Keep your Eye Fixed

CG discussion


CG If the Protestant Reformers really believed that the Regulative Principle of Life was as narrow as the Regulative Principle of Worship, we would all be wearing uniforms as a natural consequence.
IF True! Just like Muslim women with their head scarf (or brethren? Or amish or hutterite or PRCE women) I am saying that Reform theology is an unnecessary spiritual straightjacket because of the prytry gov’t and the required oath, unnecessary and also hummmmmmm unbelief, sin, Fear, - not ligit - I’m not sure what word to use; because the gov’t system and the ‘required’ oath negate what Jesus died and rose to accomplish!.
Sure I know I am leaving the door open to a big messsss! (I am not leaving a door open that God intended to keep shut) Exactly what has happened in evangelical churches and Pentecostal – though the reasons for each of those being in a mess include other reasons and different than each other and than just this – However prytry reform churches are also in big trouble ! ! ! Someone suggested that Evangelical churches were in trouble because they did not have their theo written down – Reform Prytry Calvinist does but the reformation did not out last the first generation . . . . What I am saying is NOT that the theological ‘errors’ are THE problem. I am saying that they are A root problem and with careful analysis you can see that there is a difference in the problems that each of these three groups have Evang, Penta and Reform. Doctrine makes a difference. Are you afraid that God and the Lord Jesus Christ contrary to their claim “the Lord will build the church” cannot keep Christians true to Himself? ? ? We have to demand that people swear an oath to conform? I thought that the Mt Sinai Cov’t proved that people will not follow God even if it is legislated. I thought the book of Job proved that God is NOT in the business of legislating OR bribing loyalty “does Job serve you for nothing?”! What is the purpose of Christians in a local area gathering together on a regular basis?
True or not true. God Himself has given me an absolute guarantee of one hundred percent holiness? I say that this is what Jesus died and rose for. Without it I will NEVER become anything other than God’s enemy destined for eternal incarceration. There ARE lots of ‘parallels between the Mt Sinai covenant and the NT however there are some BIG contrasts as well. One of the contrasts is exactly that in the Mt Sinai covenant, Holiness on the part of the people depended on them whereas under the NT my holiness DOES NOT depend on me Gal 3:3 “what, you started by faith and you think that now you have to try?”.
True or not true. The church is a group of peers in a family?
CG Keeping the law is not a matter of salvation, but sanctification. How do we know that we are being conformed more and more to the image of Christ? Isn't it because we are starting to practice habitual righteousness instead of habitual sin? Isn't it because we sin less.
IF NO! Sinning less is a by product of sanctification. True, it IS a progress indicator but it is not the goal. The goal of sanctification is to trust HIM! Keeping the law was/is a matter of Justification. The min that I am born again I am on the other side of death, things are different now – I AM a new creation in Christ! Life functions on a whole different plane than before I was born again. Once I am born again I DO NOT practice habitual sin by nature any more. That is what being born again is all about! Rom 5,6,7,8 “Mortify the deeds of the flesh (read it carefully - NOT the deeds of the old man, the old sinful nature) We know we are being conformed when we trust Him! Believe it, if you trust Him He WILL lead you in paths of holiness (without having to legislate it or bribing you).
CG We must have a standard to measure ourselves against, not for salvation purposes, but for determining if what we are doing is pleasing to the Lord.
IF We must? Sorry to put it this way it could get personal . . . Think of THE time that you know was THE time when you most displeased your parents. Did it break a law that your parents had written in concrete? Were your parents abashed that you broke one of their laws or was it a case of their love, you broke their heart? Why did it break their heart? I don’t know your parents but I’ll ask if it wasn’t that they were crushed and defeated and personally made unclean and so on and on BUT because they love you and were concerned about what you were doing to yourself ? Did you know at the time that you were not pleasing them? How did you know? This is the biggest reason that I am saying that our personal relationship with God is THE rule of life and practice for the Christian. The Bible is our only hard copy memory reference true, but we are in a living personal relationship with God through Jesus’ death and rsrctn. True I have left the big barn door open again – I am not talking about conscience but about the indwelling Holy Spirit. How do you define the ‘still small voice’? I can’t. But we can experience it. Something which alack I wish with all my heart for more/better experience of.
Didn’t you read God said “Israel (the nation) has NEVER sinned” back in the OT? How Could He say that ? ? ? Being that I am in Christ, God does not see sin in me! True? Like the king who hid under the woman’s shirt to escape assigns I am covered by the righteousness of Christ ! ! ! Halleluiah ! ! Why do I NEED a standard? I have a standard – the AUN (absolute universal norm) BE HOLY. JESUS. What else do I NEED? I also have the standard “Love God - love one another (Christians)”.

CG But if you are saved, you will give evidence of it in your life. And that evidence means you are trying not to sin
IF It is very true that if my life does not show holiness my salvation is suspect ! ! ! It is true that if I am saved I WILL give evidence of it in my life (holiness as well as other things like love, trust . . .). It is true that the Bible is my reference for how well I am doing BUT not just the law, the law does not, can not define either love or personal relationship! ! The best that the law can do is tell some of the things that they are not. True? It is really quite impossible to define them. The Bible illustrates them both. It is Not true that that evidence means that I am “Trying not to sin”. The one DOES NOT follow from the other. Please see the book of Hebrews. “There remains therefore a Rest to the people of God” Jesus did not raise from the dead so that I would be constantly looking over my shoulder to see if I am keeping in line or not! ! ! My dad teased my sister – they were seeding peas and dad was following the tractor with a hand plow. He told her to pick a spot on the fence line and drive toward it; she fixed her eye, he said, on a cow that was headed up to the barn for a drink of water. This is what is wrong with Reform theo. It is built on the OT Mt Sinai covenant and focused on the death of Jesus and on the law and on what I am doing wrong this time. What is the Rest that Hebrews is referring to? Is it not trusting in the power of Jesus rsrctn? Fix your eyes on Jesus. “We have an anchor within the veil, Jesus Christ the rghts” Hebrews again. “IF any sin we have an advocate . . . “ I will NEVER make it if I have to TRY to be good ! ! ! When I read the NT this is what I read. And I experience that the more I try and the more I promise to be good the less I am! But I ALSO read that in Christ I DO NOT HAVE TO TRY! This is what sets true Christianity apart from all the religions of the world! This I tried to teach to the people in the two churches we were at and this I have tried to teach to my wife . . . am trying to teach our kids . . . tried to point out to others . . .

IF The regulative principle of life IS the regulative principle of worship. Personal and corporate 7/24. The regulative principle of life is, fix your eye on Jesus “Looking unto the author and finisher of our faith . . .Heb 12:2”.