Posted on 04/30/2014 6:20:44 AM PDT by Gamecock
Thanks for posting this - it means a lot to me.
I would post my wife and mine youthful indiscretions but I would not want to embarrass her.......I’m pretty sure the statute of limitations is past on most of them....
Some were pretty serious....
We found Christ or more like He found us....
Going on 35 years of marriage...we still get on our knees daily to pray one for another before we start our day...
Yeah....that works...
I know a gal who was a wild child. Drugs, sex, etc. Not tats that were visible in public so I can’t speak to that.
I met her in a church where she was one of the most respected members. Jesus called her 10 years earlier.
You know not the power of God.
does that power tell us to shack up with drug addled nut cases?
Are you a Christian? Once a person has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, they are no longer the person they once were. All those who have been saved by God testify of this truth.
Keep on preaching to the choir... that's the ticket...
There's a lot of us (most certainly me) who went down the wrong road. I think such folks have a much greater appreciation for the MIGHTY POWER of the Blood - Because they have seen what life is like without it. They are the very witness of grace, because in them, there is no doubt that it is grace.
Yep, that's the perfect of example of what Jesus meant when he said neither do I condemn you. If she is just damaged goods why don't we stone her?
Or we can stand engage in self worship over how great we are: “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.” Luke 18:11
Speaking to the pharisees Jesus said “...Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.” Matthew 21:31
remind me again about the forgiveness shown to sodom and gamorrah
as for today’s freak fest, you have fun with that. meth heads, crack dealers, sex freaks.... pretty sure Jesus didn’t have this level of perversion to deal with. then again, He’s the son of G-d and would have the power to wipe away the mental issues and physical problems. the political ideologies might have been a bit tougher
And just what man did God appoint to make the decision on Sodom and Gomorrah?
As for the ‘freaks’ One of the greatest preachers known came from a background of drugs. All of the men God uses are often ones that seems to be the strangest choice to human standards. The apostle Paul, David, and Moses were murderers. Mary Magdalene had seven devils cast out. Peter, Jonah, and Mark backed out on God. Just to name a few.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. John 6:37 If Jesus wouldn't cast them out why should we and why should we withhold the good news from any on this earth, that Jesus died to cleanse them from all unrighteousness? Are we to condemn them to hell for eternity because they might vote for the wrong party?
I John 1:9-10
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
There is no one so sinful so far down in the hog pen that God will turn them away from the Father's house. No every time he will run to meet them with open arms and a new life.
Mark 16:15-16 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
I'm good because I'm saved. If I'm not good I'm not really saved? Those who are saved can theoretically do whatever they want and not affect their savedness, but don't because...Why? Because they love God so much now that they're saved that they don't?
In which case why do saved people ever sin at all? Or do they?
Entirely too convenient, and verging on the tautological.
Correct!
Those who are saved can theoretically do whatever they want and not affect their savedness, but don't because...Why? Because they love God so much now that they're saved that they don't?
No, because God has specifically promised to make us good. I'll let Augustine explain it to you:
“Can you say, ‘We will first walk in His righteousness, and will observe His judgments, and will act in a worthy way, so that He will give His grace to us’? But what good would you evil people do? And how would you do those good things, unless you were yourselves good? But Who causes people to be good? Only He Who said, ‘And I will visit them to make them good,’ and, ‘I will put my Spirit within you, and will cause you to walk in my righteousness, and to observe my judgments, and do them’ (Ezek.36:27). Are you asleep? Can’t you hear Him saying, ‘I will cause you to walk, I will make you to observe,’ lastly, ‘I will make you to do’? Really, are you still puffing yourselves up? We walk, true enough, and we observe, and we do; but it is God Who He makes us to walk, to observe, to do. This is the grace of God making us good; this is His mercy going before us.” Augustine - Against Two Letters of the Pelagians, 4:15
Also Isiah 64:6 “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
Our pretend rightesnous doesn't compare to God's standard anyways.
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