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To: stripes1776

There are other things in that prayer we need to pay attention to. You can't take that entire prayer to mean we should just dismiss sin as an issue. Forgiveness should never be the enemy of righteousness. In fact, it totally loses its meaning if it serves to excuse and cover sin. In our love for sin we have degraded the gospel and God's grace into nothing but an excuse for sin rather than freedom from sin.


56 posted on 11/03/2006 4:04:42 PM PST by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
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To: The Ghost of FReepers Past
I had never heard of the guy before I saw this story break. Just a few observations:

He immediately stepped down. I seriously doubt he would have done that if the story wasn't at least partially true.

Forgiveness generally follows admission and repentence. All I have heard from him are some semi-lame deflections.

Forgiveness does not mean that he should return to the pulpit. Ronald Reagan said that Christ convinced him that his recovery was dependent upon him forgiving John Hinkley. That did not mean that Reagan would be willing to walk into a room with Hinkley, hand him a gun, and stand quietly, stating he trusted him not to shoot again.

Similarly, if a captain steers his ship into the rocks, he might be forgiven, meaning he doesn't have to pay the penalty of his actions, but that does not mean he should get command of the ship again after it's repaired. There are things you can do which DO disqualify you from a leadership position in the Church.

Whenever we condemn sin, we should also acknowledge that as humans, we are always at risk for sin. Flee sin, but it is extremely dangerous for any human to hold themselves up as an example of what others should be. I firmly believe Satan tempts such people beyond their ability to resist.

I think many of the pastors who have fallen have begun as sincere expositors of Scripture. At a certain point, though, the acclaim of the crowd can be very seductive. I tend to be careful about criticizing professional athletes, for example, because I know how irresponsible I would have been if I had been inundated with the applause and money many of them are when I was twenty or so. Many of these pastors, like the athletes, get money and fame beyond what they ever expected, and being rich, powerful, and sin-free is not an easy thing to do.

59 posted on 11/03/2006 4:32:38 PM PST by Richard Kimball (The most important thing is sincerity. Once you can fake that, everything else is easy.)
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To: The Ghost of FReepers Past
Forgiveness should never be the enemy of righteousness. In fact, it totally loses its meaning if it serves to excuse and cover sin. In our love for sin we have degraded the gospel and God's grace into nothing but an excuse for sin rather than freedom from sin.

There is all the difference in the world between excusing and forgiving. If there is an excuse for something you did, then there is nothing to forgive. Forgiveness means looking directly at the sin of the other person, for which there is no excuse, and forgiving it. And then saying to the person that the sin is wiped out between you as if it never happened, and that things between you will be as they were before.

60 posted on 11/03/2006 4:33:02 PM PST by stripes1776
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