St_Worm2

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Confessing the good confession that you are who God says you are, righteous and forgiven in Christ, will help you to not live beneath who you are. So, the next time you "sin", you can say, "I'm better than that!", and move on.

2 Corinthians 5:21, God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that God's righteousness would be produced in us.
Hi Lettuce, I see that you are pretty new around here, so first off, WELCOME TO CF :wave:

Now, question, when you become impatient and/or angry with your spouse or another family member, especially when you realize you shouldn't have, do you simply say/think to yourself, "I'm better than that" and "move on", or do you ask your family member for their forgiveness?

And if you ask them for forgiveness (which I suspect you do ;)), why do you do so?

Thanks!

Yours and His,
David
 
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Halbhh

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ah, here's a way to understand more on a piece of how confessing/repenting works --

When we confess we are also in effect rejecting the sin, letting go of it, instead of continuing to choose to remain in it.

It's like we are saying -- I'll take path A, and leave path B.

It's like turning. Returning.

We are choosing to follow Christ, His way, the "way the truth and the Life" way.

I let go of my sin, and don't continue to follow it, but Him instead.

Paul also pointed at another part (2 Cor chapter 7), but I'm not trying to put every part in just this short comment.
 
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lettuce

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Now, question, when you become impatient and/or angry with your spouse or another family member, especially when you realize you shouldn't have, do you simply say/think to yourself, "I'm better than that" and "move on", or do you ask your family member for their forgiveness?

Yes, I will say sorry if I offend someone and it's up to them to forgive or not, I am not bound to it. If someone offends me, I don't wait around for an apology, they are already forgiven.
 
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disciple1

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Greetings my brothers and sisters in Christ. I come to you in Love and in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is a issue in the church today that I need to address and i'm asking for your views (backed by scripture of course). After you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you like 2 Cor 5:17 states "Become new" do you still confess your sins to God seeking forgiveness? I know the truth, I just wanna see what others have to say on the topic....
There's no need to.
Proverbs chapter 10 verse 12
Love covers all wrongs.

1 Peter chapter 4 verse 8
Love covers a great many sins.
 
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St_Worm2

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Yes, I will say sorry if I offend someone...

Thanks Lettuce. My more important question however was "why", why do you tell someone you've offended that you're sorry for doing so :scratch:

Thanks again!

--David
 
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lettuce

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Thanks Lettuce. My more important question however was "why", why do you tell someone you've offended that you're sorry for doing so :scratch:

Thanks again!

--David

I am equipped with His peace, and I don't want anyone to have any hard feelings. I don't know about you but I am surrounded by unbelievers and they live as the world lives. It wouldn't go over very well if I said "meh" and move on.
 
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RaymondG

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So my question is, who is he talking to? Believer or non believers? thats a no brainer! because if he was talking to believers they would have already had that experience and fellowship so he wouldn't have to proclaim this to them. so John is talking to unbelievers.

Is this always the case? Once you believe, you have the experience?:

Acts 19:1,2
19 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

I guess the case could be made that these weren't disciples of Jesus....but then we have to ask what is it that Paul was asking that they "believed."
 
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St_Worm2

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I am equipped with His peace, and I don't want anyone to have any hard feelings. I don't know about you but I am surrounded by unbelievers and they live as the world lives. It wouldn't go over very well if I said "meh" and move on.

Hi again Lettuce, all relationships involve trust, and we ask for forgiveness to restore the kind of, or perhaps better, the level of intimacy of the relationship that we enjoyed with someone before we offended them, yes?

I believe that this is true where God is concerned as well. We don't lose our salvation when we sin (we remain His children and He our Abba, Father), but we do, to one degree or another, fracture the closeness of the relationship that we enjoy with Him until we confess that we've done wrong, ask Him to forgive us, and repent.

When I became a Christian (about 31 years ago), I knew how VERY much God had saved me from (my confession to Him, even of the things that I understood were sinful back then, went on and on), and how very displeased He must have been with me up until that point. So, from the beginning of my life in Christ, the thing I've desired above all else is to please God in all that I do/say/think, so asking Him to forgive me whenever I fail to do that/sin, so that the closeness of my relationship with Him can be fully restored, has always seemed like a very natural response.

We don't ask to be forgiven as Christians to be saved 'again' because, if we truly are Christians, we have already come into possession of eternal life (not "probationary" or "conditional" life), and that from the moment we first believe .. e.g. John 5:24. But the closeness of the relationship that we experience and depend upon with God needs to be restored whenever we sin against Him .. just like it does with anyone else :preach:

Yours and His,
David
p.s. - St. James addresses all of his following comments to believers, not to unbelievers, including the final phrase in v15.

