The Facts on Christianity: A Quick Examination

Source of image from CrossExamined.org

Source of image from CrossExamined.org

“The Bible encourages people to put their faith in God. Unfortunately, many people equate faith with a blind leap in the dark or wishful thinking. But the faith that the Bible requires is intelligent faith. It is neither blind nor irrational. Biblical faith is a committing trust with an object (God) who is worthy of our faith. No one is asked to sacrifice his intellect when he puts his faith in the God of the Bible.” –Don Stewart,The Ten Wonders of the Bible, 1990, p. 13.

“The Christian faith does not call for us to put our minds on the shelf, to fly in the face of common sense and history, or to make a leap of faith into the dark. The rational person, fully apprised of the evidence, can confidently believe.” –William Lane Craig

Does God exist? The existence of God is not 100% provable. But one does not need absolute evidence. In a court of law, evidence beyond a reasonable doubt is acceptable when considering a verdict. In the same way, when considering a first cause one may view all the evidence and make a reasonable conclusion that God does indeed exist. The Kalam Cosmological argument lays out in clear terms: Anything that has a beginning has a cause. That's certainly true. Second, the universe began to exist. Given the evidence, the red shift observed by Hubble in the early 1900s, that seems quite likely. Since the universe needs a cause, that cause must be immaterial, beyond space and time, and infinitely powerful. In other words: God.

Is the Bible really God’s word? There are a lot of Bible skeptics out there. But there are over 25,000 whole and partial ancient manuscripts of the Bible, and they all match nearly identically. The Bible when compared with recorded history is 99.7% accurate. Archaeology and historical records support the events of the Bible as described in books of the Old & New Testament.

Did Jesus really exist historically? The evidence indicates that yes, Jesus Christ of Nazareth did exist. He was a real person in the history of the Middle East. History is gleaned by manuscript evidence, historical account by witnesses cross referenced with official documents of governments and empires. The manuscript evidence for the historical existence of a man named Jesus Christ of Nazareth is better than for most historical persons.

“Do you believe in the existence of Socrates? Alexander the Great? Julius Caesar? If historicity is established by written records in multiple copies that date originally from near contemporaneous sources, there is far more proof for Christ’s existence than for any of theirs.” –Dinesh D’Souza, What’s So Great About Christianity, p. 296.

But was Jesus Christ really God come to Earth? Now that is the point of real questioning. And if Jesus Christ was really who he claimed to be, did he really rise? Given that Christianity grew from a few scattered followers to 2.1 billion adherents today, it would seem that Christ did rise to life. 11 of his 12 apostles were killed for proclaiming the risen Christ. Would they really be willing to die for a lie? The truth is clear: Jesus is the God-man and he is alive. He reclaimed his life, & he knows you.

What will you do? Will you believe in Christ? Are you willing to follow him? Are you willing to turn your life over to him? I encourage you, the evidence is reasonable, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Call out to Christ, cast all of yourself out to him in prayer! Find a good church to attend. Begin to pray to God, and purchase a good study Bible. Seek help for your hurts, habits, and hangups at organizations like Celebrate Recovery, AA, and NA. Embrace a transformed life, and know that you are not believing blindly, you are believing based on a God who is really real.

Not convinced yet? Keep reading, keep learning, and seek God. He will reveal himself to you through that process.

Further Reading:

1. Does man need God in Western Civilization: Young People
2. Real Christianity: Clothing, Buildings, Money, & Extravagance
3. Spiritual Journey | Dreams, Darkness, False Light, a journey in Ideas
4. Proverbs Chapter Twelve (Ancient Wisdom for Everyday Life)
5. Philosophy, Science, Logic, and History: Presentations on Christianity
6. Five Presentations by Ravi Zacharias on Christian Philosophy
7. Journey of the Christian through the Forest called Earth
8. True Christianity vs. the Modern Culture
9. Recovering Consumer & Self Righteous Intellectual
10. The Testimony of a Skeptic on the Existence of a Loving God

Confronting Sin: A Passion for Being Changed

 “Tens of thousands, perhaps millions, have come into some kind of religious experience by accepting Christ and they have not been saved.”-A.W. Tozer

A question on many minds is a simple one: Why do Christians look just like the world?  Where is this transformation they talk about?  As Protestant Christians we know a lot about grace through faith alone.  Maybe we know too much about it.  For me, as a part of the Salvation Army we believe in grace through faith.  But we also believe in the ability to live in complete holiness.  

