Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: Cvengr
Do-Gooders, legalists, moralists, Crusaders, all fall into this category of persons who perform works that will be burnt up as good for nothingness.

I'm not sure how you can reconcile this with the words of Christ Himself:

Matthew 6:3-4

"But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you."

Matthew 6:17-18

"But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you."

Jesus says that our Father will repay us for what we do for Him. Are you denying this? Is Jesus mistaken?

Furthermore, I ask you to consider Jesus' rendition of the final judgement:

Matthew 25:31-46

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.' Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?' He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.' And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

I find it curious that Jesus says nothing about faith in seperating the "sheep" from the "goats." The righteous are given eternal life because of what they did for Christ, such as feeding the hungry, aiding the sick, clothing the naked, etc. and the damned are punished because they didn't do these things. If faith alone saves us, it is very curious indeed that Jesus' description of the final judgement is not based upon whether people believed in Him or not.

How do Protestants reconcile these passages?
314 posted on 03/11/2006 7:09:56 AM PST by mike182d ("Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 311 | View Replies ]


To: mike182d
You've answered your own question, but failed the highlight the pertinent portion of Scripture.

Moral degeneracy is a category of backsliding possible to believers when they fall out of fellowship with God. In Matt 6:3-4 which you provided, let's refocus on a different portion of the Scripture.

"But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you."

These passages are addressing post-salvation actions and thinking. The same might be said of any person not in fellowship with God, but working out of a scarred soulish perspective.

When I use the terms, 'do-gooders', legalists, moralists, Crusaders, I'm referring to those who think independently of faith in God, who focus on what they identify to be evil and work to overcome on their own, still independent of faith of Christ. There are many Christians who identify their thinking with a Judeo-Christian culture, rather than the faith of Christ. Those same Christians, if they fail to return to God on His terms are no better than those who are immorally degenerate from His perspective, but may be considerably better from a worldly or cosmic perspective, but still good for nothingness in those actions and thoughts committed while out of fellowship with Him.

I agree, while in fellowship with Him, it is wise to not let the left hand know what the right hand does, but this is while we are in fellowship with Him.

315 posted on 03/11/2006 7:59:21 AM PST by Cvengr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 314 | View Replies ]

To: mike182d

You've posted good questions, so I'll attempt to properly answer them on several posts,..not to argue but to try to communicate the best I'm able to different issues.

The Matt 6:3-4 passage as I understand it offers insight to the spirit. The thinking reflected in those who seek publicity of their thinking and behavior is indicative of those who are not in fellowship with God. Their rewards, therefore, are only contained in whatever they preoccupied themselves with at the time of working outside of faith in Him. They aren't receiving a spiritual reward, but instead a temporal soulish possibly physical reward from a worldly system.

The Father though will repay those who remain faithful to Him even in secret, without any anticipation of being repaid.

I do not classify these actions of faith as the same as those of 'do-gooders', crusaders, legalists, or moralists. Those categories of actors are those only focusing on the soulish perspective, void of spiritual growth where they focus on religion indepepndent of faith in Christ.


316 posted on 03/11/2006 8:09:06 AM PST by Cvengr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 314 | View Replies ]

To: mike182d
"But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you."

Jesus says that our Father will repay us for what we do for Him. Are you denying this? Is Jesus mistaken?

No, our Lord and Savior is not mistaken. Our Father who sees what is hidden will repay us.

For those who fast soulishly, his perfect justice and perfect righteousness will not require Him to repay us any more than what we have done even in secret. If we fast, by remaining in faith with Christ, then the reward is even greater.

317 posted on 03/11/2006 8:22:49 AM PST by Cvengr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 314 | View Replies ]

To: mike182d

In the last passage quoted from Matt 25: 31, it is apparant that the sheep separated were not cognizant they had fed, clothed or cared for His brethren, they acted in faith.

Similarily, Christ Himself states Amen.. or he believes it again an article of righteous faith. (Ref Romans 3:22,23)


318 posted on 03/11/2006 9:20:17 AM PST by Cvengr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 314 | View Replies ]

To: mike182d

You have raised some good points and I also need to review them further. Thanks for your response.


319 posted on 03/11/2006 9:54:00 AM PST by Cvengr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 314 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson