anyway.  I know she'd argue that her judgment was "smart thinking," but she'd be wrong. Judgmental people are not thinking God's thoughts, and when you are not thinking like God, then you are deceived.

KatieLyn's confidence that she had heard from God on New Year's Day was totally shattered by these stumbling blocks. Her exuberance and joy in receiving an answer to her prayers on Valentine's Day was undermined as her faith in hearing God drained away.  Every new argument that her mother would provoke ate away at her faith. In just a few weeks, her mother's doubts were louder than God's promise. Her confidence was destroyed. If her own mother had misgivings, how could KatieLyn know what was right? That was when she needed her faith most, but the enemy had destroyed it.
  
The Consequences

The penalty for destroying another person's confidence in the Lord is severe.  As regards the three selections from the Gospels at the beginning of this post, drowning in the sea with a millstone around the neck is called "better" than causing the little ones to sin. And although sin certainly includes wanton lawlessness cf 1 John 3:4, its simplest meaning is "missing the mark." The blocks that KatieLyn stumbled over pushed her off God's path for her life. Not walking out the path that the Lord had already shown you was the right path is also sin. cf James 4:17.

If the psychiatrists are unhappy with Jesus' assessment that drowning a person is better than causing one of God's children to sin, they won't be much happier with Paul. He suggests self-castration for those who hinder God's children from obeying the truth. He argues that penalty is just because they severed others from obeying Christ. cf Galatians 5.

In the fleshly, life-on-earth world that is limited to physical senses, it may seem like a minor thing. Those who discourage and dishearten God's children defend their actions: "I have a right to express my opinion!" and "She needed to see the potential problems!" But no, you didn't, and she didn't; not in God's economy. The First Amendment may give you freedom of speech in America, but in the kingdom of God you should not be spouting off faith-destroying opinions that put your thoughts on a level with what God already revealed, and other people do not need to hear your doubt and unbelief that speaks against what the Lord told them previously.

In the fleshly world, dispiriting a child of God may seem like a minor sin, but in the realm of the spirit, destroying another person's confidence in the Lord is at the level of kidnapping. You are taking a child of God away from his or her Heavenly Father.

The Lesson
Destroying another's confidence in the Lord is evil because it destroys the very thing that person needs most to get back to the Lord. No longer able to trust that they heard God, they are left in a position where it is hard to see or hear anything clearly. The enemy can easily deceive them. They will believe they are escaping the frying pan, only to find themselves in the fire.




¹ John Gill, (Exposition of the Entire Bible, 1763) wrote that "little ones" did not mean little in age, but referred to adults who were little in their own eyes or little in the eyes of the world, that is, adult persons that the world likes to pick on.