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To: rollo tomasi; metmom; ladyL
This one side of the Grace theology is warping the Church because the teaching fails to address the responsibility ENUMERATED several times in Scripture of post-belief "fruit" that God expects from us, humility, repentance, reflection and adherence to God's/Christ's commands. Again, "If you love me..."

Of course the teaching of the Christian faith should include how we live in holiness and obedience, showing by our lives the faith we have. We love Him, Scripture says, because He first loved us. That's what the book of James addresses. It is what Paul taught for example in his epistles to the Corinthians:

    For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you.  Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. (2 Corinthians 13:4-6)

What people should be careful of, though, is going to the other extreme where our works stop being an evidence of a changed heart and a new birth through faith, and go into making our works and deeds necessary to meriting eternal life. Paul dealt with that heresy repeatedly. We see him addressing it throughout his writings. He had to deal constantly with those called the Judaizers, who insisted Gentiles must be converted to Judaism and be subject to the Law of Moses in order to be saved. We read again and again where Paul admonishes believers to not be taken in by that error. For example, he said:

    Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.  You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. (Galatians 5:3-5)

Salvation is the gift of God that we receive by faith. HE sees our hearts and we cannot fool Him by words we may say. Genuine faith WILL show in the life of the Holy Spirit indwelt child of God. Will we sometimes stray, mess up, commit sin? Yes, we are STILL in the flesh. But there is a difference now - there is a repentance, a sorrow when we sin against God, we feel shame over the wrongs in our life and we strive to live for God's glory. That's how we know the Spirit of God is working in us. I love what the following has to say about born again children of God:

    "A prince, while he is a little child, is presumably as willful and as ignorant as other little children. Sometimes he may be very obedient and teachable and affectionate, and then he is happy and approved. At other times he may be unruly, self-willed, and disobedient, and then he is unhappy, and perhaps is chastised—but he is just as much a prince on the one day as on the other. It may be hoped that, as time goes on, he will learn to bring himself into willing and affectionate subjection to every right way, and then he will be more princely, but not more really a prince. He was born a prince" (C.I.Scofield, Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth).

30 posted on 10/26/2016 8:44:09 PM PDT by boatbums (God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
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To: boatbums

Boatbums...one thing I’ve learned over the years is not to engage with those who take a platform so as to sermonize or preach. I am sure you are a wonderful person and live a righteous life. I hope you are kind and generous to your neighbor. With that I will say...may you be blessed. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.


32 posted on 10/27/2016 8:43:07 AM PDT by ladyL (Warfare prayer)
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