This is a plain scripture that those who believe in Christ is born again.
There is no separation between a Christian and those born of God like you have espoused.
Christian is a generic term. It simply means you are believing the Word of God.
One day a man can believe, be called a Christian, and the next day he can stop believing.
While the man IS BELIEVING, he is being given FAITH, from God.
When the man stops believing, he stops receiving Faith, from God.
That man has FALLEN FROM FAITH.
That man can return to believing, again receive faith, from God...and fall again, and stop receiving faith from God, return to believing, and again receive faith from God.
That man can repeat this over and over, as long as he is physically alive.
Believing is what a man chooses to do or not.
Faith is what God gives a man FOR believing.
Faith is what a man LOSES, or FALLS FROM, at any time he STOPS BELIEVING.
When a man IS BELIEVING, he IS BELIEVING in the WORD OF GOD, and can be rightfully called a Christian.
When a man STOPS BELIEVING, he stops believing IN the Word of God, the man is no longer a Christian, has fallen from Faith, nor IS SAVED, or BORN AGAIN.
You speak in GENERAL TERMS, thus lose the understanding.
Men CAN believe, and STOP believing.
Christians CAN be a Christian, and STOP being a Christian.
Men CAN have faith, and STOP receiving Faith from God.
While men ARE believing, they CAN continue to sin....
Take a lesson from the disciples....
One minute they Believed, the next they denied.
One minute they Believed, the next they doubted.
This IS POSSIBLE, because their BELIEF, stems from their MIND. Then their MIND, tells them, that doesn't make sense, so they doubt.
What the disciples experienced, believing, then doubting, IS NOT UNIQUE. Many men experience the same, WHEN they ARE introduced to ANYTHING that is New or Different to them.
It is the LOGIC of THE MIND, a natural man is born with, and which IS HOW MAN WAS designed.
It is NOT exclusive to ONLY Jews or ONLY Gentiles. It is natural, and HOW natural men Learn about new things, and begin ciphering through weighing this option or that option, to logically decide what they believe, doubt, deny, or decide to fully believe or not.
Point being...ANY MAN can CLAIM to BELIEVE, based on the LOGICICAL conclusion in his MIND, and tomorrow CHANGE HIS MIND, and not BELIEVE.
ANY man can receive FAITH FROM GOD, during ANY TIME the man IS Believing, and at ANY TIME the man STOPS Believing, he stops receiving Faith, and that man HAS FALLEN FROM FAITH.
Faith is NOT a man believing.
Faith is a GIFT from God FOR WHEN a man is believing.
EVERYTHING....EVERYTHING...EVERYTHING..
CHANGES WHEN....
WHEN a believing man, BELIEVES from His HEART!!!!
HIS HEART....BELIEVES FROM HIS HEART!!!
SALVATION is AVAILABLE to EVERYONE.
Christ's giving ONCE of His Body, His BLOOD,
Is SUFFICIENT to FORGIVE a man of ALL OF his SINS, and COVER ALL of his SINS, and KEEP the man FROM EVER AGAIN SINNING.
A MAN WHO.....HAS TRUE BELIEF IN HIS HEART....and calls on the Lord NAME...
EVERYTHING CHANGES FOR THAT MAN.
He IS JUSTIFIED, to RECEIVE Forgiveness.
He IS JUSTIFIED, to be Crucitife with Christ.
He IS JUSTIFIED, to be SANCTIFIED.
He IS JUSTIFIED, for his soul to be SAVED.
He IS JUSTIFIED, to RECEIVE God SEED.
He IS JUSTIFIED, to BE FREED FROM SIN.
He IS JUSTIFIED, to Be baptized of the H~S.
He IS JUSTIFIED, to be KEPT WITH Christ.
He IS JUSTIFIED, to BE BORN OF GOD.
He IS JUSTIFIED, to SIN NO MORE.
He IS JUSTIFIED, to Be REDEEMED.
He IS JUSTIFIED, to Be GLORIFIED.
