Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!shadooby!samsung!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: phys-bb@garnet.berkeley.edu Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: HUMAN VERSES SINLESS Message-ID: Date: 15 Nov 89 09:47:41 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 41 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article jygabler@ucdavis.edu (Jason Gabler) writes: > > My point is this: we are constantly called to strive for perfections as >Christians. That is our goal, to be like Jesus.... I have to disagree with you there. When Jesus walked the earth he rebuked his disciples time and again for their lack of faith, not for their lack of perfection. Yes our goal (more accurately--God's goal for us) is to be like Jesus, but there is a large chasm between the goal and our state. We cannot bridge the chasm by striving for perfection. The only bridge is "grace through faith". Bridges have two points of connection to the land masses on either side. In this case the points of connection are God's free gift of grace and our trusting acts of faith. Faith is a work: it is an action based upon a belief (hopefully a belief in God's promises and in God's faithfulness to his word), supported by confidence. It is the only work worth doing. Now as regards sin, or more specifically the little individual sins in our life: those ARE bad, lamentable, tragic, and God abhores them. But we can't make ourselves righteous by trying to be righteous. It is God who will put his law in our minds and write it on our hearts (Jer. 31:35). When we have sinned (and we all do) we have a promise of God that we can lay hold of: "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." Again, it's God who does the cleansing. The endurance we need is the endurance to keep laying hold and possessing the myriad promises God has made, especially the ones that apply to our individual situations. With regard to our growth in holiness, there is no time for anything else in this world but to act in faith, and let God make us righteous. > But, obviusly we cannot be perfect while in imperfect bodies. Besides >we wouldn't really need Jesus if we could be perfect. Well said. I could not agree with you more. P.S. All of this presupposes that at least some tiny part of my being wants to follow God, and that at least some tiny part of my being is not satisfied with myself as I presently am. God has a way of running with what little faith we have and increasing it, as long as we actively trust him. phys-bb@garnet.berkeley.edu / ". . .into the narrow lanes, \ (John Warren) \ I can't stumble or stay put. . ." /