Hi Debbie. It is such a delight to correspond with you. You actually hear what is being said and attempt to address the issue. Bravo.
Debbie wrote: > I see where you are going, but it is a bit of a trick of > words, the play between "any" and "all". If it is true > that one can say, about any given note in a Beethoven > sonata, that I can read it and find it on the piano and > play it, then theoretically I can sit down and play the > whole sonata perfectly, but somehow I haven't managed > it. If I can hit the ball sometimes, then that possibility > exists on any given occasion, so theoretically I should > be able to play baseball my whole life and never strike > out once. But somehow I don't think anyone would lay > any bets on me. Your analogy is very good for pointing out the weakness of the human flesh, but there are some things to consider before we accept whether or not it is applicable to our ability to walk in love. First, the issue of playing the sonata deals not with just playing one note, but with the skill of putting it all together with the right timing. Could one consistently play that one note all the time? Why not make that the analogy? Perhaps because it does not make the point that you are trying to make, which is that it is difficult to love everyone all the time and so we should expect that we will not do it. Therefore, we should excuse those who sin. The baseball analogy has problems in that there are many variables involved in swinging at a ball and hitting it. Yet, people look at walking in Christ as if it were like this. Sometimes you hit a home run and sometimes you strike out. Is our walk in Christ really like this? Is it really this uncertain? I don't think so and hopefully some of us will be able to demonstrate this to you in subsequent posts as the Lord wills. There certainly are some other issues involved as well. Paul makes a big point about why the law could not bring righteousness, because of the weakness of our flesh. So I would suggest to you that your analogy applies more to Christians who attempt to walk by the law before God rather than those who are walking by grace in the Spirit. One thing I accept from your analogy is the point that just because someone can do something once does not mean that they can always do it. In other words, there is a logical fallacy in the idea that just because someone walks without sin for one day that he will walk without sin for two days. However, this does not prove that such is impossible. It only indicates that such logic alone does not prove the case and we have to look at other factors to determine whether or not our walk in the Spirit can be consistent. You seem to recognize this inherently because you say in your next sentence, "Now if we take the power of the Holy Spirit into account..." Debbie wrote: > Now if we take the power of the Holy Spirit into account, > your argument would seem to be airtight. But (and how > to express this properly, when we have quoted the verse, > "It is not I but Christ who lives in me"?) he does not bypass > our person--our decision-making and will--which is as yet > unresurrected and part of the groaning creation. We are the > weak link in the chain. To the extent we are able to live out > our reconciliation to God at all, it is because of Christ in us. > But it is not Christ without us who lives. This really is the thrust of Paul's argument when he teaches us to stop sinning. He argues that it is *us* who gets in the way. Therefore, he instructs believers to consider themselves *DEAD*. His statement about Christ living in him contained the phrase, "yet not I, but Christ." If it truly is "not Christ without us who lives," then you have a strong case. But if we reckon ourselves dead and that all life, 100% life, is Christ, then what do we have? We have the understanding that those who have given their lives over to Christ 100% will not sin, while those who reserve part of their lives to live the way they want to live, such will continue to sin. Debbie wrote: > I will say right now I am not completely satisfied with this account. > I have not closed the file on it. But then I could say that about a > lot of things I believe. Something else for you to consider in regards to your analogy. Is loving your neighbor as your own self really as hard as playing that sonata or never striking out at baseball? I don't think so. I look at it like someone asking you to hit that middle C note on the piano and you being able to walk up to it and do it. The difficulty comes in when the Lord asks you to hit that C note, and then someone else asks you to come watch a movie with them, or to eat dinner with them and you are rather hungry to begin with. Which do you end up doing in such a situation? People have difficulty putting the Lord first in their lives, not so much because what the Lord asks of them is as difficult as playing a sonata or never striking out in baseball, but because they have selfish desires of the flesh that get in the way and they have not practiced themselves in considering their flesh dead and subject unto the Spirit of Christ. Peace be with you. David Miller. ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
