Friday, January 31, 2014

No Sin, Only Sinners Denying Sin

It seems apparent to me.

Modern day people look at the Christian message and reject it for two reasons:

1) Their modern logic tells them that such a story, is just that, a story.
    Response: On the surface, it may seem that way, but when truly digging in the details, there is A LOT where logic can be used to substantiate Christianity.
 
  There was a book called ''Who moved the stone.'' It was two skeptics looking to disprove Christianity. One converted based on what he found. Link to Book
2) The second is sin.  People all over the place are denying sin, or if they are Christian, take part in a church that says: All of your sins are forgiven when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior! (Born Again-Calvinist-Baptist-Evangelicals)
 
   Modern people equate 'nice' as not evil, or as good.  I am nice to 90% of the people I know, therefore, I am good.
   It won't be rare to find me writing 'evil' like this: 'evil'
Because people do not like this term categorically, and so by putting the ' ' around it.  I am acknowledging that the word has a personal interpretation, but I by no means am trying to sugar coat it, I mean to use the word evil.
 
   In Morality, there is Good and Evil. Evil is usually interpreted as of the devil, mean spirited, an evil person as the devil themself, or to mean that if they are evil the they are DAMNED, going to Hell.
   But it is not the case, evil simply means against Good, and not a personal good, but the Great Good.  It would be 'nicer' to say, harmony.  Sin is against what is harmonious.
   In this very blog, I try to illustrate this in the post about 'Untamed Sexuality.'
  Modern day people are so offended by the word evil, they categorically deny the term, and then deny sin all together, or almost all together.  If not all together, then they only recognize those really, really 'evil' things people do like serial killers, or cruel world leaders.
   It shocks me that people want to deny sin, i.e. evil
   The hard truth, I think,  is that majority of people are not only sinners (as we all are sinners) but the majority do not want to hear about their lifestyles as being profoundly sinful.  And they then have a very simple solution for this, they take away the voices that say they are living in sin. 
  In other words, it is not a denial on evidential circumstances, it is a denial based on self-preservation and self interests.

  Also known as PRIDE, the deadliest of all sins

  Our culture is one of pleasure and release.  This release is typically either by violence or through an imprisonment of sexual channels
  Basically, we as a culture do not like sin, because we are sour pusses / immature in our nature / confused on what is a true good. Or as the pope says, maybe we are just idiots.
 WHAT modernity loses in Christianity is the answer to sin.  Not an answer by denying it, or a self-interested redefining of what sin is or is not, the Christian answer to sin is one of mercy.
  Mercy is what is not appreciated.  It is not appreciated that we are capable to recognize ourselves as sinners, but we have a calling to pursue the mercy offered to us despite our sinfulness.
  This is great, and this is harmonious! One can thrive in knowing that even with the pain of sin, we still have the advantage of recapturing/reconciling oneself despite sin. 
  When talking to modern people, they don't want to hear the words ''evil'' or 'sin.'' So instead. one can say disharmony, harmful, unhealthy, unwholesome,'troublesome'
  You have to soften the language as if to a child !!!!!!

   I wonder if it helps modern westerners to think of sin in a new way, sin as against liberty and justice. What is sin if it is not invading one's freedom? Freedom of living. Is a robber not a sinner? Is a rapist or a murder not sinful?  These people take away one's freedom, you see. Taking away the freedom of walking down the street safely, freedom of preserving their body,  freedom of meeting their own life end.   What is Justice if there is not sin? On what account can one claim injustice without sin?  I put it to them who deny sin, that this has to be sincerely re-evaluated!

Jesus's Bible

  Jesus Bible: Where is it?

 Well are we talking about the book of Jesus' followers, containing His Words, parts of His life, and His mission?  We know where to find it, don't we.

  OR!

 Is it the book He wrote Himself? His own work, very literally, ''the words of the Lord.''
   Where is it?  Let's examine what this non-existence means.


 Let's be straight forward and brief about what this means, it means that Jesus intended men to carry out His work.  It means that the very act of writing a Gospel or a letter preaching the teachings of Christ is done by work.  It means that salvation is not by faith alone, it means the word must be given, something must be done for all to share in the salvation.  It is a mission of man, commissioned by God.

  The Bible is much more than a foretelling of the One True God incarnate.  It is more than trying to tell or convince one of the existence of God.

  The Bible is a lot more than a book which tells one, 'Hey" Don't I have a message for you! Jesus is Lord, if you accept Him, You are saved!''

  Much more!

  Yes! It is a witness to Christ as incarnate, yes!, it is about God's design for salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

  But when you read the letters, understand that these are people who are bringing us Jesus' message, not Jesus Himself.  Jesus commissioned men (and 'man') to the obligation to spread the message.
  Many non-Catholics look at the Catholic Church and question all claims of authority by a single expression, ''Catholicism is a man's religion.''

  The Bible was written by men, guided by the Holy Spirit to claim the Truth.

  How could one, on one hand, say that the Catholic Church is 'man made,' but the Bible is 'Holy Spirit guided.

  There is an obvious inconsistency there. Could it just so happen to be that this Holy Spirit not only guided men to write a book, but stayed with their communities and guided them as well?

  Without getting into the theological disputes on grace, one should surely see that what is salvation without works? What is it without the works of men?

  What if the Apostles were just happy to live by faith and did not go out and work on missions around the Mediterranean and Middle East?  Where would we be today without the work of men?

   Does one not see that men are commissioned to work for God?  God's plan is for men to take the seeds of His mission in the works of Jesus Christ and to water and nurture this message.

  God commissioned us! God's vision of man is of men!

  So what is the beef with the Catholic Church? Is the Church not descendants of the Apostles themselves?  Protestants may not want to believe it, but history says otherwise.

   This is very evident when reading the New Testament book of the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles.

 Let's get biblical and show how evident this is: Jesus came to plant the seed, men were commissioned for it to grow.

  1 Corin 3 : 6 I planted, Apol′los watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are equal, and each shall receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers;[a] you are God’s field, God’s building.
10 According to the commission of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble— 13 each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day[b] will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Galatians 6: 6 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Look to yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if any one thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each man will have to bear his own load.