Rcofield, what is the story that INFALLIBLE scripture tells us about God’s love for you personally? Please do a review of this subject, and please explain the reason for your silence on this subject thus far. And please address the implications associated with this interesting scenario, where you appear to harbor, as a Baptist Minister, a belief structure, that is at odds with the central teaching in scripture regarding God's Love.
For example, your statement:
Rcofied: “I know enough of my own sinfulness to understand that I could never be a worthy object of the sacrificial death of the spotless Lamb of God. If I were worthy of salvation it would not be exclusively a work of God's grace. (Eph. 2:8-10) I am counted worthy of eternal life exclusively on the ground of Christ's justifying work of redemption.”Appears to directly contradict this key teaching:
John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."This teaching tells us that the Love of God for the people in this world, pre-existed the sacrifice of the Lamb. In other words, the sacrifice of the Lamb, was made possible only because God loved the people of this world. The love came first, the sacrifice came second. If God did not love the people in this world first, there would have been no sacrifice of the Lamb.
For God our Father to have love for the soul, even in the fallen condition, tells us that He sees value in that soul. By definition, to love is to see value. And scripture tells us that God loved the people of this world, and therefore, saw value in the people of this world, so much so, that he would send his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to bring us home.
When you say:
“I am counted worthy of eternal life exclusively on the ground of Christ's justifying work of redemption.”This appears to be in error. In fact the above scripture makes it clear that you are counted worthy of (returning to) eternal life, because God loves you, and loved you prior to the mission of Jesus Christ. That is where your worth is, in God’s love for you.
And so, I would repeat my previous statement:
“if you accept the premise that it is the desire of God your Father to return you to the full stature of the Divine and Heavenly Identity which was yours before the Fall, and that it is the mission of the Master Jesus Christ to work with you to bring about this reunion with your prior Golden Identity, you can see, then, that one category of dirty garments that must be stripped off and thrown aside, are all ideas and feelings of unworthiness.”The first step in throwing away the garments of unworthiness is to stop clinging to them, as if they defined who you are. Actually, against this bright backdrop of the Truth of God’s Love, all ideas and feelings of unworthiness are exposed to be patterns of falsehood.
GOLDENEAGLES,
ReplyDelete"...against this bright backdrop of the Truth of God’s Love, all ideas and feelings of unworthiness are exposed to be patterns of falsehood."
So...was John the Baptist was deluded when he made this statement?
Mark 1:7 And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
Or was the Apostle Paul trapped in a "pattern of falsehood" when he said this?
I Co. 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
Good grief, man. It is a truly haughty soul which counts itself "worthy" of the sufferings of Christ for sins.
I think it is was the venerable C. H. Spurgeon who said: "The soul which is filled with pride and a sense of worthiness concerning its salvation has no reason whatsoever to believe it has actually experienced salvation."
Let’s Take Another Look at John 3:16
ReplyDeleteWill you not agree with me, Rcofield, that the Apostle John is giving us in this passage, an important FACT about the nature, character, and identity of God our Father? And moreover, that this information reveals a key fact about the Identity of God prior to the time He decided to send Jesus Christ to bring us home? Take another look:
John 3:16 - ”For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Here we have a FACT, that “God so loved the world ... . Can we not reasonably derive from this piece of information, an accurate scenario which has God saying to himself, “I LOVE THESE PEOPLE, therefore, I will send Jesus to bring them home.”?
Does not the prodigal son parable also point to this fact concerning God’s pre-existing love for us?
Does not the lost sheep parable also point to this fact regarding God’s pre-existing love for us?
In as much as our salvation is all about our Reunion with God, isn’t it important for us to factor this piece of information --- regarding God’s pre-existing Love for Us --- into our belief structures, concerning who God is, and just as importantly, who we are?
Who is God? God is Love. Who does God love? Us. Who are we? We are those whom God loves. Is this not the basic framework of the whole truth?
Should not God’s Love for us (when we know God’s Love for us is a fact) become an important factor in our sense of self-worth? If not, why not?