Importance of Original Sin

Some excerpts from a book on Calling on the Name of the Lord

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Purpose of Calling on the Name of the Lord
To be saved

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The first and primary reason to call on the Lord is to be saved (Romans 10:13). A simple, quiet prayer has genuinely saved many people. But if one is led to call on the Lord in a loud, audible way, their experience of salvation can be quite rich. We experience this rich salvation not only initially, but continually, even daily. (Psalms 88:9).

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To breathe in the Lord

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Lamentations 3:55-56 indicates that calling upon the name of the Lord is equivalent to our spiritual breathing. I called upon Your Name, O Jehovahdo not hide Your ear at my breathing, at my cry. Our physical breathing is incessant and necessary for sustaining our biological life. As we exhale, the negative element is released, while inhaling fresh oxygen is supplying our system. How much more is the spiritual breath needed to maintain our vitality with the Lord. This may really be the way the apostle Paul unceasingly prayed (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

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To drink the Lord

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Isaiah 55:1, 6 says Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the watersSeek Jehovah while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. These verses imply that our calling is to drink the Lord. Spiritually we get thirsty, calling is one way to quench that deep thirst. As we call upon Him and drink Him our sensation of the Lord’s presence grows stronger and stronger.

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To stir up oneself to take hold of the Lord

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When we feel down or depressed, Isaiah 64:7 says we can stir up ourselves to lay hold of the Lord. By calling upon His name we can hold on to His person and be lifted up.

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Calling on the Lord

All the while calling on the name of Jesus is for being saved from the sin nature which was injected into man in Adam's disobedience. Calling to the Christians is like a Salmon fish swimming against the current, upstream.The sin nature is in all people, in their flesh. But the man born of God has the Holy Spirit of God implanted within. But he is used to living by the sin nature. He is not use to living by the new life. In order to stir up his regenerated spirit deep within, calling on the name of Jesus helps greatly.But it is against the usual downward current of our nature. It is going against the tide. It is going up towards God and His kingdom. It is going against the downward trend away from God to the lake of fire.In the next few posts I will explain how stirring up the divine nature that is implanted in the born again spirit of the Christian can save him from the Satanic poison operating in his flesh.First I review how Satan, for all intents and purposes, got injected into man's flesh when Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 1.) All men have become poisoned by the old serpent of Genesis 3. The religionists who opposed Jesus got to be called serpents - a brood of vipers -

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Matthew 3:7 - "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, Offspring of vipers, who prompted you to flee from the coming wrath? "

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John the Baptist said this because he knew all men were poisoned by sin's nature. And the active opposers to God's salvation, the disgruntled Pharisees, drew down on themselves the specific charge of being a brood of poison snakes. 2.) Jesus, in the parable of the sower, also refered to the nominal Christians as "the sons of the evil one."

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Matthew 13:38 - "And the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one."

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In the world the imitation wheat has been sown among the genuine wheat. Jesus instructed the disciples not to attempt to weed out false believers from the true ones - in the WORLD not in the church. The field where they both grow together is "the world" (v.38) .The nominal Christians are called the sons of the evil one. Like all men born of Adam, they are related to the evil one. But they are condemned so by Christ because they only pretend to partake of Christ's salvation. 3.) We should not think only religionists or false Christians have been poisoned by the serpent Satan's poison. All of mankind has been poisoned. This is seen in Christ's words in John 3.

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John 3:14,15 - "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, That everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life."

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This refers to all the world. We all , like the Israelites in Numbers 21:9. The Hebrews complained against Moses. Fiery serpents were sent among them. They were bitten and poisoned. They were sick and dying. In the allegory that God set up He told Moses to erect a brass serpent on a pole. Whoever looked upon the brass serpent would be healed of the snake bite poison.This was clearly a type Jesus used of Himself being lifted up on the cross. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up." Whoever looks to Jesus Christ and believes will receive eternal life. Satan's nature of sin and death will be swallowed up by Divine Life.The allegory refers to all men everywhere in all the world. This proves that not just the religionists were Satan affected. All of mankind was. 4.) Even Peter, arguably Christ's leading disciple, was called Satan when he gave into his human opinion. Peter tried to get Jesus to have pity on Himself and not go to the cross. Jesus detected the subtle Satan lurking in Peter's words and rebuked him sharply, calling Peter - "Satan!"

