OUTLINE:

Two Things About Repentance
- Nobody’s “unsavable”, regardless of the presence of sin in their lives, or even their living in it.
- God will never frustrate His own plans to save mankind by undermining His own grace/mercy (Satan will, though).

Repentance Requires Conviction
Why don’t we spank infants? Because they don’t know any better! If a person’s an “infant in Christ” (1Co 3:1), God treats them the same way, even regarding the supernatural dynamic in repentance.

Repentance Requires Conviction
If God were to say, “Since you’ve not repented from spilling your milk, you get no more milk”, how will that infant ever grow up to actually know the truth, to eventually repent from said sin? That would frustrate His own desires, that “all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Ti 2:4).

Discipline
A good Father disciplines His own (Pr 13:24; Heb 12:6). This is not necessarily the same discipline that He might use with one that is not His child. We aren’t called “sons” until we’re adopted at salvation (Gal 3:26).

Discipline
One of the shepherd’s key roles in leading His sheep is to remind the sheep of their need to read their Bibles daily. If they refuse, he must take out the rod (the Word) and whack them! This is “tough love” (ala 1Co 16:13-14).

Our job is to think OBJECTIVELY, not subjectively!

Objectivity vs. Subjectivity
Briefly, objectivity is based on facts; whereas, subjectivity is based on emotions. Emotions may or may not persist within the context of both; however, with objectivity, discernment is unaffected by emotions, whereas, with subjectivity, it is led by them.

Societal Norms – yourdictrionary.com
Social norms or mores are the rules of behavior that are considered acceptable in a group or society. People who do not follow these norms may be shunned or suffer some kind of consequence. Norms change according to the environment or situation and may change or be modified over time.

Challenging Societal Norms
We know from Biblical history that people who function outside of societal norms suffer in ways ranging from dismissive disagreement to murder, and everything in between. Severity is a function of context.

Societal Norms
Just because a certain idea has gained momentum in society doesn’t mean it should now serve as the baseline for common judgment. (e.g. Jn 9)

Objectivity vs. Subjectivity
Briefly, objectivity is based on facts; whereas, subjectivity is based on emotions. Emotions may or may not persist within the context of both; however, with objectivity, discernment is unaffected by emotions, whereas, with subjectivity, it is led by them.

Subjective Bullying
Subjective people tend to bully others with emotional tactics. Since objective consideration of facts is thrown out, they often resort to character assassination.

Subjectivity’s Quagmire
Errant societal norms cannot deal with godly truth. As such, when forced to meet with Truth head on, what we see are knee jerk reactions to it (aka emotionalism, irrational behavior, and subjectivity).

Subjectivity’s Quagmire
Since ungodly societal norms are threatened by the objective, immutable, stable Truth found in the Word, they must base their laws of self-governance on subjective, changeable, unstable ideas.

When Subjectivity Becomes the Culturally Accepted Norm
Societal norms can be so powerful that people under them can refuse to judge with integrity. Objective thinking is no longer allowed because it upsets the societal norm, which has supplanted godliness. Instability becomes the accepted norm!

Social Stability
The more trained up in the Word you become, the more stable your life becomes. This is due to the objective nature of Truth in the soul. We move from subjective living to objective living. Subjective people despise this and in many ways are jealous.

Social Life and Death
In order to have a “good social life” one must abide by societal norms. Otherwise, that person will endure a “social death”. Even though the scale of values within said society is perverse and backwards, there’s a certain “prosperity” that exists for conformers.

When Subjectivity Becomes the Culturally Accepted Norm
Societal norms can be so powerful that people under them can refuse to judge with integrity. Objective thinking is no longer allowed because it upsets the societal norm, which has supplanted godliness. Instability becomes the accepted norm!

“Social Justice Warriors”
In light of undeniable truth, these individuals depart wholly from objectivity, abiding in subjectivity as tyrannical haters of truth. Yet, oddly enough, they call their victims “haters”.