Results 1 - 2 of 2
|
|
|||||
Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Character of Purpose | Matt 3:15 | Pilgrim2eternity | 194898 | ||
Hello Doc, Unfortunately I don't think of myself of having a doctrine or theology and in fact, with all respect, I believe that we get far to caught up in such things. And I say that because most "Christians" don't have a solid understanding of the thread that binds the gospel together which I believe can be tied up in 1 John 4:19 "We love Him, because He first loved us." All we are must be founded on this assumption/certainty. This understanding must permeate every part of our existence. The lack of this in our lives is the exact distance we are from God's prefect will for us. You talked about the assumption you were making from what I had written, that the lack of character meant that the person couldn't live/respond inside the divine plan. When in fact as I see it, it is our "self" that ham strings the perfect. And so it is our lack of climbing over self and putting the "old man" on the cross. He gave us free will and so it up to us to step up to the plate and have the strength of character to do what it takes to love Him. Along the journey we may find ourselves having stumbled and all we can do is to fall on His mercy and grace and dust ourselves off You see if I have a theology or doctrine you can see it in my salutation; Love is Enough. As I see it His love for us with His Son going to the cross for us so that we might have eternal life is enough. And our response to this love is enough. It is enough for every situation that we find ourselves in. Something I find interesting is that you would ask me to back up your statement of my perceived 3 point theology. Since I can see that you know the Bible quit well with your 5574 posts @ the StudyBibleForum, I did not expect to see your perception of my note since my heart is nowhere near the twisted theology that you have figured out from my note. I post to about 60 people through out the workweek. I've been doing this for 3 years now and always at the core of my posts is this idea of Love is Enough. My heart is for Elohim. I yearn to love Him more all the time and I know that I'm so far from that place of overflowing love. I strive to give Him all I can and to pass that idea along my journey to fellow travelers. I will add the post that I had sent out the day before this one. Although you can go to my Yahoo group or Blog to see a lot more of where my heart is at, and I can assure you that it is with the purist of motive that I do this; to further the flock along. http://love-is-enough.blogspot.com/ http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/love-is-Enough/ Having said my say, I will bid you a good night and let you know that I do appreciate the discourse to allow me to keep my thoughts sharp and to stay the course. Love is Enough, Daniel Muddy Waters "I have always loved you," says the Lord. But you retort, "Really? How have you loved us? And the Lord replies, "This is how I showed my love for you: I loved your ancestor Jacob, but I rejected his brother, Esau, and devastated his hill country. I turned Esau's inheritance into a desert for jackals." Malachi 1:2-3 He made a choice to love Jacob and keep a covenant thousands of years: His divine purpose never wavering. He has made a choice to love us: His divine purpose never wavering. But we have chosen to muddy the water. We want our cake and eat it to. We want His divine guidance and blessing yet we chose to cut apart His word to suit our needs. When we have been given mercy and grace, we chose to share it on our terms and not His. We confuse, self-love with love of, love for, Elohim. We have put our own desires before His desires and have muddied the water He has given us love On whose terms to we choose to share it? He has chosen us What is our response? He is a Holy God Where is our respect? He is a perfect God Where is our faith? We love Him, because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19 Love is Enough, Daniel Stay Hungry |
||||||
2 | Character of Purpose | Matt 3:15 | DocTrinsograce | 194924 | ||
Dear Daniel, Words mean something. They must be understood to have meaning and logical consequences. My summation of your teachings arose wholly out of your own words. God gave us language before the Fall (Genesis 2:16). He gives us a verbal revelation, and Christ is the Word incarnate (John 1:1; Hebrews 1:1-2). If words are that important to Him, how can we esteem them but just as highly? Everyone is a theologian, whether they recognize the fact or not. Each of us builds an organization of our perceptions into patterns that seem to make sense to us. Even denying a theology is a kind of theology. The real issue is not if we have a theology, but whether we have good theology or bad theology! We are commanded to "destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV) Furthermore, we are told to absolutely avoid anything that is not of "sound doctrine" (1 Timothy 1:8-10). Paul asserted, "We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge [epignosis] of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." (Colossians 1:9a-10 ESV) Jesus assured us that we would be set free by truth (John 8:32). Although love is the summum bonum in terms of Christian virtues (1 Corinthians 13), it is not the foundation of our faith. We are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8), not by love, as you assert. The only love that a lost person has is the love of the world (1 John 2:15). Love isn't even the greatest attribute of God. We are told that He is love (1 John 4:8b). But nowhere does it emphasize the love of God as it does His holiness. We are told that He is thrice holy (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8), not that He is thrice loving. Even when God speaks of Himself, His emphasis is not love. Assuming that a lost person -- dead in their sins (Ephesians 2:1b) -- could manifest love for something other than himself, it would still be insufficient to clear him of his guilt before God. God never, ever acquits the guilty (Exodus 34:7), regardless of what they think, say, or do. Sin always receives its due (Romans 5:12). Furthermore, what is the single greatest commandment? I'm sure that you remember. It is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." (Matthew 12:30 ESV) Think about this. Have you ever really loved the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? (You certainly haven't with your mind if you discount the importance of doctrine.) I know that I have not! God needn't go on with any further commandments, for we are doomed by the greatest commandment! Young man, you are looking at love as a meritorious means of redemption. This denies the fundamental message of the Gospel, and drains grace from it completely. It also misrepresents love entirely. Love is always a matter of doing (John 3:16; John 14:21; 1 John 5:3). It starts out with knowing, for love is never mindless. Biblical love is the visible evidence of the work of regeneration God has performed in a believer (Galatians 5:22). The tree is always known by its fruit (Luke 6:44). Let's be extremely careful we get the Gospel message correct for the sake of those to whom we preach (Romans 10:14), and that we may not draw the condemnation of Galatians 1:8. In Him, Doc PS All sentient creatures freely make behavioral choices in full accordance with their natures. We can discuss the nature of the human will, but it pales into insignificance if we error in our understanding of the Gospel. |
||||||