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Matthew 16:21-23 - "From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.

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And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You!

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But He turned and said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan!, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men."

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Satan's nature was in Peter the disciple. Jesus turned to Peter and spoke to Satan. In Peter's sympathetic humanism lurked Satan's subtlety. Not only were the religionist killers of Christ serpents - "the elders and chief priests and scribes". But also His own disciple Peter, by setting his mind on "the things of men" expressed the Satanic nature within him.The things of God are the will of God. And it was the will of God for the Son of God to go to the cross to accomplish redemption. Peter tried to get Jesus to pity Himself and consider that this was not God's intention. Jesus turned to Peter and rebuked Satan.Jesus rebuked Satan just as He did in the three temptations in the wilderness after His baptism (Matthew 4:1-11). In this chapter Satan is not outside of man but inside of man, lurking out in Peter's man centered good opinion.Satan is therefore both outside of man and inside of man as well. Calling on the name of the Lord Jesus helps the born again man to strengthened that part of him which has been joined to God - "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit." (1 Cor. 6:17) Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

You're throwing Matthew 25 right out the window. Neither the sheep nor the goats knew they were doing it for Him. There is no indication that the Spirit moved them.

That may seem obvious but it isn't true:

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Matthew 7:21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

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Matthew goes on to say that doing God's will is like building (an action) your house on a rock.So "calling on the name of the Lord" clearly isn't just mouthing the name of the Lord. Empty words are empty.

Now I will deal with a favorite objection against Romans 10:9-13 which includes these words -

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That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart there is believing unto righteousness, and with the mouth there is confession unto salvation.

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For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes on Him shall not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord of all and rich to all who call upon Him;

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For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:9-13)

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The ISSUE before us now is whether Matthew 7:21-23 renders Romans 10:9-13 untrustworthy or untrue. The answer is NO. And there are several reasons I will give why BOTH Matthew 7:21-23 and Romans 10:9-13 are the word of God, trustworthy, and true. 1.) There are about 500 or more passages in the entire Bible on CALLING on God. ONE passage from Matthew 7:21-23 should not be used to undermine and render trivial all the others encouraging man to call upon God. 2.) It is obvious that being SAVED in the sense of justification and forgiveness of sins, and rescue from God's eternal judgment, is not an end in itself. The Bible does not portray being SAVED in this sense as having ARRIVED at all of God's will. The Gospel of Matthew shows one who is great in the kingdom of the heavens and one one is least in the kingdom of the heavens (Matthew 5:19)

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Therefore whoever annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called the least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whoever practices them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens. (Matt. 5:19)

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It is obvious that from Christ's point of view JUST to enter into the kingdom of the heavens is not to have ARRIVED at all God desires for the one saved. The kingdom of the heavens here is the millennial kingdom. And there will be degrees of honor, degrees or reward, degrees of acclaim even among those who entered.So the teaching of calling on the name of the Lord has ITS place and the teaching of being great or less in the kingdom of the heavens has ITS place. They do not contradict one another. Believers all the more should learn to call upon the name of the Lord. 3.) The passage of Matthew 7:21-23 will include some false Christians who NEVER called upon the name of the Lord. Because it says that "Not every one who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, ... Many will say to Me IN THAT DAY, was it not in Your name that we prophesied, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name did many works of power ?" Notice it says "IN THAT DAY". This can mean that in the church age they never CALLED Jesus Lord. But they waited to "SAY" Lord, Lord on a day in which it was TOO LATE. In THAT day of judgment, they SAY [not call] but SAY "Lord, Lord, Didn't we do this in Your name and that in Your name ?" This will include false Christians like the TARES sown among the WHEAT in the parable of Matthew 13:24-20 which Jesus explained in verses 36-43.Nominal Christians who pretended by hijacking the Gospel to apply to their unbelief will be collected TARES that appear as WHEAT and be punished in the furnace of fire. These are false disciples who never called upon Jesus as Lord. It is only IN THAT DAY they say "Lord, Lord" and to their surprise thier good doing under the Jesus banner is not accepted by Jesus.In fact we should realize that EVERY TONGUE of man will eventually confess "Jesus is Lord" (Philippians 2:11. But not every one who so FINALLY confesses "Jesus is Lord" will be saved. Some confess TOO LATE -

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"Therefore also God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

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That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, And every tongue should openly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2:9-11)

