{"id":11215,"date":"2012-03-26T06:00:58","date_gmt":"2012-03-26T10:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/?p=11215"},"modified":"2012-03-26T06:00:58","modified_gmt":"2012-03-26T10:00:58","slug":"are-some-vocations-off-limits-for-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/03\/are-some-vocations-off-limits-for-christians\/","title":{"rendered":"Are some vocations off-limits for Christians?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

We discussed David Brooks\u2019s column wondering if Christians should ever be professional athletes as did a number of other bloggers.\u00a0 The debate gave Collin Hansen of Gospel Coalition<\/a> the idea of asking me how the doctrine of vocation addresses the question of whether some occupations should be off-limits to Christians.<\/p>\n

He gave me 2000 words, which is longer than a typical post, so you can click over to the site to continue reading.\u00a0 Here is what I came up with.\u00a0 Feel free to comment at Gospel Coalition\u2013I\u2019d like the rest of the world to know the caliber of my readers (plus it\u2019s interesting to see how\u00a0 some of the non-Lutherans react to these ideas, such as Christians selling alcohol!), but do comment here too.\u00a0\u00a0 I would like your input as to whether these guidelines are helpful or if I\u2019m missing something:<\/p>\n

Which Vocations Should Be Off Limits to Christians?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

The Reformation doctrine of vocation teaches that even seemingly secular jobs and earthly relationships are spheres where God assigns Christians to live out their faith. But are there some lines of work that Christians should avoid?<\/p>\n

The early church required new members to give up their occupations as gladiators or actors. Whether Christians should enter military service has been controversial at several points in church history. So has holding political or judicial offices. Recently, New York Times columnist David Brooks suggested that Christians should not become professional athletes. He observed that \u201cthe moral ethos of sport\u201d\u2014which centers on pride\u2014\u201cis in tension with the moral ethos of faith,\u201d which requires humility.<\/p>\n

So what guidance can we find from the doctrine of vocation? There is more to that teaching than most people realize, so let\u2019s review some of its more salient points. (To study this in more depth, you can check out my book God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life<\/em> and follow the Bible references and footnotes. Also see my new book Family Vocation: God\u2019s Calling in Marriage, Parenting, and Childhood<\/em> for yet more facets of this critical teaching for how Christians can live out faith in the world and in their everyday relationships.)<\/p>\n

God Never Calls Us to Sin<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cVocation\u201d is simply the Latinate word for \u201ccalling.\u201d The doctrine of vocation means that God assigns us to a certain life\u2014with its particular talents, tasks, responsibilities, and relationships\u2014and then calls us to that assignment (1 Corinthians 7:17). God never calls us to sin. All callings, or vocations, from God are thus valid places to serve. So strictly speaking there are no unlawful vocations; the question should actually be whether or not a particular way of making a living is a vocation at all.<\/p>\n

God himself works through human vocations in providential care as he governs the world. He provides daily bread through farmers and bakers. He protects us through lawful magistrates. He heals us by means of physicians, nurses, and pharmacists. He creates new life through mothers and fathers. So we can ask whether or not God extends blessings through a particular line of work.<\/p>\n

The purpose of every vocation, in all of the different spheres in which our multiple vocations occur\u2014the family, the workplace, the culture, and the church\u2014is to love and serve our neighbors. Loving God and loving our neighbors sums up our purpose (Matthew 22:36-40). Having been reconciled to God through Christ, we are then sent by God into the world to love and serve him by loving and serving our neighbors. This happens in vocation. So we can ask of every kind of work we doing, \u201cAm I loving and serving my neighbor, or am I exploiting and tempting him?\u201d<\/p>\n

Obviously, those who make their living by robbery are not loving their neighbors. Heroin dealers, hit men, con artists, and other criminals are hurting their neighbors and have no calling from God to do so.<\/p>\n

But there are some legal professions that also involve harming their neighbors instead of loving and serving them. An abortionist kills his small neighbor in the womb. An internet pornographer is abusing the neighbors he is exploiting sexually and, moreover, causing the neighbors who are his customers to sin.<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We discussed David Brooks\u2019s column wondering if Christians should ever be professional athletes as did a number of other bloggers.\u00a0 The debate gave Collin Hansen of Gospel Coalition the idea of asking me how the doctrine of vocation addresses the question of whether some occupations should be off-limits to Christians. He gave me 2000 words, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,48],"tags":[4359],"class_list":["post-11215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics","category-vocation","tag-vocation"],"yoast_head":"\nAre some vocations off-limits for Christians?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We discussed David Brooks's column wondering if Christians should ever be professional athletes as did a number of other bloggers.\u00a0 The debate gave Collin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/03\/are-some-vocations-off-limits-for-christians\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are some vocations off-limits for Christians?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We discussed David Brooks's column wondering if Christians should ever be professional athletes as did a number of other bloggers.\u00a0 The debate gave Collin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/03\/are-some-vocations-off-limits-for-christians\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-26T10:00:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/03\/are-some-vocations-off-limits-for-christians\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/03\/are-some-vocations-off-limits-for-christians\/\",\"name\":\"Are some vocations off-limits for Christians?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-26T10:00:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-03-26T10:00:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"We discussed David Brooks's column wondering if Christians should ever be professional athletes as did a number of other bloggers.\u00a0 The debate gave Collin\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/03\/are-some-vocations-off-limits-for-christians\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/03\/are-some-vocations-off-limits-for-christians\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/03\/are-some-vocations-off-limits-for-christians\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Are some vocations off-limits for Christians?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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