He IS JUSTIFIED, that he is AGAIN GOOD.
He IS JUSTIFIED, to FOREVER BE with the Lord, and Forever the Lord WITH him.
Romans 10:9
That IF thous shalt confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus, AND shalt believe in thine heart that God has trained him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Romans 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Romans 6: 6
.....our old man is crucified....
Roman 6: 7
For he that is dead is freed from sin
Matt 22: 37
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all they soul, and with all they mind.
1 Thes 5: 23
The very God of peace SANCTIFY YOU WHOLLY;
1 John 3: 9
WHOSOEVER IS born of God....CANNOT SIN.
1. Hermeneutics means the art of interpretation.
You have hermeneutics whether you want to admit it or not.
Hermeneutics is an art form based on science. Science is discovery of something new and making LOGICAL MINDFUL CONCLUSIONS, if the something makes SENSE to believe it or not.
One ONLY needs to DECIDE to "TRUST" to BELIEVE Scripture, BEFORE THEY delve in.
MOST DO NOT.
A beginner WILL DO, what IS natural to them, WHICH IS, BELIEVE, what makes sense to their MIND, and REJECT what does not make sense to their MIND.
And THAT ^^ is WHY they CAN Believe and STOP Believing, OR PICK AND CHOOSE, what to BELIEVE and WHAT to reject.
Many Churches TEACH...TO DEPEND ON THE MIND.
Many Churches TEACH...This Word IS TRUE, but Other parts of Scripture are NOT True.
Many Churches TEACH...Scriptural MEANING CAN BE FIGURED out in the MIND, through philosophies and the art of Science.
The TRUTH IS:
Scripture TEACHES man from the Beginning,
What to CALL things. What things ARE similarity ALIKE, and what thing ARE NOT ALIKE.
Scripture TEACHES things that have become FAMILIAR to men, are TERMS men USE BECAUSE of what they mean, become TERMS men use IN APPLICATION to God.
Men were TAUGHT, a man WHO is the HEAD of HIS HOUSE, HIS FAMILY, HIS WIFE, HIS SERVANT.....IS THEE "father".
MOSES, FIRST APPLIED that SAME TERM, ie
"FATHER".... to GOD.
God IS; the Head of ALL the World, ALL of Creation. The Head of EVERY person, period.
Does that make God every persons BIOLOGICAL Father? No
It Does make God in Charge OF EVERYTHING.
God IS the Creator, IS LIFE, and can GIVE or TAKE Live of EVERYTHING HE has created.
2. One can be a sinner and understand many things of the Bible. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand John 3:16.
No kidding. Men can Understand "MANY THINGS" written in Scripture....BECAUSE men already KNOW, what "MANY THINGS" mean!
When the WORD "tree" appears in Scripture, a man with simple common knowledge already KNOWS what a "tree" is.
When the WORD "give" appears in Scripture,
A man with simple common knowledge already KNOW what "give" means.
And when the Words "TREE OF LIFE" appears in Scripture. Some men MAY HAVE figured out what that means. BY their MINDS? No.
BY other Scriptures that tell them. The Word of God, IS Jesus, IS LIFE, IS the WORD, IS the WORD that IS Available TO FEED MEN, and thus a man WHO EATS from the TREE OF LIFE, Eats the Word, retains sustaining LIFE.
THUS WHERE the TREE of LIFE IS, There is LIFE to be had.
And ALSO there are Scriptures, "that make NO SENSE whatsoever to a mans MIND".
For Example; "I die daily"....
I can guess. You can guess. Anyone can guess. Paul knew WHAT HE MEANT.
Point being...ANYONE can guess.
Point being...ANYONE can philosophize, and MINDFULLY CONCLUDE what Paul meant.
Does that make it TRUE? No.
Is it important to me personally? No.
But what IF there IS something WRITTEN IN SCRIPTURE, that MAKES NO SENSE to MY MIND, and Scripture DOES NOT EXPLAIN IT?