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So clearly, not every one who says Lord, Lord will have done the will of God. These will not enter into the kingdom of the heavens, these who say "Lord, Lord" but are too late. 4.) Now let's be completely fair. What about those who called "Lord, Lord" and WERE genuine saved Christians ?FIRST - strictly speaking Matthew 7:21-23 does not say that they do not have eternal life. It says they do not enter into the kingdom of the heavens. I have already proved that in the kingdom of the heavens there are degrees of honor (Matthew 5:19).But related to the coming millennial kingdom there are also degrees discipline, degrees of punishment to those who are genuinely the servants of Christ. Here is the proof in the parable of the master rewarding his servants at his coming. Only the critical words do I quote below -

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The master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him asunder and will appoint his portion with the unbelievers.

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And the slave who knew his master's will and did not prepare or do according to his will, will receive many lashes;

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But he who did not know, yet did things worthy of stripes, will receive few lashes.

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We therefore should expect that SOME Christians, servants of the Master Christ, will receive severe discipline because they KNEW the Master's will and disobeyed. And some Christians will receive less discipline because they did not KNOW the Master's will and acted inappropriately, but in naivete.Being the servants of Jesus Christ this should not mean that they lose eternal life. It may mean that they LOSE the reward intended for them in the kingdom of the heavens in the millennial age. And the proof of some losing reward yet being still saved is in First Corinthians 3:10-17 which includes these words -

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If anyone's [Christian servant] work which he has built upon the foundation [Jesus Christ] remains, he will receive a reward.

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If anyone's [Christian servant] work is consumed, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." (1 Cor. 3:14,15)

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The expression "saved yet so as through fire" has an UNKNOWN scope to it. The latitude of such a discipline is completely unknown. The Christian ONLY knows that whatever the discipline is it is short of being UNSAVED.The scope of possibilities that could be used by Jesus to cause a Christian to "suffer loss" SHORT of losing eternal salvation is not fully known. And it certainly could be to be excluded from participating in the kingdom of the heavens in the millennial time.Therefore I submit, aside from unbelievers who will be lost forever, some Christians who called "Lord, Lord" genuinely and are saved according to Romans 10:9-13 may suffer the loss indicated in the Lord's warning in Matthew.Their method of working was not in the Father's way but was lawless, self chosen, fraught with their OWN ideas without regard to the Father's nature and the Father's good pleasure.And though they are saved yet so as through fire they do not inherit the kingdom of the heavens or enter into it particularly in its millennial kingdom stage.More below. I'm not finished. Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

The criticism of "just mouthing" the words Lord, Lord could be used by someone as excuse for not CALLING on the Lord Jesus. It sounds good. And it has some truth to it.Plenty of people curse with the name of Jesus. That mouthing of Jesus is sinning by lifting up the name of the Lord in vain.Should a believer NOT call on the Lord Jesus because of Matthew 7:21-22 ? Of course not !! There are about 500 references to calling O Lord, or calling on God in the book of Psalms alone. There are more passages on calling out to God in the whole Bible. Why on earth should one passage be an excuse for a lover of God not to call out to God?One says "Well, it is important that one does the will of the Father." Of course it is. So I call all the more to be close to God, to commune with God and to have fellowship with God.I don't not call because of the warning. That is ridiculous. Beware of people who utilize Mathew 7:21-23 as a rationale to not acknowledge Jesus as Lord. The piety of the pretension can be misleading.Now having said that, Paul encourages rather than discourages his co-worker Timothy to call on the name of the Lord and to be with others who call -

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"But flee youthful lust, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart." ( Second Timothy 2:22)

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Did you get that readers? " [C]all on the Lord OUT OF A PURE HEART" .The Bible is not encouraging anyone to "mouth" the name Jesus. The Scriptures is exhorting to call on the Lord Jesus out of a loving and pure heart. Calling and being WITH those who call. And why calling from a pure heart? Calling is done to pursue righteousness and flee from troublesome lust in the flesh.Paul of course is not saying "Listen Timothy, don't call on the Lord Jesus because after all you know not everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of the heavens. So you better not open your mouth. Better to be silent and just give alms."All the more we should not just wait to "say" Lord, Lord, in that day of judgment. We should call on the Lord today and even "daily" to flee lust, pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace and exuberant service of the Lord we love.Forget about using Matthew 7:21-23 as logic to worm around confessing Jesus as Lord and CALLING to fellowship with Christ in spirit.The issue is not CALL and do not do the will of the Father. Rather CALL and also stay in the will of the Father. The will of the Father includes calling on Him out of a pure heart.There is no encouragement from Scripture to mouth "Lord, Lord" and disobey the Father's will. There is exhortation and example in many, many places of calling on the Lord.Go through just Psalm 119 and count how many times David calls "O Lord" or "O God" . He was all for doing the will of God as best he could. And he called "O Lord" in that Psalm repeatedly.