Our culture presents a unique situation. The United States is a difficult place to live in holiness. Never in the history of man kind has humanity been faced with so many temptations from so many sources.  It's a literal bombardment: Television, commercials, internet, ads, movies, pornography, fast food, cell phones, smart phones, billboards, and even conversations.  

Given our unique situation, shouldn't holiness be at the very forefront of all of our efforts?  If there is any greater challenge that could face Christians in an American situation? Sin is engrained in all of us from a young age.  And sin leads to death.  

We really like grace through faith, but we don't want to hear about sin.  Maybe it's because we're in it?  Let us consider ourselves and how we live.  God is very serious about sin.  He slaughtered his own son on the cross because of sin, just to offer a way out for sinners. 

Are we confronting the sins in our lives?  Are we praying on them, desperately pleading with God to remove them?  Could someone tell from a casual conversation that we are saved followers of Jesus Christ?  

When I first became a follower of Jesus Christ three years ago sin had a place in every aspect of my life.  Sin was second nature.  I was selfish, I was interested in entertainment, satisfaction, and it showed.  Then I met Jesus Christ.  I called out to Jesus Christ.  And he delivered me from all my empty pursuits.

What do we do when we meet Christ?  We change. The profound conversion experience found in Jesus Christ is, as a rule, synonymous with repentance.  Repentance is an admission that our way is wrong and God's way is right.  

I don’t think we take it seriously enough.  When we sin we think, “Well, I’m saved by grace.”  We’re saved by grace it’s true, but we’re also called to radical holiness.  Read how the Lord speaks through James.

James 4:4-10 (NLT) says:"You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. ⁵ Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. ⁶ And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say,

“God opposes the proud
    but gives grace to the humble.”

⁷ So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. ⁹ Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor."

What is the correct response to sin?  It’s an expression of sorrow and total brokenness.  Woe is me!  I can’t live with this situation!  This can’t be true!  No more sin!  

Following the expression of sorrow is the equally powerful expression of the contrite heart.  Contrite literally means “bruised.”  We’ve been “hit” by the woe of the reality of sin in our lives.  Now our heart is bruised, and we are contrite, we are expressing a heart willing to change.  We repent, change our mind about the sin, request forgiveness, and begin to practice the opposite of the sin.  If it’s sexual impurity we practice purity.  If it’s selfishness we practice service.  If it’s hardness, we practice love.  If it’s judgement we practice mercy.  We practice the opposite of the sin, in so doing we repent. 

Many genuine followers of Christ make war on sin everyday.  The key to victory over sin is humility in submission before God.  God loves us, and he wants to grant us victory over sins in our lives.  The best expression I know of, in expressing submission before God is through prayer, on my knees, making a statement of powerlessness and a request for God to take lordship over that area of my life.  Then I turn it over.

We can have the victory.  Part of that could be taking an honest inventory of ourselves.  Major sins I’ve overcome include drug addiction, alcoholism, cigarette addiction, overpowering depression, and sexual acting out.  Yet I realize many more sins still cling to me.  If I were to take an inventory I might write down overeating, or failing to eat healthy.  I could write down overspending.  I could definitely write down selfishness.  I could write down callousness and apathy too.  

So I’ve taken an inventory.  Now what do I do?  I start to pray about these issues every night.  I talk to God about these issues in frank terms.  I ask the Holy Spirit to grant me power in the areas I need to change in.  I ask for that power throughout my day.  When I feel the strain, I call out to God.  When I feel the strain I talk to a friend or minister.  I begin to make war, in the Spirit, against my shortcomings.

If I’m struggling with depression or post-traumatic stress I begin to see a Christian or secular counselor.  Perhaps I look up some books to study on the struggle I’m having.  If I’m struggling with addiction or alcoholism I start attending Celebrate Recovery, Alcoholics Anonymous, or Narcotics Anonymous.  If I’m struggling with gambling I begin to attend Gamblers Anonymous.  There are many supports available.

This is a natural process for the Holy Spirit to lead a believer in.  I saw it begin to happen naturally in my life, and also in the lives of other new Christians. They would quit smoking.  They would stop getting drunk on weekends.  They stopped going to R rated movies full of sex and drug use.  They stopped sleeping with random people.  They decided to take God’s sex ethic seriously. They started making amends to those they had wronged in the past.

And they shared their faith.  Which is something only about 2% of Christians actually do.  The tragedy of that statement, that statistic, is beyond belief.  It’s a tragedy that deserves a memorial.  And it’s my generation, millennials that don’t know Jesus.  They need Jesus.  We have to share our faith. Charles Spurgeon the famed prince of preachers said, "“Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you're not saved yourself, be sure of that!”

 In conclusion, holiness means victory over sin.  Being a true follower of Jesus Christ means sharing our faith.  Dare we ignore our own sins?  Will we truly be found faultless on the last day?  Will our robes be unblemished?  Rest assured every single man, woman, and child on Earth will one day stand before Jesus Christ.  We are all living for that one moment when we go eye to eye with God himself.  Could we live with ourselves knowing we never fought our sins?  Could we live with ourselves knowing we left so many to slip into the depths of hell?  Worse yet, what might he say in response to our lives?  Might Christ say, ”Depart from me you workers of inequity?”  Sin is inequity.  Let us labor instead to hear, ”Well done good and faithful servant.”

“'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.” --William Booth

Related Posts:

1. Eternity & Christ: The Promise of Life 
2. The Paradox of Victory through Surrender: Rise Above
3. The Heart & Mind of Humanity: Reflections on Suffering
4. Coming into Maturity: Grace, Love, and Service
5. A Cause Worth Dying For: Materialism, Millennials, and the Radical Mission
6. Life after Death: Law, Eternity, and the Changed Mind
7. Wisdom from Above: Living in Light of the Victory of Christ
8. The Mindset of Christ: Teach Me How to Live, Lord
9. Sex, Cuisine, and Television: Overcoming the World
10. What is the will of God? 

Justin's Calling: Are you called to be a Salvation Army Officer?

Justin Steckbauer is an employee of the Salvation Army Central Territory. This is Justin's personal blog. The views on this blog do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the Salvation Army, it's employees, or partners.  This blog is not associated with the Salvation Army.

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” Isaiah 6:8

God is real. God is really here. He is among us. And every word in his book is the truth. We have amongst us here the answer to every question in the world.

I did not know God when I was younger. I didn’t think he was really there. I thought it was a fairy tale. I lived and grew up among a church. I didn’t understand any of it. I just went because my parents made me. I didn’t think it had any bearing on life. I thought it was just some sort of backwards tradition that we had to honor.

After my parents divorced at age 15 I got into trouble. I had many struggles. I went very low. Depression came about, addictions came about. As things got worse I was forced to ask some very difficult questions.

Many people, if they were asked: Why do you exist? Why are you here? They would have no answer. They don’t know, and they never really thought about it.

I didn’t think about it either. But then I had to. My life was collapsing, my addictions were growing worse, and my heart was empty. I was filled with the ever-present agony of the everyday blah!

So, at rock bottom, I got on the floor, on my knees, and I cried out to Jesus Christ. I didn’t know if he was real, if he was really God, if God was even real, but I took a little leap I suppose, I cried out desperately, just desperately. Jesus save me. And do you know how I know God is real today?

Because Jesus answered that cry for help. He set me free from my addictions, depression, and most importantly from the long list of my wrong doings. I was reborn. He saved me in every way imaginable...

