(no subject)
Is sin, simply put, just an evil deed?
What exactly is sinfulness? I mean, what, if there is any, is the distinction between a sin as in an evil deed, and being sinful, ie being a depraved being?
If the calvinists are right and man is totally depraved naturally, how can he in any way respond to God?
It seems very evident that many people, christian or not, can adhere to a morality that demands from them to do good and to avoid/hate doing evil. It seems to me the depravity of man has to do with his relationship to God. Something I have learned to accept since recently is that there is continual general revelation of God in the creation - and that man, according to the bible without exception, supresses that revelation of God in his heart. Which at some point, evidently, also corrupts his relationship with other humans, and his consideration of himself. So even though many people often do good, they are not pure in such doing anymore. For example, some people do not do evil simply because they fear the reaction of civil justice. It seems to me that we must do good simply because it's the right thing to do. However, how does the admonishment to fear God chime in with that? I feel that this has to do with the respect that is required by the Maker for the humans that want Him as their God.
The bible also speaks about the terror of God. Have you ever had this terror? Do you still have it? My mother is a christian and she seems to have a wonderful peace with God. Same for other christians I know ... I don't know anybody in real life who dreads God. As for myself, I've only experienced God as a terror when I felt that I had no escape. When I thought God doesn't care about my attempts to go in the right direction, when I felt that God is hostile to me a priori - without me having a chance to change that. I believe this was a terrible belief, utterly wrong and antagonistic to the message of Jesus, so I am trying to simply let it go. But when I don't fearfully push myself into such a belief, I cannot say that God is a terror to me. Why then, has God apparently been a terror to some of His very own disciples?
Isn't it right that He wants my best? Isn't it right that He proved eternal love on the cross? Isn't it right that God is honestly merciful, and as long as justice is maintained through forgiveness, that there is no reason to fearfully expect God to somehow harm you?
In the past centuries, many churches have preached the fear of God. I FULLY AGREE that we need to respect God a lot. But isn't it easy to go too far until eventually you dread God? Dreading God is ugly, painful, hopeless and terrible to endure. If you know that God exists you must eventually come into good standing with Him. Otherwise God becomes a heavy hand on your life that will only bring you into pain. However, some people did not actually sin that much that they somehow deserve such pain. Some people have been brought into this pain by the careless kind of preachers. I am reminded to Jonathan Edwards. I recently read that there happened suicides after his preachings. Isn't that something that a true christian church infused by God's spirit of truth and love absolutely cannot allow? A good pastor, I believe, could hardly live on if he found out that one of his flock killed himself after a sermon.
There are normal evils such as stealing or adultery, and there are religious evils such as hypocrisy. How would you name religious evils propagated by people like Fred Phelps? What actually is his sin? Is his sin something that many of us do, albeit to a much smaller degree, or is it something entirely unique which hasn't touched the vast majority of christians?
What exactly is sinfulness? I mean, what, if there is any, is the distinction between a sin as in an evil deed, and being sinful, ie being a depraved being?
If the calvinists are right and man is totally depraved naturally, how can he in any way respond to God?
It seems very evident that many people, christian or not, can adhere to a morality that demands from them to do good and to avoid/hate doing evil. It seems to me the depravity of man has to do with his relationship to God. Something I have learned to accept since recently is that there is continual general revelation of God in the creation - and that man, according to the bible without exception, supresses that revelation of God in his heart. Which at some point, evidently, also corrupts his relationship with other humans, and his consideration of himself. So even though many people often do good, they are not pure in such doing anymore. For example, some people do not do evil simply because they fear the reaction of civil justice. It seems to me that we must do good simply because it's the right thing to do. However, how does the admonishment to fear God chime in with that? I feel that this has to do with the respect that is required by the Maker for the humans that want Him as their God.
The bible also speaks about the terror of God. Have you ever had this terror? Do you still have it? My mother is a christian and she seems to have a wonderful peace with God. Same for other christians I know ... I don't know anybody in real life who dreads God. As for myself, I've only experienced God as a terror when I felt that I had no escape. When I thought God doesn't care about my attempts to go in the right direction, when I felt that God is hostile to me a priori - without me having a chance to change that. I believe this was a terrible belief, utterly wrong and antagonistic to the message of Jesus, so I am trying to simply let it go. But when I don't fearfully push myself into such a belief, I cannot say that God is a terror to me. Why then, has God apparently been a terror to some of His very own disciples?
Isn't it right that He wants my best? Isn't it right that He proved eternal love on the cross? Isn't it right that God is honestly merciful, and as long as justice is maintained through forgiveness, that there is no reason to fearfully expect God to somehow harm you?
In the past centuries, many churches have preached the fear of God. I FULLY AGREE that we need to respect God a lot. But isn't it easy to go too far until eventually you dread God? Dreading God is ugly, painful, hopeless and terrible to endure. If you know that God exists you must eventually come into good standing with Him. Otherwise God becomes a heavy hand on your life that will only bring you into pain. However, some people did not actually sin that much that they somehow deserve such pain. Some people have been brought into this pain by the careless kind of preachers. I am reminded to Jonathan Edwards. I recently read that there happened suicides after his preachings. Isn't that something that a true christian church infused by God's spirit of truth and love absolutely cannot allow? A good pastor, I believe, could hardly live on if he found out that one of his flock killed himself after a sermon.
There are normal evils such as stealing or adultery, and there are religious evils such as hypocrisy. How would you name religious evils propagated by people like Fred Phelps? What actually is his sin? Is his sin something that many of us do, albeit to a much smaller degree, or is it something entirely unique which hasn't touched the vast majority of christians?