Posted on 08/10/2011 8:11:57 AM PDT by janereinheimer
I’m not sure I agree with you that defining a term is casting a judgment.
Jane R.
I’m not sure I agree with you that defining a term is casting a judgment.
Jane R.
Mark 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Good point.
Are they being judgmental or simply defining a term?
I would certainly question where in any definition a so called “death-bed” repentance is found.
So as I suggested, the Scriptures (as several posters have informed us) define Christian so that we don't have to judge what is inside the sinner.
Those who have been "called out" since Deuteronomy 4:10 I like you have always found that the clearest
shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
and OBTW from the lips of Yah'shua.Deu 4:10 "Remember the day you stood before YHvH
Ekklesia == Assemble the people to me == church
your God at Horeb, when YHvH said to me, 'Assemble the
people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn
to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may
teach their children.'
out of joy
Joy comes after Baptism, was a result of those who were
baptized, not what led them to be baptized
obedience to the Lord
true as everything else we do
as a public proclamation of that faith to the world -
not sure about this, what scripture explains this?
Kinda contradicts your point about being a checklist?
That certainly opens up the playing field. Any definition of the faith that omits, uh, faith is sorely lacking. Per the scripture (Romans 10:9) there is a requirement for actual faith: "For if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved. " But per the posited definition, an atheist can be a Christian.
I wonder if the author of this piece really believes in sin? They certainly don't seem to think that it separates a soul from God. The Church has a mission to rescue people, not make excuses for them. To refuse to confront sin is to surrender the sinner to Judgement and eternal fire. We do no one any favors by coddling them.
“The world has never followed the simple ethics of Jesus, yet it is loud in its proclamation that it is Christian.” — Ernest Holmes
Baptism is good but that alone will not save you.
The purpose of this screed is to accuse ministers and counselors who take sin seriously and confront it in the lives of their charges of being Sanctimonious, and of being Hypocrites, and of being Just Damn Mean.
It's a lot like the lily-livered preachers and teachers that tell the story of Jesus and the Woman Caught in Adultery, but somehow manage to leave off the part at the end where Jesus sternly tells the adultress "go and sin no more." I guess that sharp warning makes Jesus seem sanctimonious, mean and probabaly misogynistic to boot.
Wonderful post. Thank you.
Grace to you, my FRiend.
In deed! Repentance involves a change of actions as well as regrets for wrong doing.
May you and yours be richly blessed by YHvH.shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
Sorry FRiend, it does indeed say exactly that: James 5:16 - Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
It always bears remembering that just because the Catholics teach it doesn't mean that it isn't so. As a Protestant, I don't believe that oracular confession is an absolute requirement for forgiveness of sins (in keeping with 1 John 1:9), but it is a wonderful way for believers to grow together in the Lord. A Catholic would call it a Means of Grace, and I wouldn't argue.
James 5:16
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much
But your right, it doesn’t have to be a Pastor, but sometime it helps to confess our sins to each other so others can pray for us and help us overcome that sin.
Repentance is such a bloodless, weak word in English. My Greek has long flown, but the word rendered as "Repentance" in the New Testament means roughly "to agree". If we say that we repent of a sin, we say that we agree with God about it, i.e. we hate it and renounce it. If we then return to the sin, what does that say about our agreement? Could it be that we were just admitting that we sinned, with no real agreement that our deeds were wrong or intention of turning away from them? Could we, in fact, feel justified in our sin? This is not to say that God will not forgive us again and again if confess the same sins. But when we see intractable sin habits in our own lives, or in the lives of others, we have every reason to be concerned about the sincerity of repentance.
His examples don’t support his thesis (which as far as I can tell you shouldn’t try to judge if someone is a christian ever).
Until his conversion Saul was NOT a Christian. Before he saw the light Lewis was NOT a Christian. How is it sanctimony to recognize that?
You are a Christian if you confess that you believe in the Trinity, that you are born a sinner and can only be saved through the sacred blood of Jesus.
He seems to take the view that baptism is magic. I believe that every human ever born has the opportunity to be saved.
His examples don’t support his thesis (which as far as I can tell you shouldn’t try to judge if someone is a christian ever).
Until his conversion Saul was NOT a Christian. Before he saw the light Lewis was NOT a Christian. How is it sanctimony to recognize that?
You are a Christian if you confess that you believe in the Trinity, that you are born a sinner and can only be saved through the sacred blood of Jesus.
He seems to take the view that baptism is magic. I believe that every human ever born has the opportunity to be saved.
Thank you FRiend for this post. That scripture dovetails nicely with the NT “forsake not the assembling of yourselves”.
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