• He saved me physically from addiction
• He saved me emotionally from crippling depression
• He saved me spiritually from the just penalty of my sins.
• Jesus took my place on the cross. And he reclaimed his life for my eternal life.

 
I didn’t cry out to Muhammed, Buddha, Krishna, Zoraster, or the universal spirit. No. Only one name: Jesus Christ, or in Hebrew: Yeshua. So if anyone tells you there are many ways to God,to heaven: They’re wrong, there is only one.

As my life continued to change, there was something I became certain of, almost immediately: I need to serve God. I felt immediately, an intense insatiable urge to full time ministry. I loved to write, I loved to read poetry at open mics. I loved to explore deep questions. I loved to read books. I loved to talk with people and help them with problems. It all started to make sense.

So if you’re wondering if your called to officership, the first thing to watch for is the urge to serve.

Some might call it a “burden on the heart.” It overflows out of your heart. Every fiber of your being cries out for the need to serve, to love, to carry the gospel. Because deep down having been changed, made clean, you know it is the truth of life. Do you have that?

Around 2013-2014 I was working at a homeless shelter in Wausau, Wisconsin.  At that time I was reading a biographical book on the Salvation Army by Henry Gariepy. He lists a quote in the book from a conversation he had with the famed evangelist Billy Graham. Billy was shooting hoops with the boys at the corps where Henry was serving and after they were done Billy Graham looked at Henry Gariepy and said,”The Salvation Army is Christianity in action.” And it’s true.

I knew, Justin needs to be a minister. He needs to carry the message. Why? Because Christianity is the truth about everything. It’s the truth about EVERYTHING. Jesus Christ is really real, heaven is real, hell is real, and people need to know now, not later, now!

If your called to officership, don’t be afraid to let God change the course of your life. Don’t be afraid to let God take you in a direction that makes you uncomfortable.

I know that sounds odd. But often times we're trying to control things, and we’re missing the direction God wants to take us. I didn’t want to be an officer, I thought it seemed like too much paperwork and not enough ministry. It seemed way too hard, insurmountable.

But God didn’t seem too concerned with what I wanted. He seemed to say,”So Justin doesn’t want to? So what!” 

So when searching to know if your called to officership don’t necessarily “trust your feelings” or “use your best judgment.” That’s worldly garbage, don’t trust yourself, don’t trust how you feel. I felt very discouraged and dissuaded at times. Don’t trust those feelings, trust the guidance of God. Ask for his wisdom. Pray, and trust the leading of the Holy Spirit. Forsake yourself, and your way and instead take his way. 


It was quite logical to me, at first: I’m here worshiping Jesus, I’m alive today because of Jesus, and Jesus is really real, and really God. Given that, what else would I do with my life but serve him in full time ministry? If the Bible is the truth about everything, the truth of life, then everyone needs to know especially people my age.

Still, there are many organizations out there proclaiming the gospel.  Many are doing it quite well too.  So how can one discover if they are called to the Salvation Army specifically? If you believe you may be called to officership in the Salvation Army, the first thing you need to do is pray, pray, and pray. I must’ve asked God over one hundred times: “Is this where you want me?” Pray, pray, pray. Search the scriptures. Watch for opening doors.
 
I was only saved by the mercy and love of Jesus Christ three short years ago.  I wasn't raised in the Salvation Army.  I was originally raised Catholic, a.k.a. atheist in my case.  Eventually I was baptized in a Baptist Evangelical church.  But as I studied the word, prayed, learned, and took classes I became transfixed by a question: What is real biblical faith?

I became more and more caught up in the idea of “What does it mean to have a real faith?” What is faith in action?  Is this it, just church on Sundays?  Or is there more we could be doing?

I was praying about finding work around then. I applied at the Salvation Army homeless shelter in the Wausau, WI area. A friend worked there and said I would be perfect for the job.  I started working there and as I like to tell people, I became terminally involved.  I had to work weekends, so I couldn't go to my baptist church.  I started going to theirs.  Eventually that spring-boarded into other areas, like leading a young adult Bible study, participating in youth events, and attending conferences.

