[ovrtaxt]

We are NOT free from sin now.

*sigh* We don't have to sin. It holds no power over us. If we sin, it's because we willfully do it, not because it's part of our nature. We are a new creation, living out of a supernatural covenant.

Read my previous post to see how I really feel about this entirely ridiculous conversation.

[lupie]

Yes, I read your post. Sin can hold power over us if we are not abiding in Christ. And yes, sin is STILL part of our nature. We are a new creation but that means we no longer are helpless under the power of sin. When we rest in Jesus, when we crucify our desires (ongoing), then, we overcome the power of sin. But, when we are not walking with Him, when we drift away, when we go astray - as we all do, often - then sin does have power over us. But when we confess and repent of it, and lay it at the foot of the cross, we rest in His finished work. That is, until the next time we look away.

The conversation is not ridiculous because the god that is promoted on those 40 steps does not focus anyone's attention on the Almighty God, but rather on man and his ways of trying to please God. Part of our warfare here is to exalt high the name of Christ Jesus and expose false teachings. It is very obvious. I realize that you won't agree.

There is a big difference between emotional happiness and the true joy of the Lord. A big difference. Sometimes the first is the result of the second, but the second is never the result of the first. One is temporal, the other is eternal. One can be videotaped, explained and relayed, but the other (1 Peter 1) is unable to be uttered in words, so high and wonderful that it is. It carries us through the emotional highs and the lowest of life's lows.