Posted on 09/08/2015 9:19:57 PM PDT by Steelfish
Pastor And Seminary Teacher Who Was Outed As Member of Ashley Madison Commits Suicide Because He Carried Too Much 'Shame' John Gibson, 56, taught at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminar Was on the list of 32million names released after the huge hack in August His wife Christi said he felt shame, but insisted she would've forgiven him Gibson had also suffered from addiction and depression in the past By WILLS ROBINSON 8 September 2015
A pastor who was outed as a member of Ashley Madison has committed suicide. Father-of-two John Gibson, a teacher at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminar was found dead by his wife after his name was one of the 32 million released during the cyber hack last month. The 56 year old is just one of many purported users of the extra-marital affair site who are believed to have taken their own lives after the huge release of names by online criminals .
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Bingo. You mean none of us are without shame?
Isaiah 1:18: Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
I am a Chirstian, but when I face my savior, should I be proud or humble of my shame? My head will be bowed, I have no reason to exult.
The poor guy made a lot of mistakes, adding suicide is way too many.
So his wife is without sin too?
You have a very odd concept of grace.
You have committed sins that you have never asked forgiveness for. Therefore, under your paradigm, none of us would make it to heaven, because we would have to ensure that we have asked for forgiveness for all sins we have committed, which is impossible.
That is the amazing grace of God. You ask once, you accept once, you are forgiven once.
For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Notice there is no requirement in there to continue asking forgiveness for salvation. That requirement would doom us to failure and Heaven would be an empty place indeed.
Perhaps you have an odd concept of love.
If you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, your sin debt has been paid. It cannot be paid any other way. So yes, my sins are forgiven.
But, that does not mean there are not consequences on this earth and in my eternal life if I do not choose to follow Christ after my conversion.
If I kill someone, then I will be held accountable. It does not mean I will not enter heaven if I truly accepted salvation, it just means the rewards there will not be what they can be. And it means I will lose out on the blessings this life will bring me and those around me.
So yes, I should repent for the sins that I commit after salvation. But those sins will not separate me from the love of God or negate His promise of eternal salvation.
And what if you no longer believe? What if you then reject Christ as your saviour?
Totally agree with this assessment.
Too proud to be honest with God and just say, "I am not fitted for this office in the church. I must give it up, go get a job to feed myself and my family, and accept the discipline of s spiritual mentor."
Some people simply will not face going back to square one and restarting.
Once you have really come to the Cross, you know.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
30 I and my Father are one.
Concur. You must be born again. Once, not repeatedly.
True no man can make you; but, you can choose to leave your Father.
Yet he committed a bigger sin, brilliant.
“You are basically arguing that your salvation is based on works, rather than the grace of Jesus.
That is where purgatory, indulgences, etc, comes from.”
I don’t believe any of that. Not in any way shape or form.
I believe when you die, your soul departs this world bound for one of two places.
I can say I believe in Christ, I can accept that he died to “clean my slate, as you say, but what good did my acceptance bring, if I continue to dirty up the slate again.
You say there is no direct scripture that requires forgiveness for sins after acceptance, but doesn’t Jesus tell us to recite the Lord’s Prayer, and isn’t one of the lines in the Prayer to God “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us...” Trespasses meaning sins.
I mean that’s just one of many examples of Jesus teaching us that He has expectations of us beyond even the Ten Commandments.
Again, not arguing for the sake of arguing, but to me, accepting Christ without realizing I am still a sinner, and asking everyday for His guidance to not be, and His forgiveness for not living up to the example He set seems like a “convenient Faith”. Mine requires daily work, and constant understanding of displeasing God with actions (sins) He disapproves of.
No, you are wrong. No man. Period. You are a “man.” It says no man, that includes you.
No one can take you from God. Your everlasting rewards will not be what they could have been and your walk on earth will not be blessed as it should have been, but no one, including yourself, can remove you from salvation.
After salvation, it is not meant for you to live in constant fear that you will lose your salvation. It is meant for you to grow in a walk with Christ, to experience peace, to be a light for Him in this world of sin.
“Forgive us our trespasses”...
I believe that may be Biblical.
I am sorry for the loss of the man. When I “fall short” & then repent...
I try to find someone I can help. I am not “Catholic” so I don’t consider
It “pennance”...perhaps it is self-help therapy...or ...I have watched
“Ground Hog Day” too many times.
I agree, this is a major point of Christ's message contrary to judaism of the time.
However we should not be complacent, not presume we have God in a box no matter what we do, think or believe; that no matter how much we sin, how many we hurt, whether we believe in God or not, whether we choose to walk with evil, that we need not repent or ask forgiveness; that even if we no longer trust in God, even if we no longer believe in God, He will save us because once we did or thought we did.
It is not an either/or: constant fear or OSAS. Neither is biblical or what Christ taught.
I guess since so many are telling me I’m wrong, I must have missed something in my understanding of what God expects of me.
So according to what all the posters who have responded to me are saying;
Since I accepted Christ, nothing I do from that point forward has any bearing on the destination of my soul.
So if I slip up and take the Lord’s name in Vain, or flip that guy off on the freeway, or make a mistake and cheat on my wife, etc has no effect on my immortal soul.
Is this what you folks are telling me?
I’ve actually had people tell me I’m headed for hell because I believe there may be life in other parts of the universe, and because I don’t attend Church on Sunday.
So none of that matters since I accepted Christ as my Savior?
So why is it again we have a problem with homosexuals? If they believe in their heart that Jesus died for their sin, then how are we to say what they do is wrong?
What about abortionists? I would say there plenty of OB/GYN doctors who consider themselves born again Christians.
Politicians who support these people, plenty of them believe they have accepted Jesus.
What am I missing here?
You are absolutely wrong. Once saved, always saved is the foundation of Christ’s sacrifice for us. Period.
The rest of the NT is a road map to show up how we must continue to grow in our walk with Christ. But it repeatedly reminds us that we cannot earn and we cannot keep our salvation through works, deeds, or beliefs. It was a gift to us that cannot be taken away. By anyone. Including ourselves.
Wait, so if you commit a sin and die before you can ask for forgiveness, does that mean you’ll end up in Hell?
Consequences to sin, God’s admonishment, the trials that we will suffer on this earth will never go away.
There are consequences to sin. Again, if I take someone’s life after salvation, it is sin. But so is the flipping someone off on the interstate. They are all sin, and will all result in worldly and eternal consequences. Just not the loss of your salvation.
No one says you should not seek forgiveness, that you should not seek to become more Christ-like.
But believing that you can lose your salvation is not Biblical.
Just a note of caution --
In Romans 7, Paul was describing an earlier state he had found himself in, not his current state at the time of writing. By this point in his ministry, he had arrived at a greater maturity through "walking in the Spirit." It was only through that advanced commitment to control of the Holy Ghost that he was able to write this inspired epistle to the saints of Rome. What he wrote of himself in chapter 7 was not, and could not have been any longer, his daily experience.
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