Why can't it be just about experiencing the love of God? Why not just about knowing the Holy Spirit, living by the wisdom in the Bible?
Instead, new believers have to feel guilty about their Sin. Let's be honest, most people are not sinners but losers. They struggle in their jobs, their finances, their health etc.
Instead, new believers have to feel guilty about their Sin. Let's be honest, most people are not sinners but losers. They struggle in their jobs, their finances, their health etc.
Let's take a look at the bible.
Sinners, Losers, & Guilt:
1. Sinners or Losers: The bible does NOT say all men are losers, but it DOES say all men are sinners.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
2. Therefore, every man alive is not a LOSER... every man alive is a SINNER.
The word "loser" really isn't even a biblical kind of word, or a biblical concept.
It's just a superficial idea from popular culture... about how the world views success and failure.
The word LOSER is a "put down", a pejorative, used to ridicule anyone who doesn't live up to particular "worldly" and "superficial" measurements.
Jesus didn't have a hot wife, a fast car, a big house, cool friends, a fancy country club, the right self-help books, a fat bank account etc. etc... he would have been a loser.
There's nothing WRONG with a hot wife, a fast car, or a big house ... but having these, or not having these, does nothing to affect WHO and WHAT you are.
They are nice... but wholly irrelevant.
And MANY of the worldly pleasures that make us "cool" - they aren't even good for us.
3. Do we still sin after we are saved, and know Christ? Yes.
John said we all still sin, in the present tense.
1John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Paul said he still struggles with sin, present tense.
Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
4. CONFESSION FOR PEACE:
when we sin, in the present tense, God still loves his children, but we need to confess these sins to God in order to restore our "walk", our "peace", with God.
1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We do need continual confession with God, but this is not to regain his love, but to restore our own hearts before him.
It is to restore peace with God, not to restore our place as his child.
5. The whole problem with the Opening Post is not really about SIN... but about GUILT.
We all sin, and God readily restores our walk with him as we daily confess sins.
God knows we will continue to sin, but he wants us to walk with HIM, and be free from GUILT.
We confess our sins as they occur, to restore our walk with God... and we LEAVE THE GUILT BEHIND.
The REAL ISSUE in the opening Post is not a matter of SIN, but of GUILT.
Churches may talk about sin so much that we feel a burden of guilt.
We are not to walk around burdened by guilt.
It IS TRUE that we have continual sin, which should be continually confessed....
but nowhere does the Bible say God's children, who God loves,
are to be weighed down with guilt and shame.
If we do something we feel guilty about, we are to immediately confess that, then LET IT GO, and TRUST THE BIBLE that GOD LOVES US.
Conclusion:
1. As God's children, we all still sin continually, and need continual confession to God... not to regain God's love, but merely to have our hearts right with him, so we can restore a peaceful walk with him.
2. The REAL issue in the opening post is not SIN, but GUILT. Sin is a real thing, which we must all deal with continually... but the GUILT for that sin is to be left behind us.
Christ did not die so we could live in guilt... he took our guilt so we could live in peace, with him.
* For anyone reading, I did not get into all of the precise biblical semantics here. I tried to keep this simple. Feel free to comment, but let's not get weighed down too far in semantics on these simple issues of sin, confession, and guilt.
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