The Law and The Gospel and My Experience with Reality

-
Thanks to Debbie Kaufman at Ministry of Reconciliation for a great post found here. Here’s the post:

‘Be a better mom, be a better wife. Be a better dad, be a better husband. Do more try harder, keep busy’ is what is being preached today, but where is Christ and what He did at the cross? That is the message from Michael Horton. We have lots of Christian T-shirts, bumper stickers, jewelry, WWJD bracelets. We have those who say if one is a true Christian they cannot vote for (fill in the blank). But where is Christ in all of this? Michael Horton gives his view and it’s one I agree with. But you knew that or I would not be highlighting this podcast would I? One thing Michael said that I think is profound :”Christianity is being used as an adjective today. ” ending the podcast with “Christ has won the victory on the battlefield.” This should be the message the church gives, not Christ is our helper.

Please listen and prayerfully consider if Michael Horton is right, and if he is right, which I believe he is, what can we as individual Christians do to change this?
Listen here.

I have heard over and over lately at my church how coming to Christ immediately delivers a person from all of their sinful habits and hangups. That has not been my experience. I have bad habits. Some are even listed in Galatians 5:19-20 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (namely idolatry/materialism, greed, anger/hatred, envy). I repent of these sins daily, but I repent over and over and over…

Is there hope for me? Does my faith in Christ count for something? My repentance desperately needs to be repented of, but does that repentance count? Sometimes I am ready to give up.

I contend that there is hope for me, and for others like me. I look to passages like Luke 18:9-14, Romans 3:21-4:12, Romans 7:7-25, and 1 Timothy 3:12-17.

Am I right?

Comments

ginaburch said…
happy birthday john!!!
October 23, 2008
J. K. Jones said…
Thanks Gina.
October 24, 2008
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Face of Terror

-
Osama Bin laden is dead. Since the rest of the internet is buzzing with opinions on that death, I thought I would weigh in. First, this is not the end of global terrorism. Like the Hydra of old, when one head is chopped off, two more take its place. We still need diligence in our fight against global terror. U. S. and allied Armed Forces still need our prayers. We still need a strong military and intelligence community. We have not yet cut off the Hydra’s immortal head. Second, the way to get to the ‘heart of the matter’ is with Christian missionary efforts. We must reach the people who make up those societies and population segments that produce terrorists . To tell a story I have told here before : Early in the twentieth century, Baptist evangelists preached through rural Mississippi and Alabama with such effectiveness that moonshiners could no longer sell their whiskey: All their customers were getting converted! In desperation, the whiskey sellers hired two men to murder on
Read more

The Canons of Dort

-
I believe that the Canons of Dort are true. This is a statement that came out the Synod of Dort, held from 1618-1619. The Canons of Dort outline the system of theology known today as the “five points of Calvinism.” The problem I have with most “five-point Calvinists” is that the Canons of Dort contain much more than five points. Many explanations of the TULIP (total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace and the perseverance of the saints) are gross simplifications of the Canons of Dort. [This is especially true of explanations given by those who oppose Calvinism. It is easier to knock down a straw man than it is to knock down a real man, and so it is easier to criticize an oversimplified Calvinism that the more robust form.] Some of those who teach the “five points” leave out some of the quotes below: This death of God's Son is the only and entirely complete sacrifice and satisfaction for sins; it is of infinite value and worth, more than
Read more

Intelligent Design

-
The Intelligent Design (ID) movement makes much of the argument from irreducible complexity. Dr. Michael Behe has become famous for a simple example, the mousetrap. He points out that the mousetrap will not perform its function without all of its parts. The wooden base, the metal hammer, a spring, a catch and a metal bar to hold back the hammer are all necessary parts. One component by itself will not catch a mouse. Mainstream evolutionary science has a counter-argument. To paraphrase Dr. Kenneth Miller, if you disassemble the mousetrap, each component can serve as something useful on its own. If we take away the catch and metal bar, we have something left that can serve as a paper clip. The spring could make a simple two-section key chain. The wooden base makes a paperweight. Evolutionary processes like random mutation and natural selection can combine and retain the useful parts as the complicated evolves to perform the complex function. The useful parts are combined into the mousetr
Read more