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verse 12 - "Blessed are You, O Jehovah"
verse 31 - "O Jehovah, do not put me to shame."
verse 33 - "Teach me, O Jehovah, the way of Your statutes."
verse 41 - "May Your living kindness also come to me, O Jehovah."
verse 52 - "I have remembered Your ordinances ... O Jehovah"
verse 65 - "O Jehovah, according to Your word ..."

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Do you see how David interspersed his petitions with calling on God? He energized his prayers with injecting "O Jehovah, O Jehovah" in his speaking. This was his calling on the name of the Lord.And today many people do not know how to pour out their hearts to God. They should learn to pour out there hearts with callings " O Lord Jesus. O Lord Jesus, O Lord!"They should learn from David and from the New Testament Christians to CALL on the Lord. The word 'O" or " OH " is a good way to express the depths of your being. The word "O" can OPEN your heart or express the depths of what is within you. "O Lord Jesus. O Lord Jesus" interspersed with your petition to God is very powerful as in Psalm 119 and many other passages. The Lord Jesus is RICH to all who call upon Him, Paul says.Alright, is calling on the Lord everything in the bible and there is nothing else ? Of course there are other matters, like living in the Holy Spirit, living according to the Father's nature and doing the Father's will in the Father's way by the Father's good pleasure.So Jesus warns that in THAT DAY some will SAY "Lord, Lord". It may be too late. Maybe they never called. They just waited to SAY "Lord, Lord." Everyone, saved or unsaved will one day have to confess Jesus is Lord.The Gospel of Matthew and the 10th chapter of Romans are not on exactly the same matter.The Gospel of Matthew is about the righteousness of the believers must exceed that of the religionists. There must be no hypocrisy, no play acting, no facade. Christ looks for reality within.For this a man needs Christ within. Christ is the ONLY one who is absolute for the will of the Father. There is no other person in the universe who is absolute for the will of the Father. Only Jesus the Son of God is absolute for the will of the Father.So man must be filled with Christ. Man must receive Christ and live by Christ. Man must stay close to Christ and identify with Christ. Man must touch the living and available Christ. Man must allow this Christ to enter into his heart and live again on the earth. This time this Christ is living INSIDE of the believer in Christ.This all the more needs man to call "O Lord" or "Oh Lord Jesus. Lord I love You. Lord Jesus I want to abide in You. I want to linger in Your presence. Lord I don't want to be apart from You. Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus I want to abide in You and let You fill my heart."To enter into the kingdom of the heavens our righteousness must exceed that of the religious scribes and Pharisees and all play acting. We must have reality within. And ONLY Jesus Christ is REAL. Only Jesus Christ is absolute for the will of His Father. He can come into us and be our life.

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" For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of he heavens." (Matthew 5:20)

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This is whole flavor of the Gospel of Matthew. We must repent for the kingdom. We must repent for NOT living unto God. We repent for NOT being under the administration of God. We are to repent for not being in the government of God.In this aspect the Gospel of Matthew is different somewhat from the Gospel of either John or Luke. In John it is mainly to believe for eternal life. Even in John the work of God is to believe in the One whom God has sent - His Son.

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" Then they said to Him, What shall we do that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe into Him whom He has sent." (John 6:28,29)

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Both John and Matthew have their proper place. There is some overlap. But John is mainly about believing into Christ for eternal life. And Matthew is mainly about repenting for not being under the government of God.Back latter. Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

The issue is whether or not your interpretation of "calling on the name of the Lord" is valid. Both passages agree just fine if you understand that believing and calling depend on doing, not just mouthing. Paul himself agreed that faith without works is dead, that professing belief will get you nowhere. You have to demonstrate your belief physically.But that's just a sideshow. I have asked you several times and you haven't answered: If you are responsible for your own sins, why even mention Adam's sin? Why is Adam's sin important? That is the topic.

