Jonathan wrote: > Starting with sin and moving towards Christ > is never the answer. Starting with Christ and > defining sin in the light of who He is, is the answer.
I think you are hitting on a major difference in which we approach humanity and his relationship to Christ. I certainly understood your maze analogy, but I'm not convinced that it applies to this situation. Here is why. God himself first gave us the law. I see that as starting with the sin problem. Later he revealed Christ. Even when Christ came, he first sent a forerunner, someone who pointed out sin and called for repentance. Jesus too, in his message, started with "repent" and then moved toward discussing the kingdom of God. Even Paul in his letter to the Romans, begins with the sin problem in Romans 7 and moves on to discussing life in the Spirit in Romans 8. Your comment that I quoted above is highly reminiscent of discussions we had about Mormonism on this list. Their doctrine places repentance after faith, whereas I believe the Scriptures teach us repentance and then faith. I believe they also follow this more holistic approach that you have outlined here overall. Now please don't misunderstand me to be saying that because your belief is like Mormonism it is false. That is NOT my intention. Mormons believe many things that are absolutely 100% accurate, such as the teaching that Jesus Christ died for our sins. All I'm trying to say is that we have had some discussions about this in the past on this list, before you arrived here, and I think most of us, perhaps all except Dave Hansen, came to the conclusion that this was not the right approach. Have you ever considered that this approach you have of starting with Christ and then dealing with sin might be all wrong? Have you ever considered that this might be a reason that you have not experienced continual victory over sin yourself? Peace be with you. David Miller. ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
