Posted on 07/28/2018 8:00:05 AM PDT by Salvation
We ALL live sinful lives.
There’s not a one of us who doesn’t sin.
And even if we could live an otherwise perfect life from here on out, the sin record of our past is already enough to condemn us. Unless we are FORGIVEN, freely and without obligation on our part, by God Himself.
ONE sin is all it takes to damn someone.
I see it differently. Jesus is pointing out the SPIRIT of the Law and not just the letter. The religious leaders prided themselves on their moral, outward keeping of the law and their own righteousness - not much has changed today. Jesus shows that NO ONE is capable of perfectly keeping the Law. Instead, as Paul taught, it is our schoolmaster to show our need for Christ's sacrifice and God's grace:
So are you saying that leading a purposely sinless life will get you into heaven?
Actually, this is in error.
The command is not to *Let God give us* anything.
It is a command to us to not even think those things.
Sin ....is a genetic predisposition.
“sin” is what we do.
SIN , is inherited from The First Adam , and ends in death.
Eternal Life , is inherited through The Second (Last) Adam.
Jesus did not come to save us from our “sins”.
Jesus sacrificed Himself to Redeem Humans from SIN/Death.
The object is not to live “purposefully” but to
Live Born Again as Redeemed Saints in the Body of Christ.
A drug dealer lives purposefully yet is lost as a Ball In High Weeds.
Great post.
Yes, we are bought back from the sin we sold ourselves to.
Catholics tend to focus so much on avoiding sin as if avoiding sin makes us right with God.
Avoiding sin does not make us right with God.
What makes us right with God is the forgiveness we are given through the shed blood of Jesus and the righteous nature of Jesus credited to our account.
It doesn’t matter if we sin, what we sin, or how much we sin. The entire sin debt that stood against us is cancelled out at the cross and God can now give us HIS righteousness and after giving us HIS righteousness, relate to us as if we had the sinless perfection of Jesus, IN SPITE OF our sin and continued sinfulness.
‘Attain’ ... the critical CLUE that the mind is stuck on earning what God gives only by Grace. You don’t earn grace, but the Catholic religion mind is blind to that simplest of truths. The Catholic Org would lose its power if the adherents awoke to realize they cannot earn or ‘attain’ grace by their striving, for that ‘striving’ only empowers the ORG, not the striver.
Not a problem.
It’s good to clarify one’s position so that there is no confusion about what is meant.
Grace is not earned. It is strictly unearned.
What is earned (or *merited* as some prefer to say) is wages due.
If it’s in any way earned or merited, then it ceases to be grace.
Hold steadfastly to your pride at fealty to an ORG’s sacraments is living a purposefully sinful existence. PRIDE which trust in attaining by works of fealty is SINFUL before GOD.
How is it sinful? Well, it insults The Grace of God in Christ by assuming you can earn Grace, which would give something to boast of which insults the Eternal Grace from the Son’s work, not yours.
**So are you saying that leading a purposely sinless life will get you into heaven? **
I think Christ did that already.
That is so wonderful about the Sacrament of Confession/Reconciliation.
God forgives the sin as evidenced in the prayer of absolution said by the priest. And then God forgets the sin.
The formula of absolution used in the Latin Church expresses the essential elements of this sacrament: The Father of mercies is the source of all forgiveness. He effects the reconciliation of sinners through the Passover of his Son and the gift of his Spirit, through the prayer and ministry of the Church:
God, the Father of mercies, through the death and the resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
So did His Blessed Mother.
The formula of absolution used in the Latin Church expresses the essential elements of this sacrament: The Father of mercies is the source of all forgiveness. He effects the reconciliation of sinners through the Passover of his Son and the gift of his Spirit, through the prayer and ministry of the Church:
God, the Father of mercies, through the death and the resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
That's all a bunch of hogwash.
That is found exactly NOWHERE in Scripture. We are forgiven once for all.
God forgives sin whenever HE is asked, and not by a priest, but by God himself.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And it's not by a bunch of flowery sounding words.
Luke 18:9-14 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The record of our sin debt has been CANCELED.
It's done away with.
Not on a day by day basis, where you have on again off again salvation depending.
But permanently and forever.
Colossians 2:13-15 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
A person does not lose their salvation by sinning, and if they think they do, they are depending on their own works to save them, not the grace of God.
And since they are depending on their own works to asve them, they are not depending on Christ, therefore are not saved.
**may God give you pardon and peace,**
Are you calling God’s acts “hogwash?”
I certainly hope not.
Thank you.
Let's go back to where Pope gets confused, and that is the difference between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God. Apparently he does not differentiate them, but the fact is that no person to whom God will hold accountable for even one sin can be included in the Kingdom of God.
But on the other hand, the Kingdom of Heaven (which is earth-bound) may have all kinds of sinning people in it, including those who cannot help but be deliberately sinning, as were both Peter and Judas Iscariot in their day.
While these professors though engaged in a deliberately sinful life-style may be, by earthly assembly officers, numbered with the saints, there may come a point at which such a flagrant level of sinning will cause the perpetrator to be disfellowshipped from the regular church assemby (1 Cor. 5:1-8).
I guess that kind of offense might be called "mortal" since it may mean "excommunication" (hence no salvation outside the RC); whereas tolerable sinning would be called venality, to be dealt with by "confession," absolution by a priest, and some form of "penance. The idea is to officially restore the perpetrator that he/she nay legitimately participate in communion at the "mass."
This problem of impure visible churches was one that caused Augustine to forge the myth of an invisible church that was nevertheless supervised by officers (priest, Bishops, archbishops, cardinals, etc.) over an entity that they could not see, but extending over all the individual churches.
This is why Pope, not Jesus, is inconsistent in his arguments to those inquirers who would like the truth, but are not going to get it from him.
Of course not.
I’m calling the Catholic church *formula* hogwash.
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