ï
Just wondering.... This is for the Universalist crowd. IYO
is Judge Greer's Pastor a legalist, or do you see him as a true under Shepherd with a right
heart attitude trying to recover an errant sheep? judyt
Do you mind if a non-universalist addresses this? I
agree with much of Farah's critique. I disagree, however, with what he seems to
prescribe as a "fix." What the church needs is not more laws -- Judge Greer had
surely heard the commandment: "Thou shalt not kill"; nor does it need a more
rigid enforcement of the laws it has -- Greer was asked to leave,
wasn't he? What the church needs is a clearer articulation of what it
means to love God with hearts, minds, and souls, and to love neighbors as
oneself. I had a professor who put it something like this: When a church has a
sin problem, it is not time to preach law more forcibly, while easing up on the
grace stuff (as if our problems were caused by being overly gracious); no,
when the church has a sin problem, it is time to preach grace more
clearly.
Think about it and I think you'll agree.
The law has never made people righteous -- it did
not make the Jews righteous, it will not make Christians righteous, and it
cannot make the world righteous. Do you agree with me? Why then do Christians
sometimes act as though a stricter adherence to and enforcement of God's law
will in some way begin to address the sin problems the church encounters? The
Law even in its glory was never anything more than a slave. Yes, a slave. Paul
calls it a "pedagogue," given to lead the Jews to Christ (Gal 3.24). In the
Greek world a pedagogue was a slave whose sole purpose was to guard the children
as he brought them to the one who would teach them. Hence the law "was our
(pedagogue) to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But
after faith has come, we are no longer under a (slave)'" (vs.24-25).
Therefore, it is not the law which was the
"schoolmaster" or the "tutor" to teach us the ways of righteousness -- as our
English translations lead us to believe; no, Christ is our teacher, our
schoolmaster, our tutor; and "righteousness" comes only by way of faith, as
we grow in relationship with him. "For I through the law died to the law that I
might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who
live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal
2.19-20).
And so, this gets to the heart of our discussion on
legalism. The Christian who believes he still needs laws to govern him, is a man
who has not come to terms with the fact that the one who has fulfilled the
law (who is no longer confined under the guardianship of a slave no less)
has been graciously placed within his inner being. In other words, we ought
not think of the "law written upon our hearts" as a legal transfer -- a taking
of that which was once an external code of conduct and perceiving it now in
terms of internal restrictions; instead we should approach it in terms of a
gracious gift bestowed deep within us of him who is greater than the law -- of
him who can actually make us righteous -- for as Paul says, "if there had been a
law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by
the law" (Gal 3.21). Friends, it is the royal law which is written upon our
hearts by Christ Jesus as we grow in relationship with him; for as we, the
church, learn to love him with all our hearts, minds, and souls, we
will begin to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Bill
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, April 02, 2005 4:48
PM
Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] Meet Judge
Greer's Pastor
In a message dated 4/2/2005 3:05:09 PM Pacific
Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Just wondering.... This is for the Universalist
crowd. IYO is Judge Greer's Pastor a legalist, or do you
see him as a true under Shepherd with a right heart attitude
trying to recover an errant sheep? judyt Meet Judge
Greer's pastor Posted: March 29, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Joseph Farah  2005 WorldNetDaily.com I am convinced God uses
trials like the Terri Schiavo case to test men. Pinellas County Circuit
Court Judge George Greer was tested â and found wanting. He had seven
years to consider this case and got it wrong every time. I don't know
Greer personally, but I know many people like him. They go to church on
Sunday and then between Monday and Friday lead lives with no seeming
connection to what they hear preached in the pulpit, what they read in
the Bible, what they claim to believe of the Christian faith. This may be
the biggest single problem we have in America today â this disconnect
between the spiritual lives of Christians and how they practice their
faith in the world. Greer, until recently, was a member of the Calvary
Baptist Church in Clearwater, Fla. He left at the urging of Pastor
William Rice, who counseled him wisely: "You must know that in all
likelihood it is this case which will define your career and this case
that you will remember in the waning days of life. I hope you can find a
way to side with the angels and become an answer to the prayers of
thousands." Rice has my highest regard for that decision. Too many
pastors in this country don't require obedience to God as a prerequisite
for church membership. They seem to believe in a kind of "cheap" grace
that comes with regular attendance or tithing rather than a Christian
walk. They seem to have no minimal standards for fellowship and communion
with the saints. There are few heroes in the Terri Schiavo scandal.
Her parents and siblings qualify. Terri herself qualifies. Those who
braved arrest to bring her cups of water qualify. And, in my book, so
does Rev. William Rice. Do you want to know why the church doesn't
have influence and impact in our increasingly secular world today?
Because there are too many so-called Christians like Judge George Greer
and not enough like Pastor William Rice. Greer's friends have
attacked the church and defended the judge, saying he was interpreting
the law to the best of his ability. However, if that is true, then Greer,
as a Christian, had a duty to obey God's laws rather than man's laws.
That would require him to leave the bench if he truly saw a conflict.
Instead, Greer opted to leave his church â and, presumably, his weak
faith. "Like evangelicals across the world, we are horrified at the
thought that a handicapped woman could be, in effect, starved to death
before a watching world," Rice wrote. Admitting he was not a legal or
medical expert, Rice asserted: "I know right from wrong. I know what God
thinks about human life. I know there is only one way to describe the
prospect of starving a woman to death because she cannot feed herself. It
is wrong." Rice continued: "Morality and truth must serve as our
guide. Terri Schiavo is not on life support. She is not dying. Good
evidence exists to suggest that she is responsive. All she receives is
food and water, the same as you and me. Are we to conclude that she is
less than human because she cannot feed herself? Can a month-old child
feed himself? Is an elderly patient stricken with some debilitating
disease and unable to feed herself suddenly less human? Do we now use an
IQ test to determine if someone possesses the right to live? Isn't that
God's choice? Only God can give life, and only He should take it away."
"Tread carefully if you think this is simply about a dying woman
being allowed to die peacefully," Rice wrote. "Remember when we were told
that Roe v. Wade was simply about helping women who had been raped or
whose lives were imminently threatened? Today, few abortions fall into
that category, but millions of human lives have been sacrificed upon the
altar of selfishness. And the slide down the slippery slope continues."
In case Greer was still confused, his pastor gave him more to
think about. "This case seems complex, but it is as simple as four
words: 'Thou shalt not kill.' If you need a compass for this complex
case, you'll find it there," he wrote. "As we all know, the Sixth
Commandment means it is wrong to murder â to take the life of an innocent
person without just cause. If I were the nurse in that hospice center and
the directive were given to me to discontinue feeding a living human
being and watch as he or she starved to death, I couldn't do it. I'd
rather get fired, resign or do something else." Christians can go on
blaming others for the problems we face in this country. Or we can go
into the churches and start cleaning up the messes we have in our own
houses of worship. It's time to take back the churches. It's time to
renew the idea of standards. It's time to make church membership mean
something again. Judge George Greer did the wrong thing. Pastor William
Rice did the right thing. If we had more pastors like Rice, we'd have
fewer judges like Greer.
:Legalist, plain
and simple -- at least in this decision. But you knew
I was going to say that.
JD
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