How much should we be standing up as Christians today and are we going to be held accountable?
In his letter to the Church, the Lord’s brother James had much to say about the relationship between our beliefs and our actions. James 2:14-26 is a clear statement that if our beliefs don’t result in action then we should question whether our beliefs are sincere. But notice the emphasis is on self evaluation, not the criticism of others.
Jesus said we should not judge others unless we want to be judged as well. He said criticizing the behavior of others while our own behavior is less than perfect simply makes us a hypocrite (Matt. 7:1-5).
Paul said we shouldn’t associate with anyone who claims to be a believer but who regularly indulges in activities that are not appropriate for believers. But he said that the behavior of those outside the Church is none of our business and we should leave their judgment to God (1 Cor. 5:9-13).
I haven’t seen anything in Scripture that indicates we’ll be held accountable for what other people say, think or do. We’re all responsible for ourselves.
From this I’ve concluded that I have enough to do trying keep my own behavior in line without worrying about the behavior of others.