WHAT IF I REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT MEANS....??
Ask ANOTHER Man? See what he has guessed? Read Philosophies of OTHER men?
Believe what made sense to their minds?
Reword Scriptures SO THEY DO MAKE sense to my mind?
MEN do these things on a REGULAR everyday basis! Even Churches TEACH to do this, and have ADOPTED this AS their Teaching Basis, and CALL their Church a PARTICULAR Denomination, so others of the same MIND-SET can join in and Be a PART of the membership of fancy guess-work.
THAT LANDS A MAN, smack in the ROLL of TAKING ON GODS POSITION!
Men INTERPRETING, GODS WORD!
You teach this, and have a fancy name for it, ie, Hermeneutics...as you said, THE ART of interpretation.
THAT IS IN DIRECT CONTRADICTION of SCRIPTURE.
That which is IN SCRIPTURE, and not PLAINLY given what something means, CAN ONLY BE UNDERSTOOD....BY GOD giving the INDIVIDUAL the "HIS" UNDERSTANDING!
HOW DID Peter "KNOW" Jesus IS THE CHRIST? Peter's "mindful guess-work" ?
No. Scripture tells you, FROM WHAT SOURCE, Peter DID KNOW and FROM WHAT SOURCE, Peter DID NOT KNOW.
Matt 16: 24
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for
FLESH AND BLOOD hath NOT revealed it unto thee, BUT
My FATHER which is in Heaven.
Luke 24:45 .... VERIFIES Understanding of Scripture is FROM GOD, NOT MEN.
Is Jesus GIVING Understanding.
You teach, understanding of Scripture, is via an ART FORM, men have devised.
Philosophers teach, understanding of Scriptures, is via Logical guesswork that makes sense to the MIND.
Scripture teaches the natural carnal MIND of men IS AGAINST GOD.
Scripture teaches the natural understanding of men is but foolishness to God.
So, ya, your teaching, and you having revealed HOW you CONCLUDE the basis for your teaching, is not something I consider.
3. I already gave you scripture that show one can lose their salvation.
ANYONE, who has not RECEIVED Salvation from the Lord, CAN BE at risk of LOSING their opportunity to RECEIVE, what was FOR THEM.
SALVATION IS A GIFT FOR EVERYONE, FROM GOD. IT IS THEIRS "TO RECEIVE"....
Well, gee. If a man DOESN'T RECEIVE the Gift from God.......He LOSES IT.
Salivation IS A GIFT.....God does not FORCE ANYONE TO TAKE OR RECEIVE the Gift of Salvation HE PROVIDES!
Of course IF A MAN DOESN"T TAKE AND RECEIVE THE GIFT, they lose it.
SALVATION IS A GIFT, that a MAN MUST RECEIVE. IF the MAN DOESN"T RECEIVE IT,
(Before His bodily death) He permanently LOSES opportunity to RECEIVE THE GIFT.
Man DOES NOT "RECEIVE" the gift of Salvation....simply because One day, in his MIND he believes. Or one day he goes to a Christian Church and hears the Word of God and believes it. Or one day a man reads Scripture and thinks in his mind he believes what he reads.
SUCH a man IS RECEIVING FAITH....
NOT SALVATION!
SUCH a man CAN STOP receiving FAITH...
Because he MINDFULLY STOPS BELIEVING.
That man has FALLEN from FAITH....
He has NOT fallen from SALVATION, that he NEVER RECEIVED.
THAT man has simply jeopardized his opportunity to RECEIVE Salvation.
And as long as THAT man is BODILY ALIVE, he can return to BELIEVING, and return to being in a POSITION to RECEIVE SALVATION!
RECEIVING Salvation....has nothing whatsoever, to do with your use of common generic terms.....BELIEVING....CHRISTIAN.
It has EVERYTHING TO DO WITH....
BELIEVING IN ONES "HEART".
ANY man can say, he believes, he is a Christian....and the next day, CHANGE HIS MIND!!
