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This is true, Terry. God is not satisfied
by us throwing Him an occasional bone. iz From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Terry Clifton Then I ask again, John. Why MUST (imperative)
you become a new creature in Christ? Why must you deny self and
follow Him? Why must you go and sin no more? To ignore these
questions is to preach an easy salvation, free fire insurance. On these
terms, even the devil goes to Heaven, because he believes. It is not a
narrow path. Obedience is optional. Just do a little something once
in a while and God will find you worthy. "If you are simply saying
that He calls us to follow while we are yet filthy sinners, I am with
you. You don't have to clean up your act for God to want you in His
family, but you ain't gonna be
in the family if you stay the way He found you. I would hope
you would agree." What gets us saved keeps us saved.
If faith apart from obedience to law, if an exchange of faith for personal
righteousness, if death on the cross while we were yet sinners
applies to us today and again in the future, if we are , in deed, saved
by His effort saves as a sovereign effort -- then he saves us
(accepts us) just as we are. This business of "if
you stay the way He found you" is an impossibility!!! When we speak of "kingdom
theology," it is my understanding that we speak of the sovereign
rule of God and His workings in our lives
He becomes the irresistible influence.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,as long as you maintain
any kind of relationship with Him. I have told my kids (and
anyone else who will listen) if you will continue to pray, even once in a while,
if you will read your Bible even a few times a year, if you will consider His
will even on some occasions, His influence will work His eventual
will in you. Obedience, including the victory over the various
manifestations of sin, is ALWAYS IN RESPONSE TO THE INFLUENCE OF
THE INDWELLING CHRIST in our lives.
That never changes. The prodigal son and his brother were never
right in that story --------------- never. The
"repentance" of the prodigal" was shallow and motivated by selfish
need and not much more. They were part of the family.
They can leave the family but they cannot stop being sons. to leave
the home,. of course, is to move down the road of personal destruction --
that is not being denied. But God does not kick us out of the family -- we
leave. Jd [EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote: Terry, Here is the point of this new best
seller. Of course God does not have to do anything, I suppose, but
if he is going to accept anyone into His Kingdom without turning them into
robots, He has no choice but to accept them as they are. It is a false
gospel, IMO, that preaches
otherwise -- but more than false - it is
unreal. It is for this reason that it is said that He
died for us while we were yet sinners.. You have written some good,
excellent, posts of late on this very subject. If you disagree with
me -- well, I am not getting my point acreoss
becasue I fully agree with
those several posts. I may see "sin" as having more
categories of _expression_ than you, I don't know. So God is without
choice (if we are to be included) -- He is "Choiceless" and the
world is jsut that
-- a tasteless place without Him. JD ============================================================================
Maybe I'm doing some fuzzy
thinking here, but it seems to me that if God accepts us as we are, there would
be no need to become a new creature. Why would it be that we MUST be born
again to be part of the kingdom? I see turning from willful sin
(repentance ) as the first step in becoming that new creature. If
you are simply saying that He calls us to follow while we are yet filthy
sinners, I am with you. You don't have to clean up your act for God to
want you in His family, but you ain't gonna
be in the family if you stay the way He found you. I would hope you would agree. |
- RE: [TruthTalk] Apologetic for the eternal sonship of Christ ShieldsFamily
