Lesson 5

1. Please discuss the dangers of taking teenage children to live where there are no Christians.

2. Can you see a parallel with what Elimelech did in taking his sons to Moab and the decision modern day parents make to move to an area where the church is weak?  Discuss.

3. In Elimelech’s situation, there was no permanent damage done because although Ruth had worshiped idols in her homeland she forsook them and became a worshiper of God.  Please find a verse that indicates that Ruth had previously worshiped idols.

Today Christians often marry non-Christians and the non-Christian sometimes obeys the gospel and becomes a very dedicated Christian.  A Christian whose marriage to a non-Christian works out well is a very blessed individual.  Marrying a non-Christian is a gamble at best. 

4. God worked His providence and things turned out good even through Elimelech’s error of leaving God’s people, the Israelites, and taking his family to an idolatrous nation to live.  Does this justify the error? Explain.

5. Should we make decisions that go against God’s laws when it appears that keeping God’s law will bring harm to our family?  Elimelech obviously thought that harm was going to come in his family if he stayed in Bethlehem where they were suffering from a famine. 

6.If he had stayed in Bethlehem do you think they would have survived?

7. Give scriptural evidence for your answer.

Recently in Bible class my husband was discussing the sin of lying. He said that “white lies” were just as sinful as “black lies”.  A visitor spoke up and told the following story:

Somewhere out West back in the days when the white man and the Indians were at war, a group of Indians came in to a settlement and killed everyone except an old man and two small children who were well hidden .  The old man was asked if there was anyone else.  He knew that the children had not been found but he lied and said that there was no one else.  The question the visitor asked was:  Did he do wrong when he lied? 

8. What would you have answered if you had been my husband in that situation?

9. Identify where the following verse is found and give the story surrounding it.  Explain the “evil” that is referred to in this verse and how God meant it for good: “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”

The hard questions that I have presented in this lesson are ones that every Christian should know in their heart how to answer before they find themselves in a “compromising” situation.  Jesus told us to pray: “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” Mt. 6:13a. All of us can look down the road of life and see circumstances of life that will soon merge together. When it appears that such a merger will force us to compromise God’s Word or to suffer great difficulty if we do not yield, then we should pray long before we get to the merging point:  “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”.  I have prayed that prayer many times in life.  I have also prayed fervently for wisdom through the years.  Perhaps one thing wisdom has taught me is when to pray the prayer: “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil”

10. Students, I do not believe in “situation ethics”.  In other words, I do not believe that, when the forces of evil seem to surround us, we are justified in committing sin in order to get out of the situation. We live under the NT law. Please name two verses in the NT that tell us how to handle such situations. 

Walk by faith and know that, even if you die because you did the right thing instead of escaping through sin, you will die and be with God. There is nothing worth turning your back on God and His Goodness to escape anything man can do to you, even a torturous death.