God DOES NOT SEEK OUT or LISTEN to the confessions of a MANS "MIND".
God SEEKS OUT AND LISTENS to the confession of a MANS "HEART" !!
And ONCE.....ONCE....a man CONFESSES TO GOD, with HIS HEART.....EVERYTHING ABOUT THE MAN CHANGES.
He is GIVEN Forgiveness.
He is GIVEN BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
He is GIVEN SALVATION.
He is GIVEN the Seed OF GOD.
He is GIVEN eternal togetherness WITH the Lord His God!
THAT MAN CAN NOT....EVER...
NOT EVER...
Lose Salvation
Lose the Seed of God
Lose his status as a son of God.
Lose the Holy Spirit within Him.
Lose his being Freed FROM SIN.
God will not go against your freewill if you decide to change masters.
God absolutely WILL sit on the side-lines and allow a man to MINDFULLY think, believe, not believe, doubt, believe again, call himself whatever the man decides, sin, sin, sin, stand Against God, like God, not like God at any time.....
UNTIL....a man FROM HIS OWN HEART, confess BELIEF IN GOD.
Apparently you do not comprehend, when a man CALLS ON THE LORD, TO CONFESS BELIEVE IN HIS HEART....
THAT IS A MAN'S FREEWILL CHOICE!
FROM HIS HEART!!
Perhaps you NEVER LEARNED....
THE MAN IS CHOOSING TO "GIVE HIS LIFE TO GOD".
Scripture teaches....TO BE SURE of your election (your choice, exercising YOUR FREEWILL) to GIVE YOUR LIFE TO GOD...
BECAUSE...there is no CHANGING of YOUR MIND, OR your HEART thereafter.
YOU ARE CHOOSING, by your own FREEWILL, to GIVE YOUR LIFE TO GOD.
THERE ARE NO DO OVERS...ONCE YOU GIVE YOUR LIFE YOU God....YOU HAVE GIVEN God the AUTHORITY OVER YOUR LIFE.
Which goes back to ... GOD does not FORCE ANYONE to RECEIVE the gift of Salvation....
TO believe in Him...TO become his son.
EVERYTHING hinges on a mans FREEWILL, to decide from HIS HEART, TO or NOT TO, Give God Authority over the mans LIFE.
And ONCE a man DOES....with his own freewill will....say YES...God can have authority over his Life.
God TAKES THAT MANS .... YES .... from the mans HEARTS CONFESSION....and thereafter,
CONVERTS the man WITH HIS POWER, and KEEPS THE MAN converted, saved, born of God, in FULL- Faithfulness, TO GOD ONLY...
FOREVER!! THAT MAN CAN NEVER AGAIN...
Stand Against God. NEVER!
Whoever you yield yourself to is the truth me who is your master.
Beliving from ones mind, does not yield a man to God, or make God His Master.
God becomes a mans MASTER, when the man has CONFESSED in his HEART, true Belief in God.
You can call it unborn of God
I didn't call it unborn....I ASKED you if that is how it works according to you.
Your teaching, simply relies on the generic terms of Believe and Christian.
THAT, those terms, determine if one IS BORN AGAIN....while yet you admit, men can stop believing and stop being a Christian.
Which was my point in saying, to stop using general terms, and be specific.
Because a man WHO IS believing IN HIS HEART, is totally different than a man confessing belief in HIS MIND!
but it is not like an earthly birth where you can be born with nay only one time. It's a moral and spiritual decision man makes according to his freewill. He can lose his salvation more than once just like the illustration Jesus gave about the woman and the lost coin which had to deal with salvation in the context.
Fully aware......and fully aware of HOW AND WHY!
Fully aware....A man who has confessed TO GOD, BELIEF from his heart HEART, NEVER is in jeopardy of losing His Salvation.
5. Listen, there are people who are mere professors and not true Christians.
Calling yourself a Christian doesn't mean you are. One must repent but one must also have fruit and the markings for living as a Christian.
