We either seek to redefine Jesus, or we let Him redefine us and our world – on His terms, in His way, through His Word.
Really, this is the major fork in the road.
Too many claim to love Him, but on their terms as they use Him to affirm their own proclivities and sensibilities.
They are trapped in post-modern relativism, having lost the ability to be an authentic witness to the power of His truth.
~ Jim Wright
Agreed. You see this in the Homosexual movement where you have believers who want to be followers of Christ and be in a long term Homosexual relationship. Or believers who want to be sexually promiscuous and still say they follow Jesus (and I am not talking about the casual sin but someone who follows a lifestyle that involves their sin).
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There is more truth tellers than we like to admit. Too bad they are cast out by “Christians”. Christians have lived with dogma so long, they think it’s is the truth.
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Yes, a habitual sinner is straying from the path. That being said, when we take the yoke of The Lord on us, we are to uphold his teaching beyond anyone else. I believe that a lot of this responsibility, if not the majority, lies in the shortcomings of the church. Most modern churches allow their congregations to continue in sin, and even condone it! Everyone has a responsibility, individually, to read the word of God and discern properly for themselves. But, when you have pastors that people trust in to divide for them, and those pastors allow say, homosexuals, to holds hands and honor their “marriage” openly without pulling them aside privately and informing them that this type of sin cannot be condoned for the sake of keeping clarity in the body, who is at fault? Personally I believe that the word is there, it is plain, there is no confusion in it on these matters and God expects individuals to seek its truth. But, I have met many who simply cannot understand it on their own. We all need help at times, and edifying one another is a beautiful gift. If one of these individuals is allowed to go on in sin, actively participating with the body, and the body condones this( mostly by just avoiding the situation) there is great error in this! The responsibility of someone who shares Gods truth with others can be very difficult at times, if the real truth is shared. Tough love is often the best love and rarely seen as love. It is viewed as contention or hatred. This is not true. He who spares the rod haters his child. This goes for brothers and sisters as well! The rod of correction is love, it is a device of true freedom. We cannot combat the root of our sins if we cannot see them, and as harsh as it may seem, this takes correction for some. The church should teach the scripture without sugar coating a single word, and in turn we are all subject to this correction, especially the teachers. Sorry for the long winded comment, but this is an important issue that isn’t addressed often enough.
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Oh, let us not forget. We are more subject than they! We must remove the log to remove the splinter! We, claiming The Lord, professing His name are in more danger than say a non-believer guilty of sins of the flesh. I wish there was an easy way to open someone’s eyes, but, I was once blind to the word as well. I lived in sin, not homosexuality, but lust, flesh, the world. I look back and see that I could not have been encouraged to accept truth easily. It took patience, and thankfully our Lord is patient. : ) when someone confuses love for lust, this is powerful. Emotions are powerful and deceiving. But, even in correction there must be love. An angry person, bitter, worldly, homosexual, they all started innocent(minus original sin) and the world chewed them up. I think, how would The Lord have dealt with this sudden explosion of homosexuality? I’m not sure, but I do know it would have been honestly, yet with stern love. There are two extremes here. Some churches simply misinterpret love and condone it to avoid confrontation. And some harshly hate. There has to be a way……
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