They can if they make up their mind to. What you are indicating there is the very reason I asked you earlier if you had eradicated sin in your life, like you indicated we need to do. My guess is you have not anymore than the rest of us.
Now, by saying, after trying those things you mention we still "simply cannot do it", you imply you have a way that we can, and that is where you ere or that there is some misunderstanding, because none of us can do it. We can only strive to do better...all God expects of us.
Cannot? No, will not. And I have been in those categories, most of them, which brings me to my point. After having trouble with a paranoid pain manager, I went to another doctor, got a months supply of 175mci fentanyl, my normal dose ( a heapn' helpn' BTW) for almost 2yrs, and weened off it myself in 30days. The doctors generally remove 25mci per month, and would take 7 months to ween of that much, so they make it extremely easy as the norm. stopped smoking after around 45 yrs addicted, and am still working on other things but am way way better than I was.
Again, if you/anyone needs that, and it helps you to stop sinning, you should do it, but i'd suggest you not tell oters it absolutely cannot be done but just making up our mind because that is simply not true.
Your experience, as mentioned, and what more than one poster here has tried to get across to you is just that... your experience, but you seem to think its a revelation that we will never get unless we listen to you, when chances are we, or many of us, are already aware of these things, and have moved beyond that to other realities like "it's just not that complicated unless we make it that complicated".
By all means, help those who need what you are teaching, but the attitude, "No one or not too many know these thing but me, and you need my input or you just won't make it" is for the birds. And quite honestly it worries me when people do that.
Now you have made it so i have to ask again:
Have you eradicated sin in your life? Again, for you and the mods on the "goading" angle, no one is demanding an answer or badgering you, but 1), you keep bringing up the necessity to ask again. 2) if you do not answer, it shows there is a problem/something off in what you are teaching. Just so you understand how some here will react to how a question is handled in debate.
Kenny, I want to walk in peace with you. You seem bent on trying to back me into a forner and make this about me, and not about God’s ability to keep us from falling into sin.
But you asked a question, so if it will placate you, I will tell you exactly what God has been able to do with a wretched man as I was that night He visited me.
I told you that I was a inappropriate content addict. I did not tell you to what extent. It controlled my life. I was the poster child for Romans 7. The things I wanted to do, I could not do. The things I so wanted to avoid, had me by the throat. There were times I masturbated 6-7 times a day. Ashamed to admit it? You bet. But that is what he had to work with that night twelve years ago. I had a temper, an anger at the church who could not see how far they had fallen, but the only answer I had was to try harder. If I was going to have to serve a God who demanded obedience but seemed to offer us no help, so was everyone else.
I did not like myself and was fully aware of my sad state, but after years, even decades of trying, I was in worse shape than at the beginning. I had fasted up to 21 days, memorized large portions of the New Testament, served as a home pastor for my church, started a jail ministry, went to church faithfully three times a week, and the result? A legalistic, angry, insecure, impatient religious man who desperately wanted to please His God with his full obedience but like Paul, found no way to become that man. Just say no? Yeah, right.
That night 12 years ago changed everything. My masturbation stopped....immediately. I went two full years before I offended my conscience and sinned. I had a lesson to learn. After two years of joy and total complete victory, I had come to interpret the words of John as backing sinless perfectionism, and that is not true at all. God had to teach me truth, even if it hurt, and but, did it.
You asked me if I had eradicated all sin in my life. Do you know how many sins I have overcome? Zero. Not one. You see, you are still looking at my sharing as something WE have to accomplish, and that is the exact opposite of how this works. We as the church have lost the entire concept that God can and will keep us from falling, and can and will actually
cause us (His words) to walk in obedience. But when I spoke out truth with reckoning faith that the old me was dead.... God did what God promised.
For the past twelve years I have walked this path, and yes, there have been a few times I slipped into sin due to unbelief. The first time, after two years of solid abiding in Him, I fell into a darkness that lasted months. And in that time, with unbelief again in control, I sinned again, to my eternal shame.
I have walked this path alone as to fellowship in the faith, and have had only the Lord to teach and lead me, but I can say this with complete honesty. As I have raised my shield of faith when Satan attacked me with temptations or difficult situations, God has been faithful to His promises and these twelve years have not been without testing.
I am almost 70, and 5 years ago we adopted Jack, our youngest of eleven grandchildren. Two years ago, we adopted Gavin, our two and a half year old great grandson. There simply were only two options available.... turning these precious boys over to the state or take them in as our own. It was never a question in our minds, and to this day, I have not had one regret. Ever.
My golden years retirement now is to get up with two live wires, continue going to work building decks, and every day I get to come home to “Daddy’s home!”. I am blessed. By my calculations, should the Lord tarry, I will be 85 when Gavin graduates high school. God indeed has a sense of humor! LOL.
We have had to bury a son-in-law and than a daughter to drug overdoses, and two years ago, my beautiful wife was diagnosed with stage four cancer in both lungs (she never smoked) as well as kidney cancer. And in all that time, I have been able to trust that He had everything under control. Terry was declared cancer free six months ago, to the amazement of her oncologist. They had given her less than six months.
I have not only seen besetting sins disappear, lose their grip completely, but just as amazingly, I have seen fruits of the Spirit begin to sprout. Anger has been replaced with patience and kindness, and compassion replace judgment. Have I arrived? LOL, my wife will tell you no. I will agree. I started in such a dark place that I still have far to go, but I would be remiss if I did not glorify God for what He has done in me.
One last thing. I want to clarify our concept of the victory of which I speak. It is not instantaneous overcoming. It is based totally on our faith. The more our faith grows, the more victorious we become. Let’s remember, self control is a fruit of the Spirit.
I have not arrived, not even close. But as to willful purposeful sin? That is no more. Period. IF I slip, as I am becoming established in the faith, I call a spade a spade, confess it in deep shame, turn from it, but then I do one more thing..... I pick back up my shield of faith and confess that I am not in the flesh but in the Spirit, and that I owe the flesh nothing. Why? Because it is the truth.
I pray all this talk about my walk does not come off as any way prideful. You asked. I replied. That is all. But whatever changes I have seen in my walk, whatever victories I have been blessed with are due to one thing. God in me... with me dead. He gets the glory, for He has done the work.
Blessings to you.
Gideon