jaywill writes:
That is better then saying it will never happen.
I also think it is honest. No one knows the future, so no one can make absolute statements about it. But thank you.
But the future is not totally in our hands.
Of course not, there is always natural disaster, or accidents, to consider.
Let me put it this way. If I had life to live over again I would only ask that I turned to the Lord Jesus sooner. Then I would have more time to enjoy His love and His indwelling presence.
To each is own I guess. I'm glad you found joy in your life though, even if it comes at the cost of sometimes being irrational.
Aside from the things which are good and bad, there is a kind of force, a kind of nature compeling us to do what we hate, and restraining us from doing the good that we love.
Not that I have noticed. Now of course, my life hasn't been terribly difficult, I will admit, but I honestly can't recall an action I took of which at the time I thought "No, better not do this, this is bad". Or didn't take an action even though I thought "Hey, if I did this, that would be really good!". When I think those things, I either do it, or don't do it, according to my thoughts. That is not to say I did some stupid stuff, but never at the time of doing those things did I ever feel like they were stupid things to do.
Behind the "things" there is a power operating in us. So some say we are not sinners because we sinned. Rather we sin because we have this sin nature causing us to.
Never noticed it then.
If you remove the weeds from the surface it seems that they grow back. Something also in man is "sprouting" up this sinful behavior. Getting to the root of the problem means a cure deeper than the symptoms.
Seeing as I'm not experiencing the problem, I think I can do wthout the cure.
That is very good. You are an upstanding and ethical person.
Thank you. You seem to be one as well, even though you do need "god" to "threaten" you into doing good stuff (this is not meant negatively).
But are you glorious? Jesus was not only good. Jesus was gloriously good. He was good with a radiance and splendour which is glorious.
Uhm... no? So what? What does this even mean?
The Gospels says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
And I say we haven't. Oh look! a stalemate.
And if you should live absolutely perfectly from this day onward, what about the failures of the past ? What will erase the record before God of the past transgressions even if you should be gloriously righteous from today on ?
Nothing, nor should anything. We should learn to live with the mistakes we make, not believe really hard in something and suddenly everything is alright. I don't mean to go Godwin on your ass, but what if Hitler had really, deeply and utterly repented and accepted Jesus, would god then allow him into heave just like that? Don't you see a problem with that (substitute Hitler for a baby raping infant killer, who killed and raped 600 babies, if the Godwin gets too great)?
Imagine a shop of vases where an earthquake has occured. All of the vases are lying around broken in pieces.
Some are broken into a hundred pieces. Some are borken into fifty pieces. Some are broken into twenty pieces. Some into ten, seven, or even five pieces.
Let's say some vases are broken into only TWO large pieces. Now the ones broken into TWO large pieces may say "Well, at least I am not as bad as that one over there. He's broken into twelve shattered pieces. I am only broken into TWO pieces."
The one broken into fewer pieces may seem to be in better condition then the others. But the point is that they are ALL broken. None are whole. All have lost their function and ability to do what they were designed to do.
And all can be repaired, it's just a matter of how much energy you want to put into it.
In the same way, there are sinners who can compare themselves to other sinners and say "Well, I am not as bad as this other sinner." But in the eyes of God "All have sinned". All have fallen short of the glory of God.
Sure, whatever. None have sinned in my eyes, and the stalemate is back again. Now I know you don't think my opinion equal to that of god, but honestly, what I've read of god, I don't think much of his opinion anyway. Now that Jesus fellow, he had some good ideas, some pretty stupid ones as well, but meh, nobody's perfect, eh?
We need not to stand up next to each other. We need to stand up next to the Son of God. John chapter 3 tries to convey this.
Nicodemus was a very good citizen. His name means "Victor of the people". He was humble. He was very smart. He was a good man. Jesus told Nicodemus that he MUST be born from above. He told him that he must be born of God - born again. He needed a new nature born into his being. That is a nature that he was not naturally born with. He needed God to implant a new nature into his being causing him to be born from God, and born again.
Jesus said it "must" be so.
So? I say it mustn't. Oh, there's that stalemate again. As long as you live a good life, I don't give a hoot why you do it. If it doesn't bother anyone else, go your merry way I say.
I have been called away for a bit.
Uhm... ok, I guess.
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