You WANT the term Christian to mean, a man who is saved and born again....but it doesn't mean that.
A Christian CAN BE, a saved and born again man....
However a Christian IS ALSO any man, who is believing the Word of God....and at any time can STOP believing.
A Christian IS a follower of Christ's teachings.
A FOLLOWER, does NOT EQUAL saved and born again.
A BORN AGAIN CHRISITAN, REVEALS, that man HAS Given his LIFE to Christ.
Which is totally DIFFERENT from a milquetoast Christian, believing, doubting, following along, rebelling against belief in Gods Word, then believing some things, then not, then kind of, maybe believing.....
HE ALSO is a Christian, BUT NOT a SAVED OR BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN...AND yes, he can sin, by doubting belief in God.
IF he were ...you would NEVER OBSERVE, men going to an alter call.
Which IS SIMPLY that "Christian", that follower of Gods Word, tha man believing Gods Word..... exercising his own FREEWILL, to go from MINDFULLY following the Word of God....TO Heartfully, BELIEVING, and SUBMITTING His LIFE TO GOD...THAT GOD, will take CONTROL, and GIVE THE MAN FULL and FOREVER FAITHFULNESS TO GOD ONLY.
Men CAN NOT HAVE FULL FAITHFULNESS in God, by their own MIND'S thoughts, or by their own HEART'S thought, by Laws, by Commands, by Gods WISHING, by the man WISHING.....
THAT is effected SOLEY By a man confessing belief in his Heart.....AND GOD TAKING Authority over that mans LIFE, and GIVING the man, the things that God has determined, MAKE THE MAN ACCEPTABLY WHOLE...
TO HIM!
It does not matter IF I am acceptable to YOU.
It does not matter IF you quote umpteen Scriptures to ME.
It does not matter if you talk about men who CAN lose their salvation...CAN fall from faith;
I already KNOW, MEN WHO ARE NOT SAVED, and MEN WHO STOP believing...DO lose their salvation and DO fall from faith...
And I already KNOW that DOES NOT APPLY,
TO a man that confessed true belief in his Heart TO GOD, and God gave the man Salvation and Full Faithfulness, FOREVER.
There is a justification of works as well as a justification of grace and they are two different things.
Yes, already know, and already spoke to that.
Justification of grace is God's approval of salvation and justification of works deals with the fruit that shows you have cooperated with God by believing in faith.
Justification IS WHAT GOD GIVES..
Confess to God, true belief in your heart...
God Justifies the man to be made WHOLE.
Do works that Glorify Gods Name...
God Justifies the man to receive REWARDS.
The same way in your daily life you have to be obedient and faithful and show fruit.
Justification of me being MADE WHOLE IS ALREADY EFFECTED, It's DONE. It is Permanent, and can NOT BECOME lost or undone.
Justification of WORKS?
I don't HAVE TO SHOW ANYTHING!
I don't HAVE TO DO ANYTHING!
I don't HAVE TO SPEAK HIS WORD, teach others ABOUT GOD, NOTHING!
Scripture simply TEACHES, it is to my own benefit to DO those things....AND I shall be REWARDED "FOR" doing those things.
It is NOT a SIN for me to NOT DO THOSE THINGS. It is simply a LOSS TO ME of rewards I COULD HAVE GAINED.
IT HAS nothing whatsoever to do with MY SALVATION already BEING given me FOREVER.
Your teaching is that TO NOT DO those things, IS A SIN AGAINST GOD, same as the Jews teach, according to their Law.
However I was JUSTIFIED to RECEIVE Salvation, and did, and it is permanent.
I was JUSTIFIED to Receive the SEED of God, and did, and it is permanent.
AND ANY WORKS, I DO, I shall be JUSTIFIED, BY GOD, to receive, FROM GOD, rewards, FOR WORKS, I DO, that Glorify HIS NAME.
