The Jesus you and your co hearts believe in seem unable to wash your filthy rags!
The Jesus you and your co hearts believe in seem unable to wash your filthy rags!
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Who or what washes your filthy rags ???
Or are you able to do that yourself ???
First to where the phrase comes from:
Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
The phrase has been used at FreeRepublic to allude to the notion that one can't live righteous enough to earn God's Grace in the end of life. This is usually during a debate over faith in Jesus rewarded by Salvation and God's Spirit coming to dwell with the faither/Christian, versus working to earn Grace as is taught by the religion of Mormonism. There is a very revealing episode in the ministry of Jesus which illustrates this in an astonishingly simple way. Among the scenes recorded in the Gospels, this particular scene is found in all four Gospels!
Matthew 9:20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
Mark 5:25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
Luke 8:43 And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
Luke 8:44 Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.
In the interest of brevity, I'll ask simply, 'What was Jesus's reaction to the astonishing boldness of this woman who knew she was 'unclean' in Jewish law yet she brazenly approached in stealth and touched Jesus's robe?' ... He told her that her FAITH had made her whole. He didn't say 'Your bold work has made you whole'. This woman who was by Jewish law a most unclean thing, approach with stealth and reached to touch just the hem of Jesus's robe! She was the living epitome of 'filthy rags' (the phrase Isaiah used referred to the menstrual rags).
At this point we ought to make an association: everyone who tries to bring their righteous works to God believing they have earned His Grace, should take Isaiah's advice as to the perspective on these 'filthy rags' they bring. Their filthy rags are not going to earn God's Grace; only their faith will have God making them whole, and that before ANY works should be brought to God.
It is my longshot hope that as duped Mormons bring their filthy rags to God at the end of their lives, expecting these filthy rags to earn His Grace in Christ Jesus, at least God in His mercy will grant them Salvation in Christ because of their faith that God alone can apply His Grace to them, and He will vanish their filthy rags as if they were not even there, seeing only their faith.
BUT, Mormons should note that the woman was not bringing her filthy rags to Jesus as a gift, she was bringing her desperate need for His 'virtue', and it was her faith that He had that virtue and that His virtue would flow to her that allowed God to heal her issue of blood, the source of her filthiness before the law.
It is better to put down those filthy rags now, and approach Christ with faith alone, then His Spirit can live His nature in them as they yield to His indwelling presence throughout the rest of their life.
Wrong Resty, my fithly rags have been washed clean and made white as snow by the Blood of Jesus shed on the Cross. His blood is suffucient to cleanse ALL sin.
It is the Mormon Jesus that seems to need help with your works and whose blood isn't worth much (since it only kicks in AFTER ALL YOU CAN DO and doesn't cover all sin).
Resty, you should talk given the uncertain status in 1844 that Joseph Smith had shortly before he died. Smith must have felt the guilt gnawing at him from no assurance of forgiveness of sins; but he wouldn't let go of his "everlasting burnings" teaching late in life:
"Those who have done wrong ALWAYS have that wrong gnawing them. Immortality dwells in everlasting burnings." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 1938, p. 367)
(Yeah, some "immortality" that will be...ALWAYS conscious of sin gnawing away at you conscience and ALWAYS regretful over the lack of trust in the true Jesus...as Smith invited his followers to join him in "everlasting burnings.")
Lurkers & Freepers, just tell the Mormon missionaries, "no thanks...I don't want to join Joseph Smith in his 'immortal...everlasting burnings.' 'Tis a tad bit too hot there."
Unlike Smith's Mormonism, ONLY Christianity offers assurance and confidence of salvation NOW. All the man-made religions and the distortions of the Bible by errorists within orthodoxy make eternal life out to be something FUTURE ONLY.
Yes, salvation is future...Yes, eternal life is future (heaven WITH Heavenly Father). But they are also both present.
In fact, salvation is also in one sense past: Calvary...the cross.
What the cultists & errorists miss out on re: the Bible is that Salvation/eternal life is present tense (John 3:36; John 5:24). Why? Because Jesus defined eternal life as a relationship with the true Son and the true Father -- see John 17:3 -- and we don't wait til Heaven to become related to Him. (Also we are born from above on this side of heaven via the Holy Spirit).
It's been a while since I challenged Mormons and those in Christian churches and those unattached to ponder a few Bible verses...so here goes...what could be the most important verses that you digest in your life coupled with the verses I just cited...1 John 5:11-13:
And this is the testimony:
God HAS given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 Whoever HAS the Son HAS life;
whoever does not HAVE the Son of God does not
HAVE life.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that YOU MAY KNOW that you HAVE eternal life
Mormons and many so-called "Christians" don't KNOW they HAVE eternal life...no assurance. They think it's somehow all "up in the balance"...as if God doesn't already know our hearts perfectly...and whether or not we're in an active relationship with Him...and if we are trusting Him.