Ga 2: 17 "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker.Ga 3: 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? 4 Have you suffered so much for nothing--if it really was for nothing? 5 Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?
Paul leaves no doubt. Our only hope is grace. So, would you rather have the prodigal son's father, or would you rather have Reuben's father?
Grace is the single thing that separates Christianity from man made religion. I’ve understood this a long time but it is because I was introduced to Christianity a long time ago and Lewis’ teaching not long after that.
Christianity doesn’t make sense to the natural man.
It describes something that I was once taught that (just about) said the same thing: That every other religion is about man trying to elevate himself in some fashion to godhood, usually through some stepwise process, but Christianity is God reaching down to man, and all we must do is accept the offer of His hand.
Old Testament=Justice
New Testament=Mercy
you have two religions in the world.
there’s christianity, where you learn you can’t save your sinful self and that God’s paid the price for you if you want it.
the other religion is the religion of works. every other religion has you working to save yourself. you never know if you’ve done enough. you never get true peace.
bkmk
A great example of God’s grace from the Old Testament is Hosea.
God asked Hosea to marry Gomer the prostitute, knowing full well that Gomer would dishonor Hosea and cheat on him.
When Gomer did what she was expected to do, namely leave Hosea and cheat on him, God asked Hosea to pay the price to win her back.
We sinners are Hosea’s wife (with all due respect to Brooke Fraser’s song). And God payed a steep price in Jesus’ death to buy us back.
The writings of CS Lewis are steadily being released at the Canadian Project Gutenberg site this year. They have published all of the Narnia series, and are now starting on some of his apologetics works, like “The Screwtape Letters”, and “The Problem of Pain”. Google Gutenberg Canada. Thank God there are some countries on this planet with semi-sane copyright laws.
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I’ll go back and read this after I answer the question.
1. It is true.
2. It is the only religion that has God saving man, not man working his way to God.