From: GaryG
Date: Mon May 10 10:56:21 MST 2004
Subject: Legalistic Hoo-Ha

Responses Patricia: a promise kept (5/11/04) GaryG: Thanks.. (5/11/04) Responses (sorted by date) GaryG: Thanks.. (5/11/04) Patricia: a promise kept (5/11/04) I've been spending a lot of time on theshovel.net, trying to get a handle on freedom in Christ and the idea of being dead to sin. They are such simple concepts, but we always want to qualify it with a "yeah, but...." and create another gospel of legalism, and instead of being dead to the law we ADD to the law and make the New Testament a mere new set of rules. Think about the concept of being "dead to sin" and ask yourself (assuming you are in Christ) "am I still a sinner?"....I know, it sounds so humble and "religious" to refer to yourself as "just a sinner who has been forgiven", and yes, you are forgiven! But, if you are "dead to sin", how can you still refer to yourself as a "sinner"?...doesn't that imply that you are still under the law of sin and death? Oh, I can hear the howls of indignation now-"oh, he thinks you can do anything you please and still call yourself a Christian" and "you need rules or grace will be abused!". Believe me, I am still wrestling with these concepts, it is hard to free yourself from the slavery of legalism and law-based performance, I have seen the damage of it in my life and in the lives of many I love. I believe that sin gets its power from the law, and I have seen in my own life how focusing on sin causes it to reign in my life. If you are struggling with a particular sin in your life, if you allow that sin to make you feel condemned, you are feeding it. It will continue to feed and grow on its diet of guilt, shame and condemnation until it sucks the life out of you. So what then, shall we continue to sin so that grace may increase? Do we just ignore sin and hope that it goes away? I wish I had the easy answer, but if you walk knowing that sin IS NOT YOUR MASTER ANY LONGER, and focus on the Spirit that leads you, knowing there is no longer any condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, I believe that the Spirit will win the battle. Time and repeated "failures" are not the standards that you are judged by-CHRIST IS YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, not your performance...your life is hidden in Christ, and outward appearances are not the indicator of who you are. "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a righteous judgement"... In Christ, Gary G

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From: Patricia
Date: Mon May 10 19:09:52 MST 2004
Subject: a promise kept

From: GaryG
Date: Tue May 11 11:36:34 MST 2004
Subject: Thanks..