The way to overcome the sin nature is by contacting the living Jesus as the Holy Spirit. This so-called "Original Sin" problem Christ has overcome. When we contact Christ we become co-overcomers with Him.Matthew's Gospel is not on a lower level of men just being saved. Rather it is on the higher level of believer's becoming co-overcomers with Christ. No one who does not love the Lord Jesus will ever overcome the sinning nature injected into his flesh. And no one doing a lot of good works apart from Christ can be pleasing to God. For God only wants Christ.Firstly He wants Christ in Himself. Secondly He wants Christ in us. He wants Christ to live on the earth again, but this time living in His believers. Christ is alive and available. Jesus Christ can live on the earth again. This time it is God's will that He live IN the forgiven sinners. This time God wants His Son to live on earth FROM within His lovers.To the church in Ephesus Christ gave rebuked, not because of all the good work they were doing, but because they had left their first love.

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"To the messenger of the church in Ephesus write: These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, He who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.

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I know your works and your labor and your endurance and that you cannot bear evil men; and you have tried those who call themselves apostles and are not, and have found them to be false.

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And you have endurance and have borne all things because of My name and have not grown weary.

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But I have one thing against you, that you have left your first love.

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Remember therefore where you have fallen from and repent and do the first works; but it not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent." (Rev. 2:1-4)

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This is the first letter by the ascended Christ of seven to seven churches. Here Jesus is not being political. He is not saying some positive things just to make them feel good before He rebukes them. Christ is completely honest.He tells them about all the good things they doing and the long-suffering and endurance they have. But He has one thing against them. He has one thing which He says they have fallen from. There is something in which they are abnormal, defeated, unhealthy. They have something from which they must repent.They have LEFT their first love. Their love for Christ is waning. While they "labor" they do so apart from their first love for Christ. While they "cannot bear evil men" they have left off their number one priority to love Christ.

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"You have left your first love."

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The Lord Jesus rebukes them because the first love for Jesus is waning, is cold, is near to being extinguished.

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" repent and to the first works; but if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent."

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To Christ it is serious. He doesn't care how much work they accomplish, how much discernment they have, or how much they hate evil men, or how much they can detect phony apostles. He cares that they would LOVE Him with a love that places Him above everything.What is the first love? Some think that the first love is the love a Christian had for Jesus when he or she FIRST met Jesus. But we have to admit that many of us Christians really didn't love Jesus that much when we first met Him.Maybe some had a fervent love for Jesus when they first believed. But many were more interested in receiving help from some problem.The first love is the love that put Jesus first above every matter, every thing, and every person. The first love is the love that gives the preeminence to Jesus Christ.So then why is calling on the Lord Jesus good? Because it is contacting Jesus in order to love Jesus. I do not say it is the only way to contact Jesus. It is a good way to stay in touch with Christ. And Christ today is the life giving Spirit Who comes INTO the believer's spirit.

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"The last Adam became a life giving Spirit"

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Calling "O Lord Jesus! Lord Jesus I LOVE You." is a effective way to abide in Christ, loving Him. And the goal is not a procedure. The goal is not a method. The goal is Christ Himself. The intention is that the laboring Christian stay in a love relationship with Jesus. He is not straying from the first love, the love which puts Jesus FIRST in everything.No labor can replace the Christians' "first love" for Jesus.
No works can replace the Christians' "first love" for Jesus.
No amount of being disgusted with evil men, or no amount of endurance in suffering for His name, or being able to detect false apostles, can replace the first love for Jesus.Because the sin nature of the so-called "Original Sin" is so close to man, and so attached to man, once a man is born again, he must constantly learn to touch Jesus Christ. He is not use to living by this new nature. He must love the Lord in order to stay in contact with the Lord. He must not lose the love for Christ which places Christ at the highest priority in all things. Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

Dispensationalists just cannot abide quotes from the Gospel according to Matthew.And apparently that includes even those parts that are backed up by other parts of the New Testament including JamesIn at least one sense it is almost irrelevant whether works are required for salvation. Faith is surely required, and through Grace is sufficient. But unfortunately for those who believe otherwise, faith has visible, outward, indicators which include works.Maybe we can argue or disagree about whether someone who finds faith while on his death bed is saved through grace, but does that circumstance apply to anyone participating in this discussion? To most men and women? Nope.So if what we can say about you is: No works? Not doing the will of the Father? Then we can also safely say that you have a dead faith of the type James calls useless.Edited by NoNukes, : Fixed the worst of the grammar. I don't believe I changed anything.

