I'm sure I sound like a lot of things from time to time
Here - I'll sound like a Buddhist for a moment:
Well done is that action of doing which one repents not later, and the fruit of which one, reaps with delight and happiness.
So long as an evil deed has not ripened, the fool thinks it as sweet as honey. But when the evil deed ripens, the fool comes to grief.
I don't particularly know the nuances of what "Reformed" is - following that second, was there a second following that I stopped sounding Reformed?
I tend to believe that sin is more of a spiritual state; thoughts and actions are symptoms or natural progressions of our states. If you don't like the state or the progression, rescuing yourself is probably pretty near impossible. Rescues have to come from the outside. The first part of a rescue is realizing that there is even something to be recued into; you don't know that until you meet something from the Outside - i.e. God had to intervene. People in the dark don't know what light looks like. People in Black and White don't know what Color looks like. People in 2 dimensions don't know what 3 dimensions looks like. I do believe some Christians have very definable "salvation moments" where it is like the polarity of a switch is flipped from positive to negative.
Both God and Sin are transformative, and in many ways "you are what you eat"* throughout life, even as what we have eaten determines what we will next eat. My personal experience is that it is more of a process, and my faith is that it will end well if it is a cooperative one in the right direction. I prefer a Holy Spirit to an Unholy one, having seen both.
*Come to think of it, that's probably part of why Christ had us eat Himself in the communion sacrament...
...Smart guy! (now that sounds like Vonnegut lol)
There may be some on this planet to whom Christianity "does not apply". There may be grace freely given unto those who never heard of Christ, or never met someone who called themselves a Christian, who actually carried the spirit of Christ, that actual thing from the Outside to see there was something to be rescued into, and something to be rescued from.
...I can only tell you I'm not one of them.
