1 Thess 5:22 Appearance of evil? Form of evil?

[Reflecting]

I should use italics to clarify my thoughts. I don’t mean to YELL at anyone.

[Bootstrap]

Are we saying it's evil as defined by the subjectivity of man's eye?
We should be talking about evil in the sight of God, in my opinion.

But in context that doesn’t make sense. HUMANS are the ones who have to struggle with APPEARANCE of evil. God sees what is, not what appears.

Hebrews 5 tells us this:

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Why do you need to train your powers of discernment by constant practice? Because it's not as easy as judging by appearances.

As John 7 tells us:

Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.

The KJV translates that correctly, incidentally:

Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath - Isn't that a violation of Scripture? What would that look like to others? Won't that cause some brother to stumble?

[Josh]

I've put it this way: "If it looks bad, it is bad." So avoid doing things that look like something you shouldn't be doing, even if you can justify it and you actually are doing something that is OK.

A more secular way to put it would be "Don't act like a suspect."

[Bootstrap]

I've put it this way: "If it looks bad, it is bad." So avoid doing things that look like something you shouldn't be doing, even if you can justify it and you actually are doing something that is OK.

A more secular way to put it would be "Don't act like a suspect."

A lot of what Jesus did looked bad to the religious authorities. It eventually got him crucified.

[Josh]

I've put it this way: "If it looks bad, it is bad." So avoid doing things that look like something you shouldn't be doing, even if you can justify it and you actually are doing something that is OK.

A more secular way to put it would be "Don't act like a suspect."

A lot of what Jesus did looked bad to the religious authorities. It eventually got him crucified.

But he was quite concerned that he did the things he "saw" his father doing.

[Bootstrap]

A lot of what Jesus did looked bad to the religious authorities. It eventually got him crucified.

But he was quite concerned that he did the things he "saw" his father doing.

If we do the things we see our father doing, we may look suspect to others. They may crucify us. We have to distinguish good from evil. We also have to distinguish good from what looks good and distinguish evil from what looks evil. How it seems to me is not the right standard. What it might look like to others is not the right standard either, even if it is other Christians.

[JimFoxvog]

I believe the OP is clear. "Appearance" in the KJV in this verse does not mean what we usually think of as "appearance" in today's language. Many things we are supposed to do will "look bad" to some others. For example, it "looks bad" to many to have a fellowship whose members will not join the military or salute the flag. It used to very much "look bad" to many church people for people with dark skin to sit down together to eat with people with light skin. The golden rule is our summary statement on what to do, not how something might look to someone else.

Yes, part of love is not causing a brother to stumble, which is defined as encouraging them to imitate your behavior when they feel it may be sinful. That's as far as I can see it as considering an appearance of evil in the modern sense.

[Heirbyadoption]

I think those of us who read the KJV understand it to mean what the translations you quote are saying. it may be possible to give it a broader meaning but that isn't necessary.

I'll just offer personal experience, but coming from a die-hard KJV-only group, the general understanding and teaching among our folk was always based on a reading such as the KJV suggests (to avoid evil appearance).

[Bootstrap]

I think those of us who read the KJV understand it to mean what the translations you quote are saying. it may be possible to give it a broader meaning but that isn't necessary.

I'll just offer personal experience, but coming from a die-hard KJV-only group, the general understanding and teaching among our folk was always based on a reading such as the KJV suggests (to avoid evil appearance).

In my life, people have generally quoted this verse to me when I point out that something is biblical and right, but they think it might look bad to someone else or cause controversy.

We should do what is right, boldly, even if it looks bad to some religious people. We should let the Bible and the discerning community help us know what that is.

[Reflecting]

We should do what is right, boldly, even if it looks bad to some religious people. We should let the Bible and the discerning community help us know what that is.

It strikes me that this is another thread ties into what you are saying in the other, um, “thread” about submission versus group-think.