Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!emory!att!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: johnw@stew.ssl.berkeley.edu (John Warren) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Bible the word of God? Message-ID: Date: 30 Nov 90 09:40:47 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 53 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article ta00est@unccvax.uncc.edu (elizabeth s tallant) writes: >In article , mib@geech.ai.mit.edu (Michael I. Bushnell) writes: >> >> >> But I see your problem in a different light. If you are looking for >> solid rules you can follow, then the New Testament and Christianity >> are not for you. Ours is a religion of freedom from rules and >> guidelines. >> >> -- >> Michael I. Bushnell \ This above all; to thine own self be true > > >Wait just a minute!!! > >Christianity is NOT free from rules and guidelines. WE must love God, we must >love others, we must not steal, we must not commit adultry, we must turn the >other cheek. God has given us laws which we must follow. > >Now, because we are living in the age of grace, we are free from the old Jewish >laws. We are free from mechanical guidelines and repetitve acts. > When Paul talked about the Law and our freedom from it, he was not referring to just the mechanical/ repetitive nature of it. He was referring to the demand the law has not just on the external act but the internal state of mind of the actor. This is what a large part of the Sermon on the Mount is about. Jesus said, "You have heard it said to you. . .(e.g., don't covet your neighbor's wife), but I say unto you. . . (e.g., even if you look lustfully at her, you're committing adultery);" thus he underscored the extent of the Law's authority (for those who would live by following it). It cuts straight to the heart. **This** is the law (i.e., law with the meaning understood) that Paul in Romans 7 said that we died to, not just the repetitive/mechanical nature of the Jewish law. In Galatians, he said **this** law was a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. Any set of rules that has the intent to make better people, however good those rules are, are law that we have died to. I cannot love God, until I first trust him. I cannot love others until God puts that love in me. I cannot turn the other cheek, maybe somebody else can, but I cannot, at least now. But the Spirit of God, which is in me because of my faith (act, based on belief, supported by confidence), is more than able and willing to put in me the desire to do so. It is NOT my responsibility to make myself into more of a Cheek Turner. It is my responsibility to act in faith. >Yet, this does not mean that we are free from laws. The are still laws of >God in existence today. > Christianity is not free from rules and guidelines, but we are. What I mean is that in order to please God, he only wants faith. He then puts in us the desire and the ability to follow rules and guidelines that are eternally true. The Law IS good, but we don't have to follow it. And yet the spirit of God, in us, will change us so that we do follow it more and more. >Elizabeth Tallant