Naming the Name of Christ

[st. Worm]

and I believe that as a born-again believer, there is NO WAY that I can actively live my previous life.

I think this sums up what I think our sister is trying to relay. One who actively, or with express intent to live according to the manner of the old man. There are still many things that must be dealth with by our Lord in us. And I pray that we allow Him to do His work. God want's to see Christ, thats it. If one continues to willfully live according to a lifestyle contrary to the Life that he/she supposely has in them then...

We will make mistakes and fall, but these things are so that we demand more of the Life of Christ. He is the only One who can properly live out this human life. It has already been proven. Without Christ we can do nothing.

ruck1b, are you willing to discuss this with me? If so, read my 3 questions to tsth about a page or 2 back and respond.

Thanks,

Fiosh

Too funny. Because they, like the rest of us, have been blown off by the original poster, we now have posters trying to get others to answer their questions since the OP apparently just wants to engage in Bible-thumping. Just for fun it would be interesting if everyone on the site took her approach and posted nothing but Bible verses with no context or explanation. How long would it take before a total meltdown occurred?

blessings to all,

sw

It's an issue worth discussing, sw.............at what point does sin disqualify us from being a Christian???

If tsth would rather not participate, it's ok with me. I'd love to continue the discussion with the rest of ya.

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Dueling Scriptures???? we'd need banjo music............

Also fiosh, as a Roman Catholic, do you recall any of the great servants of the Church throughout history constantly reminding everyone about how they are walking in the Spirit and insisting how holy and righteous they are and using that to discredit believers who might be struggling with sin? I just don't recall lowly Mother Theresa as she labored to help the sick and dying doing that.

sw

[Fiosh]

Here's where I'm having a problem understanding people who think that practicing homosexuals cannot be Christians....

I am not saying that this one cant be a Christian, BUT..and it is mighty big...when does this one cease. As I stated before I smoked weed two to three weeks after Christ recovered me. I am sure that Christ as the Indwelling-Life within a person cant be satisified with "I love you Lord, but...(thanks INJ) . There has to be a time when one comes out of darkness or what type of testimony would that one be to the overcoming power of Christ. (Also I mean these things for issues that are cut and dry). Our living and the Life that we have in us should not conflict, and when it does, one of them has to give way. I could not have weed and Christ. Weed to me was not what was wrong, but I was not obeying the law of the land. Now its not even a matter of the law of the land, but the Life in me does not agree with smoking.

Yeah, i see what you're saying, sw, and I agree. At some point one needs to come to terms with one's sin, and conquer it.

It seems lacking in compassion, though, to presume to know someone's heart as they may be going thru that struggle. Who knows what their relationship is with God, and how God may be working, albeit gradually, in them.

Peace,

Fiosh

[Fiosh]

For the sake of argument, let's talk about an unmarried heterosexual couple living together for 20 years.

One of them comes to faith in Jesus. They still don't accept that their lifestyle is sinful and are able to rationalize to themselves that God is ok with it.

Are they truly Christian?

[EricH]

For the sake of argument, let's talk about an unmarried heterosexual couple living together for 20 years.

One of them comes to faith in Jesus. They still don't accept that their lifestyle is sinful and are able to rationalize to themselves that God is ok with it.

Are they truly Christian?

Excellent question. If we can all keep our heads, a good discussion should ensue from which we can all learn

[st. Worm]

For the sake of argument, let's talk about an unmarried heterosexual couple living together for 20 years.

One of them comes to faith in Jesus. They still don't accept that their lifestyle is sinful and are able to rationalize to themselves that God is ok with it.

Are they truly Christian?

Well only God knows the heart but that would be an issue of church discipline too. Any legit church would have to institute disciplinary measures in order to hopefully bring repentance. That situation could not be allowed in a church. They would either have to move apart from each other or marry. If they refuse they would eventually have to be treated as unbelievers and removed.

sw

[Fiosh]

For the sake of argument, let's talk about an unmarried heterosexual couple living together for 20 years.

