""Everything is permissible" - but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible" - but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
("Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." - Philippians 2:4, NIV)
Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it."
If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if anyone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience' sake - the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God - even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved." - 1 Corinthians 10:23-33 (NIV)
freedom in Christ
the believer has freedom in Christ in all that he or she does. as macarthur affirms, God's will is that you be saved, Spirit-filled, sanctified, submissive, and suffering - then do whatever you want!
"Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. This is my defence to those who sit in judgment on me. Don't we have the right to food and drink? Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas? Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living?" - 1 Corinthians 9:1-6 (NIV)
with great power comes great responsibility (again!)
"Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall." - 1 Corinthians 8:9-13 (NIV)
to this end, discernment in christian liberty is not just about proving the will of God with our free will, but also about expedience, edification, excess, enslavement, equivocation, encroachment, example, evangelism, emulation and exaltation.
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." - 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV)
judging others: a matter of conscience
it is not for us to judge others because anything and everything the Bible is silent on is a matter of conscience.
"Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand." - Romans 14:1-4 (NIV)
judging others: graded absolutism
it is also not for us to judge others because we often do not have our facts right (and even when we do, it may be that the same facts mean different things to different people - at least from a human perspective).
graded absolutism holds that there is a hierarchy of moral absolutes which determines how we are to deal with moral dilemmas. if we have to choose between two (or more) moral duties, we are to perform the greater (greatest) good.
abraham was ready to sacrifice his one and only son, 'even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."' (Hebrews 11:18, NIV). hosea was instructed to take to himself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the kingdom of Israel was 'guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD' (Hosea 1:2, NIV). rahab was commended for her faith in lying to protect the lives of the Israelite spies in Jericho.
nevertheless, this does not give us the licence to kill, commit adultery or give false testimony. graded absolutism is always in accordance with God's good, pleasing and perfect will.
judging others: God and the individual
finally, it is not for us to judge others because sin is ultimately between God and the individual. to be sure, sin may affect our relationship with others; but when we sin, we sin only against God, not against others.
"Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge." - Psalm 51:4 (NIV)
likewise; when others sin, they sin only against God, not against us (even though our relationship with them may be affected). therefore, the law of the Lord is not for us to judge others with, but for God to judge us by.
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." - Matthew 7:1-5 (NIV)
"Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you - who are you to judge your neighbour?" - James 4:11-12 (NIV)
"Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?") When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?"
Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me." Because of this, the rumour spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?"" - John 21:20-23 (NIV)
who are you to judge?
to recap, it is not for us to judge others because anything and everything the Bible is silent on is a matter of conscience, we often do not have our facts right (and even when we do, it may be that the same facts mean different things to different people - at least from a human perspective) and sin is ultimately between God and the individual.
at the end of the day, our relationship with God is all that matters.
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