Amen.
Them with ears, hear.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Praxeas
So then you can see that the REAL issue is not accusing others of legalism but determining what the bible says.
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I'm certainly not interested in accusing anyone of anything, legalism included. It can be easy to take the post for the person on a forum, when we are discussing strongly held beliefs, on purpose--not living our daily lives, wherein our true natures, hearts, are revealed. Therefore, i really have no conception of any of you as people, at least in a sense.
"You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, yet they testify about Me."
You will never know Christ by sitting in a room all day reading Scripture. I don't care if you read for a million years. You cannot worship--which means
follow--Christ in that building you know as church. It's as simple as that. You cannot accept Christ with your mouth. Baptism is just a symbol, but it is usually, too often, made into the end product of an ersatz salvation for one who was called in fear, and will be placed, effectively, in a tomb. Admit it--the next step for a new convert in that system is to then teach them standards by which they are to determine who to exclude. This is the inevitable result of the doctrine of Original Sin. You are freed from the Law of sin and death, in Christ; not bound more tightly to it.
There is a lesson in the Eskimo meme; measure it if you will:
Eskimo: So, if i did not know about sin, would i still go to hell?
Priest: No, you would not.
Eskimo: Then why did you tell me?
See that this man was not brought
Salvation--freedom--but
Condemnation, death. Using the baptism symbol, one could best be described here as
drowning. The entire point is to
bury all that. Leave it all behind.
You are freed from the Law of sin and death. At your best, you would never notice another's sin for the rest of your life, being too immersed in demonstrating
Life, more abundantly, which the 'lost' will naturally flock to. If you think you need to practice holiness--i do--by all means do so. Quietly. While i personally have determined that looking for any other 'standard' than the Holy Spirit, in the moment, is pointless, coming from "all (who) have sinned, and come short..."--or their interpretations--everyone is different there, perhaps. But if you think
I need to follow some standard, you have lost the point. Fatally.