One of them comes to faith in Jesus. They still don't accept that their lifestyle is sinful and are able to rationalize to themselves that God is ok with it.

Are they truly Christian?

Well only God knows the heart but that would be an issue of church discipline too. Any legit church would have to institute disciplinary measures in order to hopefully bring repentance. That situation could not be allowed in a church. They would either have to move apart from each other or marry. If they refuse they would eventually have to be treated as unbelievers and removed.

sw

Agreed. My Church will not even register a couple living out of wedlock in Marriage Prep classes unless they separate.

But, let's take the Church discipline issue out of the picture for a moment.

Is the individual in question a Christian or not?

[firehill]

I got a side question..that concerns this topic as well as many others. We often say that God only God knows the heart...this is true...but the should it actually read the intents of the heart. Only the motives of a one are known by God. But fruit displayed actually gives us a view of persons heart that we may know them...and of whose children they are.

Paul said these words concerning come dear ones.

Phi 4:3 And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.

How could he have said this IF only God knows.

I honestly feel as we labor and are filled more with the Life of God, we will be able to properly discern these things. Let us continue to be filled with God's Life that we may know His heart concerning issues such as these.

Good post ruckb1. I agree with you on this. Way to go!

[st. Worm]

I got a side question..that concerns this topic as well as many others. We often say that God only God knows the heart...this is true...but the should it actually read the intents of the heart. Only the motives of a one are known by God. But fruit displayed actually gives us a view of persons heart that we may know them...and of whose children they are.

Paul said these words concerning come dear ones.

Phi 4:3 And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.

How could he have said this IF only God knows.

I honestly feel as we labor and are filled more with the Life of God, we will be able to properly discern these things. Let us continue to be filled with God's Life that we may know His heart concerning issues such as these.

The authors of God's Word obviously had insights into matters that the rest of us do not have and wrote words that were inspired of Him and that were "God breathed". I hope we can all agree on that. I do not think that any of us have the ability to discern the heart of anyone and the fact that Paul had those insights is no proof that we do. We can make assumptions about obvious situations but we are not Apostles nor are we inspired in that special way. We can make assumptions about the hypothetical situation described by Fiosh but cannot perfectly discern if they are truly saved or not. That is for God and God alone.

sw

[Floatingaxe]

if a homosexual fails to see that their lifestyle is sinful, they are as Christian as any of us.

How can you say that? A homosexual who comes to salvation in Jesus Christ knows instantly that they have been sinning. They cannot fail to know. What do ypu think they asked Jesus to forgive them of?

That is simply not true. It is our nature to try to justify and rationalize our sins. We shut our eyes to the truth in those areas of our lives that we wish to hang on to, even after coming to Jesus. As we grow in faith, and in our relationship to Him, God reveals to us more and more of those things in our life which we never acknowledged as sin.

As we come closer and closer to perfect Holiness, more and more of our sin is revealed to us.

Peace,

Fiosh

What is so untrue? what you have said is right also--that is called sanctification. It is a process. However, blatant sins against God like homosexual acts are things that a person is convicted of immediately. The Holy Spirit does that VERY WELL!

[Guest shiloh357]

if a homosexual fails to see that their lifestyle is sinful, they are as Christian as any of us.

Actually if a homosexual failes to see their lifestyle as sinful, it is a surefire indicator they are not a Christian, as they are not under conviction. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin.

One of the ways we know that we are born again, is godly remorse over sin which comes from being born again. There are many "Christians" who are homosexual who do not see their lifestyle as sinful, and they are in no better condition than those who know it is sinful and practice it anyway.

God's position on the issue homosexuality is explicit; the only way around it is to take the liberal route of simply brushing certain parts of the Bible aside as "mistranslations" and what not. They don't agree with the Bible they simply discard the parts they don't want.

I understand that some Christians still struggle with their past. The operative term is struggle. If there is no war with the flesh, no remorse over sin, if one truly sees their behavior which the Bible says is sinful as not sinful, then that person does not belong to Christ.