Post by benjoseph on Nov 9, 2009 21:15:59 GMT -5
It is possible to live your whole life without sinning. To deny this is to say that it is not always possible to love your neighbor as yourself. And it is not always possible to love God as best as you can. What a lie.
If you can value your own happiness and love yourself, you can value the happiness of others and love them as well. If you can value your own happiness as supreme and make self-love your highest priority, then you can love God just the same; you can value God's happiness supremely and love him as best as you can.
When people deny the possibility of living a sinless life they often defend their position by claiming that we don't need Jesus if we can live a perfect life. What a horrible thing to say. That implies that Jesus is nothing more than a sacrifice for sin.
I would say instead, that if we can not live without sin, then we should stop being concerned about supposedly not needing Jesus and start considering that Jesus does not need sinners.
The doctrine of inevitable sin says "Sorry my brother, I can love myself, but I cannot love you. I must love you less than you deserve." and "God, no one can love you all the time. You are just unlovable." or "God, it's not you... It's me. I just can't keep loving you."
This doctrine also seems to lead to church-goer elitism. If God requires more of your entire life than you are able then you will inevitably sin at some point. If God is like that, then he may also require more of you right now than you are able to do. You may be in sin right now even if you are trying your best. Unless you are once-saved-always-saved or predestined from the foundation of the world you could be in big trouble.
I think the bible represents obedience to God as being easy or reasonable rather than hard.
The bible says "love never fails" but professing christians say "love always fails".
If you can value your own happiness and love yourself, you can value the happiness of others and love them as well. If you can value your own happiness as supreme and make self-love your highest priority, then you can love God just the same; you can value God's happiness supremely and love him as best as you can.
When people deny the possibility of living a sinless life they often defend their position by claiming that we don't need Jesus if we can live a perfect life. What a horrible thing to say. That implies that Jesus is nothing more than a sacrifice for sin.
I would say instead, that if we can not live without sin, then we should stop being concerned about supposedly not needing Jesus and start considering that Jesus does not need sinners.
The doctrine of inevitable sin says "Sorry my brother, I can love myself, but I cannot love you. I must love you less than you deserve." and "God, no one can love you all the time. You are just unlovable." or "God, it's not you... It's me. I just can't keep loving you."
This doctrine also seems to lead to church-goer elitism. If God requires more of your entire life than you are able then you will inevitably sin at some point. If God is like that, then he may also require more of you right now than you are able to do. You may be in sin right now even if you are trying your best. Unless you are once-saved-always-saved or predestined from the foundation of the world you could be in big trouble.
I think the bible represents obedience to God as being easy or reasonable rather than hard.
The bible says "love never fails" but professing christians say "love always fails".