It does not matter, if I DO WORKS, if I DO NOT DO WORKS, IF you KNOW, IF you Don't KNOW. You can NOTICE anything I do, and NOT Approve. You can mention to me, your disapproval. However IF you INCLUDE, in your disapproval...that IT IS A SIN....that IS A LIE.
It would BE A LIE...Because you FULL WELL KNOW, I am not a Jew, or subject to their LAWS.
It would BE A LIE...Because you FULL WELL KNOW, I have given MY LIFE to the Lord, and HE has freed me from BEING ABLE TO SIN.
JESUS did not destroy the LAW. NOR was the LAW given to Gentiles. Jewish laws dictate, BEHAVIORS are SINS.
Jesus taught, Confess BELIEF in your Heart and BECOME FREED FROM SIN, to SIN NO MORE.
6. I do not believe that just because you sin as a Christian you are going to hell.
I do not believe ANY MAN who has confessed to the Lord, true heartful belief in the Lord is going to hell, no matter what he calls himself.
You teach men who believe, AND SIN, are justified to be SAVED.
I teach men who call on the Lord, and confess true BELIEF in their heart, are justified to be SAVED, and ARE SAVED and BORN AGAIN, and SIN NO MORE.
You teach men who believe, AND SIN, "ARE" Saved, BY WHAT, they call themselves.
I teach men who call on the Lord, with confession of True belief in their Hearts ARE saved, and SIN NO MORE.
Your teaching, is SAVED and BORN AGAIN MEN, CAN change Masters, BY their FREEWILL, and CAN SIN.
I teach, a man exercised HIS OWN freewill, to Give God Authority over the mans LIFE...
THAT GOD accepts that Authority and makes the man WHOLE forever, and KEEPS the man IN STANDING WITH GOD FOREVER, and SINS no more.
God knows your heart. I don't believe you just keep rededicating your life all the time in the context of being saved.
Yes. God knows your heart. And God does not FORCE anyone to GIVE Him Authority to make the man Converted. THAT is the mans FREEWILL CHOICE.
And requires the man to exercise his own FREEWILL TO or NOT TO Give God Authority to convert the man.
7. I have already explained the paradox of 1 John 3:9 and you don't want to believe that it is at odds with 1 John 2:2.
Christians can sin so 1 John 3:9 cannot mean that you never have the possibility to sin no more.
Yes, you have explained, MINDFULLY, HOW you can DIVERT from Believing what Scripture Plainly SAYS.
THAT is the DOWNFALL of leaning ON philosophies and science and art and the minds understanding, of what Scripture means.
THAT is precisely WHY, there ARE umpteen categories, called "dominations", ALL claiming to be Christians. THEY ALL have ONE core Belief...that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Died and rose again.....
But they DO NOT ALL HAVE ONE CORE "TRUST", that EVERY WORD OF SCRIPTURE IS TRUE.
An enormous amount of time is SPENT by numerous "dominations", teaching, HOW TO, NOT "TRUST" every word of Scripture IS TRUE. HOW TO change the TRUTH of GOD, into a LIE.
HOW TO TRUST the WORD of the CREATED, over the WORD OF the CREATOR.
I say the WORD of GOD IS TRUE, regardless if a man understands it.
I say the WORD of GOD, says a man BORN OF GOD, CANNOT SIN, BECAUSE Scripture, SAYS SO.
I have studied and ASKED God to show me, WHY, HOW, WHEN....and TRUST HIS Understanding, I asked for, and received FROM HIM.
You make it clear, you receive your understanding, by your being taught HOW MEN can interpret Scripture, and conclude logical understanding in your mind.
You make it clear, you can not TRUST to believe, the plain Words in Scripture.
That WHOSOEVER IS BORN OF GOD, CAN NOT SIN.
You can't trust that IS True, so you give your philosophical understanding to MAKE "your TRUTH" valid, and Gods WORD in Scripture, INVALID. And you absolutely DO GIVE, your basis...mans interpretation....and I absolutely BELIEVE that IS what you do....and precisely WHY, I absolutely disagree with you.