Eventually a retired corps officer asked, “Have you ever considered becoming an officer?”

I really hadn’t thought about it. But it started to make sense and line up. Meanwhile the work at the shelter was awful, just terrible. Very stressful. Very tough.  I imagine to this day that I may always recall the rotating shift work at the shelter, while trying to balance full time college, as the most stressful part of this journey.  Probably just because I was so new.  I didn't know what to do when under spiritual attack.  I was a new Christian, inexperienced.  I was a child in the furnace. Truly, truly. Nightmarish.  Lots of spiritual attacks.  The enemy really wanted to wedge me out. But the ministry there was something powerful. And it was real.

I learned a very simple method to confirm a call:

1. Are you on board with the call?

2. Do your family and friends support your call?

3. Are doors opening?

My first reaction to the Salvation Army? Nerdy. Was I board with that call? Not really! It seemed very stressful, given my experiences at the homeless shelter. But it started to seem like it was “of God.”

One of the best things that I did was I started going to Salvation Army conferences. I got a feel for what it was like.  Three times at Salvation Army conferences they had “calls to officership” sessions. Every one of those three times I felt moved by the Spirit to come to the front, declare my calling, and step up to the mission God had placed on my heart.  What in the world was I doing, walking to the front?  I have no idea.  I must've gone crazy... or maybe it was God.

I had my heart set on doing apologetics, online ministries, and evangelism heavy ministries. I envisioned myself as a traveling speaker/evangelist. But no doors were opening in those areas. In the Salvation Army, every door was opening in front of me. I become a soldier, I went to conferences, I applied for an internship, and was accepted into the Ministry Discovery Program.  It's been an amazing experience so far, unparalleled in my walk with God.  It's like being rocketed into a new dimension of ministry, service, work, adventure, and satisfaction.  There is nothing like the feeling of being within the will and plan of God, headed in the direction you were meant to walk.  There is nothing like it.   

I was at a candidate conference last weekend. It was an awesome experience. Overwhelming, inspiring, fear inducing, courage stirring, a plethora of thoughts and emotions raced through my mind. Yet also present was a transfixing wonder, an awe at the presence of God. One of the teachers said, "If your afraid that you can't do it, it's because its true, you can't." And he followed that by saying, we can know this calling is of God, if it's more than we can handle. We can be assured it is of God, if we are certain it's too big for us alone to handle.

Someone once said,”If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.”  It has been very, very challenging.  As C.S. Lewis said, “If you’re looking for a religion to make you feel comfortable, Christianity isn’t it.” But part of being a man is taking the challenge. God coaxes me outside my comfort zone. It’s scary, it’s challenging, it takes courage, but God can do great things through our most feeble efforts.

With God the impossible becomes possible.  He lights my passion for his mission on fire with hope, faith, and love.  I've learned to believe in spite of the most dire circumstances.  And as William Booth said: “God loves with a great love the man whose heart is bursting with a passion for the impossible.” 

Yet sometimes I pause and think: Lord, this is actually quite awkward, I had very different plans for my ministry. And I’m reminded by a still quiet spirit, His will be done, not mine.

He wants all of us, his paintbrush is time to make us into the people he wants us to be.  He has called me a man unable and will make me able in his power, in his time, to change the world with the gospel, and just because I can’t see that doesn’t mean it’s not a reality. 

"There are several billion people rushing headlong into hell. Many have died between the day this was written and the day it was published. Many of them are living in your backyard. Don't you want to make a bigger difference? We're not saying that the bigger difference must be through officership. And we're not saying that full surrender leading to being filled by the Holy Spirit leads to officership. But what we're saying is not "business as usual." This is not last generation's officership that we're pitching to you here. There is no better means for someone to make a bigger impact in the world than officership as vocational extremism. Pray it out. If God is not calling you to be investing your hours and years and skills and gifts and abilities and passions in your current employment, train up and offer yourself for officership- as vocational extremism. Is God tapping you on the shoulder?" -James Knaggs & Stephen Court, Leading the War: Salvation Army Officership as Vocational Extremism, p.14