There is no quotation in the book of Matthew which I can think of is too difficult for a Christian to abide. Given a good overview of the New Testament, I really have no major problem with Matthew's wonderful and so sweet Gospel.There are some difficult passages in every gospel probably including one or two in Luke or John. After studying the Bible for about 43 years, I cannot think of an insurmountably difficult passage in Matthew.I am not boasting. I'm just being honest. What I wrote above, would also apply to the book of James.This might be better discussed in a thread dedicated to alledged "Very Difficult Passages" in say, Matthew or James. I am not speaking for all the Christians I know. I am speaking for a sizable number with whom I have met and studied the Scriptures for many years.There are no insurmountably controversial passages in James or in Matthew for some of us.If they are difficult for YOU, that is no shame. So you have the adventure of learning more to look forward to. (That is unless you are hunting for unsolvable passages for some other reason.) It never ceases to amaze me how many discussions on practically any subject in the Bible, eventually gravitates to the question of "Who is saved and who is not ?"It amazes me how often this issue re-rears its head again and again almost no matter what other topic is under discussion. I fall into matter too, though I try to avoid the typical drift.No more time to write now. Latter maybe.Some writers I would recommend:Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

That was of course my point.Many dispensationalists, having read the Gospel According to Matthew into a comfortable pillow, feel absolutely nothing when they walk by Jesus unclothed and hungry on the street.No, I don't find the Gospel quite that easy.Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.

Well, I don't know perhaps what "Dispensationalist" means to you. Maybe I am not the kind of Dispensationalist you are familiar with.A second point - I don't find the suffering of fellow human beings a "comfortable pillow" of any kind. In fact Jesus begins His message on the Mount with the words -

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"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." (Matt. 5:4)

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I think this is not simply a mourning over just personal misfortune. I think He meant certainly, a mourning over the poor state of mankind: a mourning over the poverty, the destitute condition of the world's people.Those who give themselves to the kingdom that has its source from heave, ie. the kingdom of the heavens, will be comforted. They will not be crushed by the awful sense of tragedy. They will see in this life and in the age to come, God moving bring in a better life for many and a new world.Mourning over the state of man is one of the characteristics of those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.This King teaches and expects those who mourn for man to react by coming under the government of the kingdom of the heavens. He will tell us what we should do to further His plan of bringing His kingdom to the earth.And I agree that the Gospel is not that easy. I meant it is not with insurmountable obstacles so that a reader throw up his hands and give up to follow Christ's teaching there.No, I did not mean to imply it is easy. But there is not that much said there which one could not also find in any of the epistles of Paul. Paul taught the same matters essentially. Same with Peter and John's epistles. Same with the book of Hebrews.. I think you already mentioned James. Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

For the church to know the nature of our enemy, it is important that the sin of Adam is taught.For the church to know the eternal purpose of God, and how He will fulfill it, it is important to mention the sin of Adam.For men to see the nature of the collapse of God's world into the state of the fall, and that God did not initially create the problems that we see, it is important to mention the sin of Adam.For the church to lay hold of the promise that the enemy of God is defeated in Christ and in His overcomers, according to Revelation 12, it is important to mention the sin of Adam and the prophecy that followed.For men to realize that we are all still in situation like Adam - man between God and Satan, and need to choose God, it is important to mention the sin of Adam.Having supplied these examples I would add that it is as important and probably more so that we hear about the righteous act of the "last Adam" - Jesus the Son of God.So to understand deeper "the second man" and all that He has obtained, attained, and accomplished, it is important to mention "the first man" and his failure.And that is precisely what the Apostle Paul does in Romans chapter five.

Nonsense. It is more important that we read Pogo. Nonsense. The eternal purpose of God is totally unimportant unless the God is the butler. What state of fall? Looking around it seems each generation has been becoming more moral. Read Pogo!

Our enemy is us, not Adam. God made that clear to Cain. God did not originally create the problems that we see, nor did Adam. We did. For men to realize our situation it is important to mention our sins, not Adam's.All of us have to answer for our own sins. We are all either a sheep or a goat, even jaywill (though he tries to be a weasel instead).