And BECAUSE, I TRUST TO BELIEVE the Word of God, plainly stated in Scripture, and plainly I SAY SO....well, then....the diversion begins...
Another can SIMPLY be AGAINST me...
However Scripture ALSO teaches, it is not me one is supposed to be deciding to STAND WITH, nor is it me, one is Against when they do not Trust my belief in the Word of God....
IT IS the one himself, Standing Against the Word of God.
1 Samuel 8: 7
.....they have not rejected thee, (SAMUEL, a man) they have reject me...(the LORD, says the LORD)
8. John says all unrighteousness is sin. What do think is unrighteousness? Make a list.
I don't require a LIST. I have been cleansed in Jesus' BLOOD from ALL unrighteousness, says the Lord, WHO IS THE TRUTH, whether or not the CREATED, can believe it!
No. Do I remind my deaf child, driving across the county alone, how stupid the majority of hearing people are, texting, and relying on other people to honk their horn, signal them with a NOISE, when they have stopped paying attention to driving, because they are paying attention to their phone? Yes I do.
Because my child has not experienced hearing, or being a hearing person, to have a natural nature of what hearing people instinctively and naturally do and respond to.
Do I worry? About what I do not know? No.
Am I cautious, by the knowledge and experience I do know? Yes.
Sure I get angry at times. So what? That is not a sin.
I stand with God IN HIM. His WORD IS TRUTH, period. "HIS" understanding IS PARAMOUNT!
Does EVERY WORD OF GOD APPLY TO ME?
No.
Much of Scripture, THE WORD OF GOD, DOES NOT APPLY to me.
Much of Scripture, THE WORLD OF GOD, DOES APPLY to men WHO DO NOT have Heartfelt Belief in God. THAT does NOT Apply to me.
Do you ever miss the mark about anything?
No. And the WHY is because I chose of my own FREEWILL to give God Authority over my Life. I have not the natural Power, to keep myself, unto Him Only. He is the ONE who KEEPS ME UNTO HIM ONLY.
Do I STILL HAVE SIN IN MY BODY? Of course. There was NO MAGIC WAND that makes SIN in a man Disappear.
A mans SIN is FORGIVEN, by God. He remembers the mans sin NO MORE.
Does that mean MEN FORGET? No.
Does that mean CONSEQUENCES MEN exact toward other men are forgiven or forgotten?
No.
Does that mean, all your financial debts are forgiven, and because you Can't pay, you don't have to pay? No.
Does that mean, you are relieved of serving a prison term, ie a Consequence pronounced on you BY MEN? No.
IOW - YOUR sin against God is forgiven, BY GOD, and you sin no more.
IOW - You may continue to experience consequences from BEFORE you were saved.
IF you murdered, IF you cheated on your spouse, IF you stole something, IF you did sneaking things.....you will still have to deal with the consequences....
And HOW HANDY to KNOW, Because you are SAVED, you have the Lord to comfort you, WHILE you have to deal with the consequences.
MY behavior toward other men AT ANY TIME can have NEGATIVE consequence, FROM the man. So what? That is my burden to bear.
The Lord Doesn't FIX IT, He teaches me, HOW TO FIX IT, and HOW TO AVOID IT, and IS MY comfort, WHILE, I fix it....and WISDOM is the process of Learning ....
From others experience...
Or my own experiences...
TO know the consequence, and decide IF I AM WILLING TO bear the burden of the consequence OR NOT.
IT HAS NOTHING to do with my Salvation or Being Born of God, or Sin.
(Unless you are a Jew, under Jewish law).
IT HAS Everything to do with Learning HOW TO SERVE the Lord, in ways that Glorify His Name.....or not, and suffer the consequences of the burdens BY OTHER MEN.....and LOSE Rewards From God.
Nothing personal to you Jerry. I recognize WHAT you believe, and WHY, by your own testimony. And I DISAGREE with you.
God Bless,
SBC