James 5
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.
14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, banointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
15 and the prayer offered in faith will brestore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
 
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lettuce

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but we do, to one degree or another, fracture the closeness of the relationship that we enjoy with Him until we confess that we've done wrong, ask Him to forgive us, and repent.

My relationship with the Father is not fractured or distant, sorry to hear yours is.
 
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St_Worm2

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My relationship with the Father is not fractured or distant, sorry to hear yours is.
I believe you've misunderstood me Lettuce. My relationship "feels" more distant from God when I realize that I've done, said, or thought something that He doesn't approve of (just like it does with someone else I've offended). As a result, I seek to restore the kind of relationship (the level of trust and intimacy) with Him that I enjoyed prior to sinning against Him, again, just like I'd do with anyone else who I've offended.

It sounds like you do the same for all of your "horizontal" relationships with family and friends, etc. (IOW, you seek to restore the closeness of the relationship you had with them by asking them to forgive you), so why do you believe that God deserves anything less, or that the intimacy of your relationship with Him can be restored in any other way :scratch:

When you consider the Cross, and you remember the great price that Someone else had to pay to atone for your sins, can you honestly say that you feel no guilt or remorse when you sin?

Thanks!

--David
 
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Oldmantook

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So my question is, who is he talking to? Believer or non believers? thats a no brainer! because if he was talking to believers they would have already had that experience and fellowship so he wouldn't have to proclaim this to them. so John is talking to unbelievers.
The "we" refers to John and the other eye-witness disciples who saw, looked and touched the Word of Life who is Jesus (v.1). The book of 1 John was probably written about 85-95 A.D. so it highly unlikely that John was "talking to believers" as you assert since those who may have seen/touched Jesus by that time, were already deceased. Moreover, 1 Jn 2:1 makes it clear who he is talking to as he wrote: "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin." "Dear children" is a term of endearment descriptive only of fellow believers; never of unbelievers so John is writing to believers; not unbelievers.
 
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lettuce

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Do you honestly feel no guilt or remorse when you sin?

I am a saint, not a sinner. Guilt, shame and condemnation are not in my vocabulary.

Romans 8:1, Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
 
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PanDeVida

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Greetings my brothers and sisters in Christ. I come to you in Love and in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is a issue in the church today that I need to address and i'm asking for your views (backed by scripture of course). After you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you like 2 Cor 5:17 states "Become new" do you still confess your sins to God seeking forgiveness? I know the truth, I just wanna see what others have to say on the topic....

Hello Shaheem,

2 Corinthians 5: 18But all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Christ; and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.

Shaheem, the "Ministry of Reconciliation" found in: 2 Corinthians 5:18 that has been given to Us aka Church, is the Sacrament of Reconciliation / Penance in the Catholic Church. As we read in Scripture Jesus Christ breathed on them the Holy Spirit so that His Apostles and eventually their successors by the laying on of hands, could do what the Father has sent Jesus Christ to do and that is to forgive or retain sins. (John 20:21-23) below:

John 20: 21He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. 22When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. 23Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.

Shaheem, there is no issue in the Catholic Church re: the
Ministry of Reconciliation aka The Sacrament of penance / reconciliation.
 
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EnergonWaffles

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Yes I confess my sins and ask forgiveness! Every single day. There are two types of forgiveness seen in the Bible.

The first deals with our salvation. This is the forgiveness that Jesus bought us at the cross. Once we are given this, we are saved from God's wrath and there will be no condemnation for us on Judgement Day. This is what is meant by "there is no condemnation in Jesus Christ." We have full confidence that we will not be sent to hell for our sins. We are not condemned.

The second type is relational. Now that we've become God's children, we confess our sins to keep our relationship with God from being broken. God won't take away our salvation, but we can lose a close relationship with God. You see David, who was already a saved believer, doing this multiple times in the Psalms. ( Ps. 6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143)

Look at what David wrote after staying silent about his affair with Bathsheeba for 1 year. He wrote this after God had told him he was already forgiven in 2nd Samuel : "When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer…I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my sin to the Lord"; and You forgave the guilt of my sin"


In Revelation, we see Jesus commanding already saved believers, of whom He has many good things to say about, to repent.

"To the angel of the church of Ephesus write,
These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: 2 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. "

Again:

"And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write,
‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: 13 “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. 15 Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. 16 Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth."

Again:

"‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you."

Again:

"
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent."


_______________________________________________________

Another example would be Paul's letter to the Corinthian church in chapter 11. Here, Paul is discussing believers who are taking communion without properly examining themselves. (Further in the chapter Paul explains their sin in more detail - not considering others at their communion meal.) Through Paul addressing this issue in the church, we see that believing Christians can indeed be judged for sin they refuse to face i.e. confess. And Paul tells us why.

Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

These believers are being judged. Why? Is it because He's pouring His wrath on them? No! It's because God loves them and is treating them like children! God expects these believers to examine their walks with Him. If they won't do it, God will.

Now if we judged ourselves properly, we would not come under judgment.
But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.


Here we see God's faithfulness. He promised us that we would not be condemned if we believe in Jesus Christ. He will keep that promise, even if it means saving us from ourselves and taking us home early.

In fact, if you are not being disciplined for your sin after beconing a believer, something is very wrong. Hebrews 12 covers that topic :)



I hope that helps a little, friend! As a young Christian (3 years :/) I don't know much yet. Scripture seems to explain itself pretty well though haha.
 
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EnergonWaffles

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The "we" refers to John and the other eye-witness disciples who saw, looked and touched the Word of Life who is Jesus (v.1). The book of 1 John was probably written about 85-95 A.D. so it highly unlikely that John was "talking to believers" as you assert since those who may have seen/touched Jesus by that time, were already deceased. Moreover, 1 Jn 2:1 makes it clear who he is talking to as he wrote: "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin." "Dear children" is a term of endearment descriptive only of fellow believers; never of unbelievers so John is writing to believers; not unbelievers.

Yes, John tells us who the book was written to in chapter 2: "You, however, have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 21I have not written you because you lack knowledge of the truth, but because you have it, and because no lie comes from the truth."

And again in chapter 5: "Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,so that you may know that you have eternal life"

The letter of 1 John is clearly written to a body of saved, believing Christians who have eternal life and know the truth about Jesus Christ.
 
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St_Worm2

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I am a saint, not a sinner. Guilt, shame and condemnation are not in my vocabulary.

Romans 8:1, Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
Hi Lettuce, if you are a saint, then you are a sinner, just one who is saved by grace, my friend, because that's exactly what a saint is :preach:

We are, as Luther's famous little Latin phrase suggests, Simul Justus et Peccator, IOW, "at the same time both just and sinner" (sinner, because that's what we are, both by deed and by nature, and just, only because God has declared us so on the basis/merit of the works that His Son did on our behalf).

Again, the fact that I am someone's friend or family member in no way excuses even my day to day peccadilloes against them, nor my need to ask them to forgive me of them to fully restore the level of trust and intimacy that I enjoyed with them before I offended them. I would, of course, remain their friend or family member if I decided not to apologize and seek their forgiveness, but only with the sure knowledge that my relationship with them would be lessened to one degree or another, because that's what happens to a relationship when one party (or both) fails to do the most basic things that are required to maintain it (a point which you've already admitted that you are well aware of, in fact, at least where relationships with friends and family are concerned).

Yours and His,
David
 
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Blade

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Lets try to understand EACH of us are part of this body. And we all see in part.

I agree yet not. Well.. I once read in the margin of the word said.. if our heart convicts us we wont get anything from God. I got up and told God I QUIT! I said my heart convicts me 24/7. I reach for the door and He asks "what is righteousness?" I start to turn and say "righteousness is right standing with God. He then asks "how do you get righteousness?" I answer "by believing in Jesus". It was like a dam broke and I could see. I cried and cried...

What you say is true. There is no sin Jesus didnt die for. Yet.. our SPIRIT was made new. Our spirit which was born of God can not does not sin. As it is written in scripture. But we still can sin. If we read Rev Jesus to the seven angels of the seven churches.. then and also through out time.

Yeshua did die for all of the worlds sins. Who is going to tell them? It is finished. Yet.. that sinner MUST repent. The price has been paid for all. But they still must repent. To do a 180. We of Christ in this flesh still sin. Yes.. that sin we just did.. we just ADDED to the price He paid. But.. we STILL must confess our sins. I love my kids. There is nothing they can do that will stop my love or them being my kids. Yet.. they can still hurt me and those around them.

If we confess our sin.. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to forgive us and cleans us from all unrighteousness. Our SPIRIT was made new..not this flesh. We can still freely SIN. And even though that SIN was paid for.. we must confess it. How many times do we read our brother Paul talking about himself being a sinner still? "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief."

How can PAUL get this wrong miss it? I mean he didnt say I WAS.. he said "I am". yes.. price was paid ONCE and forever. But.. you are STILL free and can sin today and miss it and open doors to things you should not. And that sin that YES was paid for has STILL a price which is death. That sin you did today freely.. must be confessed. It that sin.. has no hold on me..nor will it in any way keep me from living forever with my lord :)...we still can hurt Him.. we still can add to that sin He paid for.
 
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