Monday, April 25, 2005
Jesus is just all right with me
This started out as a comment. I decided to make it a post. So there. :-P
Re, "Jesus is this really cool guy whose life and ministry can be reduced down to a take-off on a Dorito's commercial: 'Keep right on sinning, I'll forgive more.' "
That's closer to the truth than the writer, in a post below, meant it.
The whole dang point of the Cross is this: WE CAN'T HELP BUT SIN. What the hell, so to speak, part of "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" do people not get?
Salvation, redemption, sanctification, etceterification -- none of it reduces the fact that we are all so much less than what God intended that nothing we can do, bearing the brand of Jesus or not, makes a whit of difference to the fact that we SUCK in God's sight.
There is God. It's not me. Holy, so to speak, CRAP. What can I do?
Nothing but throw myself daily, hourly, second-by-second, at the foot of the Cross and cry out, Oh God save me, a sinner.
That does not reduce "repentance" to a word from old hymns. But, repentance is a living-breathing thing almost, an attitude.
The people who were "saved" -- and I put the quote marks there only because some Christians honestly don't know what all that oh-so-familiar-to-others-of-us shorthand means -- before Christ were putting faith in the promise of a saviour-messiah.
Today, the saved put their faith in the historical fact of the man from Nazareth coupled with faith in his Godness.
NONE OF IT, at root, had much to do with keeping the law, whether the pre-Cross law or the post-Cross social mores masquerading as sin.
Liberty is what the Cross means. Freedom.
Not freedom to sin all you want -- in the Southern chicken-fried Baptist church I grew up in we called such salvation "fire insurance" -- but freedom to quit worrying so damn much about sin in general, and what others, apart from Christ, do in specific.
I sin. Oh, wretched man that I am! I sin. Jesus saves. It IS as simple as that.
I love this verse, the last verse of the hymn "Marvelous Grace."
Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see his face,
will you this moment his grace receive?
Grace, grace, God's grace,
grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
grace, grace, God's grace,
grace that is greater than all our sin!
--ER
Re, "Jesus is this really cool guy whose life and ministry can be reduced down to a take-off on a Dorito's commercial: 'Keep right on sinning, I'll forgive more.' "
That's closer to the truth than the writer, in a post below, meant it.
The whole dang point of the Cross is this: WE CAN'T HELP BUT SIN. What the hell, so to speak, part of "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" do people not get?
Salvation, redemption, sanctification, etceterification -- none of it reduces the fact that we are all so much less than what God intended that nothing we can do, bearing the brand of Jesus or not, makes a whit of difference to the fact that we SUCK in God's sight.
There is God. It's not me. Holy, so to speak, CRAP. What can I do?
Nothing but throw myself daily, hourly, second-by-second, at the foot of the Cross and cry out, Oh God save me, a sinner.
That does not reduce "repentance" to a word from old hymns. But, repentance is a living-breathing thing almost, an attitude.
The people who were "saved" -- and I put the quote marks there only because some Christians honestly don't know what all that oh-so-familiar-to-others-of-us shorthand means -- before Christ were putting faith in the promise of a saviour-messiah.
Today, the saved put their faith in the historical fact of the man from Nazareth coupled with faith in his Godness.
NONE OF IT, at root, had much to do with keeping the law, whether the pre-Cross law or the post-Cross social mores masquerading as sin.
Liberty is what the Cross means. Freedom.
Not freedom to sin all you want -- in the Southern chicken-fried Baptist church I grew up in we called such salvation "fire insurance" -- but freedom to quit worrying so damn much about sin in general, and what others, apart from Christ, do in specific.
I sin. Oh, wretched man that I am! I sin. Jesus saves. It IS as simple as that.
I love this verse, the last verse of the hymn "Marvelous Grace."
Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see his face,
will you this moment his grace receive?
Grace, grace, God's grace,
grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
grace, grace, God's grace,
grace that is greater than all our sin!
--ER
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Re: Re, "Jesus is this really cool guy whose life and ministry can be reduced down to a take-off on a Dorito's commercial: 'Keep right on sinning, I'll forgive more.'
That's got merit. Although Jesus crossed the land and told sinners who repented to "go and sin no more," he also said forgive, forgive, forgive. Love your enemies. Judge not. There are two precepts here: Don't sin anymore. If you do, as Jesus himself either flirted with or outright did -- a la "Father, why has thou forsaken me?", Jesus knows what it's like to live this screwed-up lie. Nonetheless, he tells us to avoid sin, No. 1. A cynical foray into sinning and subsequently repenting as a rote "do-over" card fools no one. He wants us to live to a standard that 99 percent of the world, including and especially established Christian religions, reject. That is, reject materialism, reject politics, reject ego ... the whole purpose of our existence it to realize how insignificant we are and the incredible miracle that we exist at all as thinking beings. It's called amazing grace.
That's got merit. Although Jesus crossed the land and told sinners who repented to "go and sin no more," he also said forgive, forgive, forgive. Love your enemies. Judge not. There are two precepts here: Don't sin anymore. If you do, as Jesus himself either flirted with or outright did -- a la "Father, why has thou forsaken me?", Jesus knows what it's like to live this screwed-up lie. Nonetheless, he tells us to avoid sin, No. 1. A cynical foray into sinning and subsequently repenting as a rote "do-over" card fools no one. He wants us to live to a standard that 99 percent of the world, including and especially established Christian religions, reject. That is, reject materialism, reject politics, reject ego ... the whole purpose of our existence it to realize how insignificant we are and the incredible miracle that we exist at all as thinking beings. It's called amazing grace.
# posted by 
: 8:56 PM
: 8:56 PM
Re, "That is, reject materialism, reject politics, reject ego ..."
You've just enumerated the very three-legged stool that holds up this very society! The foundation of this so-called "Christian" nation. I don't profess to know the ultimate answers. Just some of the premises that make up arguments. You may have stated the crux of why I am so mad and upset all the time. I am trapped in this life. "Follow me," He said. I have never met one who did. No, not one. ... and back to pleading for mercy and grace I go ...
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You've just enumerated the very three-legged stool that holds up this very society! The foundation of this so-called "Christian" nation. I don't profess to know the ultimate answers. Just some of the premises that make up arguments. You may have stated the crux of why I am so mad and upset all the time. I am trapped in this life. "Follow me," He said. I have never met one who did. No, not one. ... and back to pleading for mercy and grace I go ...
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