Related Posts:

1. Reflections on the Salvation Army Regeneration Conference
2. Spiritual Journey | Dreams, Darkness, False Light, a journey in Ideas
3. Am I called to Ministry? How can I know? 
4. The Servant Leader: A Radical Concept 
5. Life after Death: Law, Eternity, and the Changed Mind
6. Wisdom from Above: Living in Light of the Victory of Christ
7. The Mindset of Christ: Teach Me How to Live, Lord
8. Who I was and Who I am: A Poetic Observation 
9. Liberty University Graduation, Young People, and God
10. Christianity in the Public Square: The Apologetics & Philosophy Renaissance

Don't Judge Me! Discernment or Condemnation?

What is the difference between judgement and discernment in the scriptures? The Bible says don't judge your neighbor, for the same measure you judge them by, you will be judged by (Matthew 7:1-2). The Bible also says "test everything" (1 Thessalonians 5). Jesus said don't judge by appearances, but judge with right judgement (John 7:24, 1 Cor 2:15).

But there are two different contexts here. The first form, "judgement" is in the context of condemnation. If I were to judge someone, say they are in sin, and I would say "they are hopeless, they are doomed, nothing can save them." I've just sinned by condemning them by "passing judgement over them." If I were to say a person is evil, beyond repentance, again that's passing judgement. If I were to say that person deserves 20 years in prison, that is passing condemning judgement. If I were to look at a person and think less of them because of their sins, that would be condemning judgement. But there is another.

1 Corinthians 2:15 (ESV) says "The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one."

Or the NIV translates it as: "The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments."

The second context is discernment, or "testing everything."  The scriptures interchange the words "judgement", "discernment", and "evaluate."  So this can be somewhat confusing.  Many Christians seem to think that when Jesus said,"You must not judge" he was referring to all situations where anyone might point out anything about anyone.  Jesus' statement is not unqualified.  There are qualifiers, barriers around all of his statements.  We don't want to get out of control with "just love" or "just never judge."  Because the overarching moral themes of the Bible contain numerous, interwoven moral teachings that include mercy, love, truth, judgement, discernment, evaluation, growth, holiness, fairness, justice, and many other themes.  All of these teachings are interwoven into a lattice of moral precepts that are applied as a contrariety in any given real life situation.  For most of you, you already know this and if you don't you should.  

So in any given situation I may apply love to a certain extent, truth to a certain extent, grace to a certain extent, and evaluation, and exhortation, among many others.  We study the scriptures thoroughly and daily to be aware of how and when to use which precepts in which situations.

If one of my friends were struggling with pornography, I could go to him and say, "Friend, pornography is wrong, it's evil. I'm encouraging you to change your ways in that area." I've just "exhorted" him to change.  Exhortation is a spiritual gift. He has not been judged in anyway. He has been exhorted.  I've politely and humbly rebuked him in private.  I've applied some love, some mercy, some grace, some truth, matched with evaluation of his circumstance and a humble rebuke to encourage him to change.  

The world today thinks that love means accepting any behavior in anyone no matter how destructive it is to that person.  That is not the Christian way.  We don't encourage people to be in sin, or stay in sin, why?  Because sin is destructive, and sin leads to spiritual death.  It's loving to warn people of the bad paths they choose.  Would you tell a drunk to keep drinking?  Would you encourage an addict to keep using drugs?  Would you encourage a homosexual person to stay in a culture that often leads to drug use and a sexual practice that can often lead to the spread of disease?  Of course not.  It wouldn't be loving to do so.

A second example of discernment matches with "exposing evil" (Ephesians 5:11). If someone indicates that an institution is in sin, or that homosexuality is sinful, or that pre-marital sex is sinful, or that pornography in general is sinful, or that drug abuse is evil, or human trafficking is wrong, this person has not "judged" anything in the context of condemnation.  But if they were to condemn sin as evil, they would be free to do so.  But if they were to condemn the person as evil, that is sinful judgement.  When someone calls out an institution practicing wickedness, or a group, or a culture, or a civilizations, they are not sinning.  They are engaging in discernment (Hebrews 5:14), exhortation (2 Tim 4:2), and a prophetic role of calling out the sin in the world. The prophetic gift is a spiritual gift (1 Cor 12:10). 

