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To: DaveMSmith
That is my belief, also. Repentance and regeneration are personal struggles. 'Take up your cross...', 'Go and sin no more' are common themes in many religions.

True enough. But on what account should God forgive sins? If I stood before a federal judge convicted of murder in the first, and asked forgiveness, would it be "fair" to be forgiven for no other reason than my repentance?

Christianity teaches that forgiveness is not free, for blood must be shed. Thus, Jesus died in my place, that I may be forgiven. However, if we refuse to acknowledge that the forgiveness offered by God through Jesus blood is not necessary, but rather just the asking of forgiveness, do I not trample the Son of God undefoot.

All of this boils down to the validity of the New Testament. We each must decide, based on evidence (not blind faith, or opinion, or what I want to be true) whether the NT is a reliable record of Jesus' life and teachings. If it is not, then I am a fool. If it is true, however, you must answer the question "Did Jesus rise from the Dead?" If he did, who is he, and why did he die? Ultimately, we are forced to ask, "If there are multiple ways to God, then why did Jesus die?"

So I ask you now, have you read the Gospel of John? Do you truly know that which you dismiss so easily?

141 posted on 03/27/2008 7:31:29 PM PDT by jimmyray
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To: jimmyray
John's Gospel is my favorite.

We are permitted to sin. We are permitted to recognize these sins, we are to pray for the Lord's help in changing our habits from the tendency to commit these sins. Note that we are not to pray for forgiveness! We take Holy Communion at this point as a covenant and strive to lead a good life. This regeneration process continues through eternity as we are never 'perfect'.

We look at the spiritual counterparts of The Holy Supper as 'blood'/wine = truth and 'body'/bread = good. Taking these by eating is making these virtues our own. The Lord wants to draw us closer to Himself, always. He Himself said that wine was symbolic for His blood. Not sure where you are getting the barbaric 'blood must be shed' argument.

We are responsible for our own actions and deeds. We cannot 'blame God' for our sins anymore than we can take credit for Christ's merit on the cross. The Lord and His angels are always with us and we have free will because of it.

Of course we believe that the Lord was crucified and rose 3 days later. We also believe that he only appeared to those that believed in Him after he rose.

Death of the body is just an event. We all wake in the Spiritual World a few days later and continue (or start for some) our spiritual development. Many, like the Samaritans in the Lord's time, find it very easy to accept Jesus Christ as their God and Savior. The only question then is 'How did you live your life?'

163 posted on 03/27/2008 8:15:48 PM PDT by DaveMSmith (Nothin' worse than a leaky dame)
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