Just My Opinion                                                    
Phillip Krueger, Associate Minister
     The new owner of a fish market ordered a sign which read: "Fresh Fish for Sale Here."  The very first customer said, "Why did you include the word "FRESH" in your sign?  You wouldn't sell them otherwise would you?"  The owner then changed the sign to: "Fish for Sale Here."  The next customer said, "Why do you say, "HERE?"  Where else would you be selling them?"  The sign was again changed to read: "Fish for Sale."  The next customer said, "FOR SALE" is not necessary in your sign.  The whole purpose of your market is to have fish for sale."  The new owner changed his sign to read: "Fish."  Another customer entered the store and saw the sign.  "What's the use of having the sign up there when everyone can smell them from a block away?"  And that is how the owner of the fish market went out of business.
 - Andy Rooney said, "A great many people do not have a right to their own opinion because they don't know what they are talking about."
 - Frank Clark said, "I wonder why the fellow with the least information about a subject is so often the most opinionated?"
 - Plato said, "You are young, my son, and, as the years go by, time will change and even reverse many of your present opinions.  Refrain, therefore, a while from setting yourself up as a judge of the highest matters."
 - Horace Mann said, "Do not think of knocking out another person's brains because he differs in opinion from you.  It would be as rational to knock yourself on the head because you differ from yourself 10 years ago."
 - George Lichtenberg said, "Judge men, not by their opinions, but by what their opinions have made of them."
     It is easy to give others our opinions.  It is sometimes tempting to armchair quarterback and to meddle in other people's lives.  Some people just have to express their opinions even if it is really none of their business.  Well-meaning parents will offer their unsolicited advice about their adult children's marriage or child raising techniques.  College-age students often move far across the country from their parents because they want to live their own lives without well-intentioned parents constantly offering unwanted suggestions on just about everything.  People want to live their own lives, make their own choices, and even make their own mistakes without a constant running commentary from someone else.  Opinions are often introduced by, "If I were you, I'd..." or, "I think you should..." and the receiver of the unwanted advice often thinks, "You aren't me!  This is my life!  Let me make my own decisions!"
     We practice open communion based on the Apostle Paul saying, "A man ought to examine himself (not his neighbor) before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup."   In matters of salvation, Paul writes, "Work out your salvation (not your neighbor's salvation) with fear and trembling." Philippians 4:12b.  Most of the 14th chapter of Romans deals with giving our unsolicited opinions to others.  In verse four he says, "Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls."  And in verse 13, "Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way." 
Where the Scripture speaks, we should speak.  Where the Scripture is silent, we have freedom.  Let God work as He wishes in another person's life.  And, who knows if your opinion is the best one? 
     God gives us the freedom to choose the course of our lives for ourselves.  We should give the same freedom to others that God gives to us.
--Phillip