Someone might say that you are only allowed to rebuke someone in person.  That is true that the standard model for rebuking a fellow believer is in the context of first meeting them in person.  But it also says if they refuse the rebuke you are to come back with several others.  If the person still refused the rebuke you are to make the sin known to the entire church congregation.  Once again we need to look at context, and qualifiers surrounding a statement.  

For further reference Matthew 18:15-17 says "“If your brother or sister[b] sins,[c] go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’[d] 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector."

But we aren't finished here.  Matthew 18:15-17 is not the only teaching we have on dealing with "exposing evil" and "revealing sin" and rebuking believers and non-believers.  There are numerous other examples in the scriptures.  Think of the confrontation between the apostle Paul and the apostle Peter at Antioch.  

Galatians 2:11-14 says "But when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him in public, because he was clearly wrong. 12 Before some men who had been sent by James arrived there, Peter had been eating with the Gentile believers. But after these men arrived, he drew back and would not eat with the Gentiles, because he was afraid of those who were in favor of circumcising them. 13 The other Jewish believers also started acting like cowards along with Peter; and even Barnabas was swept along by their cowardly action. 14 When I saw that they were not walking a straight path in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you have been living like a Gentile, not like a Jew. How, then, can you try to force Gentiles to live like Jews?”

So we have a context for rebuking fellow leaders, or a fellow leader in public, in person.  There is no indication in Galatians that Paul made a mistake by confronting Peter in person for his conduct toward the Gentile (non-jewish) believers.  We could go even further at look at John the Baptist and his calls in the wild to repentance.  We could look at the Old Testament prophets like Jeremiah, Elijah, and others, but I think that will suffice for now.

Believers need to be careful about this. Don't toss around the "judgement" stuff unless you've fully studied it's meaning in the scriptures. Don't jump the fence when someone throws out the "don't judge me card." Most of the time you aren't judging them, and they just need to repent.  

Part of your job as a Christian is to lovingly and humbly rebuke someone.  You must remember to do so politely.  Be cautious of how it's done.  But it's important to do so.  Christian love is quite different from the ideas the world has about love.  Christian love is not unqualified love.  Christian loves means warning people who are in sin.  Isn't it loving for a parent to discipline a child when they misbehave?  Absolutely that is loving.  Love includes many boundaries.  Part of Christian love is to rebuke those who are in sin.

The correct response to a gentle rebuke, is to be broken or disturbed by it. Then one laments (grieves, feels awful about it), and expresses a contrite heart (a heart willing to change). Then the person repents (changes their actions and beliefs on the issue), and thanks the individual for the rebuke. The incorrect response to a rebuke is to become defensive, angry, and lash out at the person trying to do the correcting. The incorrect response is to lash out and say "don't judge me." Titus 2:15, 1 Timothy 5:20, Galatians 6:1, James 5:20, Matthew 18:15-17, Proverb 27:6, Rev 3:19

We are fully free, and in fact commanded as believers to discern everything, evaluate everything, and expose evil in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Judgement is the form of condemnation, or in looking down on someone to build yourself up is sinful and wrong.  We must never do that.  We must never stand back and judge others, mock them, laugh at them, or consider them damned.  We must never think ourselves better than a non-believer or a Christian struggling in sin.  We are here for one reason, in the family of Christ: Jesus saved us, transformed us, and gave us the ability to begin living a different life from the one we used to live.  Given that, we must certainly discern, evaluate, and rebuke when necessary.  We must expose evil, encourage good stewardship, encourage holy living, and encourage repentance in all areas of life. We must stand against the sin in our own lives, and encourage others to defeat the sin in their lives, in the power of the Holy Spirit.