My post will probably be viewed as useless, but I'm going to post it anyway and no doubt get slammed for it....
I do not understand this either…I’m just being honest. My husband is an agnostic and he is one of most stand-up guys you will ever meet…better then a few Christians I know actually, but that’s my personal opinion having been married to him for twelve years.
According to some, your husband is a slave to his "sinful flesh," even though he is capable of doing the right thing.
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__________________
"And God said, you are responsible for the fish of the sea,
and the fowl of the air, and every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
My post will probably be viewed as useless, but I'm going to post it anyway and no doubt get slammed for it....
I do not understand this either…I’m just being honest. My husband is an agnostic and he is one of most stand-up guys you will ever meet…better then a few Christians I know actually, but that’s my personal opinion having been married to him for twelve years.
Get ready for what I have to say because I think you deserve it.
I am happy that it appears you have been blessed with a good man. There are a lot of good honest agnostics out there who have problems believing in God for many reasons.
God knows what’s going on with your husband and He can handle it. It’s a wonderful thing for you that you can trust God and put all your hope in Christ.
He is able to take care of your loved ones. Rest in Him.
Do you mean here or in real life? There are many here who claimed to be "saved" who act like heathen.
And then there is you.....a very sweet, kind man.
I think what the poster MAY have meant is that to those of us who are truly born-again, we have a new nature, and have the power to overcome sin.
The unsaved do not, and are still servants to their old sinful nature.
Just my opinion.
To me it is worse for one to "have the power to overcome sin" and still sin than it is for one NOT to "have the power to overcome sin" and still sin.
To me it is worse for Christians to have the "indwelling" of the "holy spirit" who helps them to discern scripture and for those christians to come up with different interpretations - even though they all have the same indwelling teacher
than it is for
Non Christians to have differing understanding of the scriptures because they don't have that teacher.
Of course, in reality, we non believers can understand the Bible. That's why we don't believe it.
Or course, in reality, we non believers can act just as upstanding as any believer.
I can't compare myself to you guys, that would be foolish and pointless.
I can only compare myself now to what I used to be before I trusted Christ. He did give me power to overcome the sins that I'd wrapped around myself. I'm not sin-less now ( I wish were ). But my sins were truly self destructive addictions before I knew Christ. My life just isn't like that anymore, and hasn't been for a long time. But I still look for that time when, in eternity, i'll be completely free from sin.
I can't compare myself to you guys, that would be foolish and pointless.
I can only compare myself now to what I used to be before I trusted Christ. He did give me power to overcome the sins that I'd wrapped around myself. I'm not sin-less now ( I wish were ). But my sins were truly self destructive addictions before I knew Christ. My life just isn't like that anymore, and hasn't been for a long time. But I still look for that time when, in eternity, i'll be completely free from sin.
Annette,
I started not to respond (which I do alot when I don't want to offend). I've done something that makes it hard to discuss theological issues (like politics) with you: I've become your freind.
And SLG's.
But I woudln't be much of a freind if I didn't let you know what I was thinking.
I truly don't understand and I hope you will help me to.
If you and SLG have been given the power to overcome sin, and if, indeed, you have a new nature that I don't have, then why can't you live a sinless life: if you have the power to overcome sin.
If you can't live a sinless life, then how are you in a better position than the non believer?
I can't compare myself to you guys, that would be foolish and pointless.
I can only compare myself now to what I used to be before I trusted Christ. He did give me power to overcome the sins that I'd wrapped around myself. I'm not sin-less now ( I wish were ). But my sins were truly self destructive addictions before I knew Christ. My life just isn't like that anymore, and hasn't been for a long time. But I still look for that time when, in eternity, i'll be completely free from sin.
I have said this before, and it bears repeating here. I once was a professing Christian. I am now a complete atheist. I truly feel that I am a kinder and gentler and more tolerant individual now than I was then. I am so much more happy now than I was then. I would never undo the decision I made to divorce myself from my previously held beliefs.
The truth is, I believe that I transgressed more when I was a Christian than I have since I became an atheist. Does that qualify me as having been "delivered from the power of sin?"
For me there can never be any going back.
__________________
"And God said, you are responsible for the fish of the sea,
and the fowl of the air, and every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
I have said this before, and it bears repeating here. I once was a professing Christian. I am now a complete atheist. I truly feel that I am a kinder and gentler and more tolerant individual now than I was then. I am so much more happy now than I was then. I would never undo the decision I made to divorce myself from my previously held beliefs.
The truth is, I believe that I transgressed more when I was a Christian than I have since I became an atheist. Does that qualify me as having been "delivered from the power of sin?"
For me there can never be any going back.
The difference is that you were an angry unhappy person who called yourself a Christian. So in a way you did deliver yourself and felt relief when you became honest and stopped worrying about your sin.
But you have no clue what she is talking about.
I truly don't understand and I hope you will help me to.
If you and SLG have been given the power to overcome sin, and if, indeed, you have a new nature that I don't have, then why can't you live a sinless life: if you have the power to overcome sin.
If you can't live a sinless life, then how are you in a better position than the non believer?
I don't understand.
And I ask you this in the nicest way I know how.
.
The New York Yankees have just proven themselves to be the best baseball team this year. They had the 'power' to win every game, yet they didn't. In the same way, Christians have the potential to win every 'sin battle' but we don't always use that potential correctly, because we are still flawed.
True, we cannot live a sinless life. The difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is one's sins are covered over by God's grace while the other's sins are not. Does this give the right for the Christian to act out in sin? No. Paul addressed this in Romans that though we have immunity for our sin, we still are not to live to sin.
__________________
~ Dan
Real Christianity should be identified by its production of spiritual fruit*, not religious nuts.
*love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control
Last edited by Smellin Coffee; 11-06-2009 at 08:17 AM.
I started not to respond (which I do alot when I don't want to offend). I've done something that makes it hard to discuss theological issues (like politics) with you: I've become your freind.
And SLG's.
But I woudln't be much of a freind if I didn't let you know what I was thinking.
I truly don't understand and I hope you will help me to.
If you and SLG have been given the power to overcome sin, and if, indeed, you have a new nature that I don't have, then why can't you live a sinless life: if you have the power to overcome sin.
If you can't live a sinless life, then how are you in a better position than the non believer?
I don't understand.
And I ask you this in the nicest way I know how.
.
Because I see something about you that I respect, I will take the time to respond to this if you don't mind.
When we Christians strive to be Christ like, we have made a decision to do things in a way that protect us from a lot of consequences of the sins that would have hurt us. We make a conscious choice to turn from sin.
But as long as we live in this sinful world we face the same kinds of temptations that everyone else faces. And because we still have freewill we sometimes take our eyes off Christ and are led away into sin by some temptation that we aren’t willing to let Christ help us overcome.
But our love for Christ has caused us to lose the desire to sin, and has replaced it with a desire to shun sin. Sometimes we give in to some sin that still has an appeal even though we desire to be perfect. When that happens and our hearts condemn us, we Christians can lean on the living Christ to help us overcome things that we don’t have the ability to do on our own.
For the most part we do pretty well, but we are still sinners saved by grace and we still fail sometimes.
None of us are worthy of God’s great love because of anything we have done. You could place your trust in Him just like I do, but it is a choice we all have to make.
Being able to rest in Christ is of great benefit if you can believe and understand what it means.
I have said this before, and it bears repeating here. I once was a professing Christian. I am now a complete atheist. I truly feel that I am a kinder and gentler and more tolerant individual now than I was then. I am so much more happy now than I was then. I would never undo the decision I made to divorce myself from my previously held beliefs.
The truth is, I believe that I transgressed more when I was a Christian than I have since I became an atheist. Does that qualify me as having been "delivered from the power of sin?"
For me there can never be any going back.
I think to a degree I can understand what you mean. For a few years after I trusted Christ I was a member of a very strict Independent Baptist Church. It was not a kind, gentle, or tolerant environment. There was alot of preaching against sin and God's wrath, but very little understanding of His grace. It took a few years of that before I finally began to have a true understanding of my relationship with Christ. Yes, I'm ashamed of the things I did before I was saved, but I no longer try to overcompensate by dressing, talking, acting, and worst of all, judging others like a super-spiritual know it all. I was trying to please God in my flesh, instead of realizing all that He'd delivered me from. And yes, I'm happier now. I serve God now with a sense of joy and wonder, not because I'm trying to prove how spiritual I am.
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