Saturday, March 30, 2013

Children of Designer Gods (part 1)

It becomes increasingly clear that people in our culture are becoming less and less godly in their behaviors.  Oh, they claim the name Christian, they talk about prayer, they talk about God...; but what god are they talking about?
To be called a Christian, one must be a follower of Christ in the manner of those first Christians.  They believed that Christ was the Son of Jehovah God, that He came to Earth to free them from their sins, and that faith in Him was the key to their salvation.  They also purposefully followed His teachings, which were the embodiment of the Old Testament Law, played out, and laid out, in practical terms.
Today, many so-called Christians have a warped perspective on all that.  They pick what they want, and discard the rest.  "Jesus loved everyone," they say, and they're right; but He also corrected sinners and told them to mend their ways.  He embraced them, but not their sinful behavior.  Many of the current day affirm all behaviors on the grounds that God loves all.  Again, He loves all people, but hates sin, and will deal with it.  The modern so-called Christian has re-designed his own Jesus to do things his way, not God's way.
Within this is the fact that as God's son, Jesus is God and therefore He is just.  Justice demands accountability; accountability in turn demands payment.  God will not overlook sin.  He has provided a penalty for it (death) an escape for us for its penalty (justification), but that demands faith.  The proof of faith is repentance--changing direction.  A person who claims to be a Christian, but has no true faith and is not following the path that Christ presented as the right one can hardly rightly be considered a Christian as the word was first--and correctly--used in the book of the Acts of the Apostles.
The person who claims that Jesus' love accepts all needs to review His actions and words.  When He said "Go and sin no more," He really meant it!  To misconstrue His love as accepting all is to re-invent Jesus...making God in mans' image.  Making a designer god.   It's dangerous ground.  
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References and some comments (read the whole context so you get the whole picture):
Ac 11:26(b) So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
This is the first and only use of the work "Christian" in the Bible.  They were those who believed and were obeying the teachings.   A disciple is one who is taught; the disciples were called Christians; therefore a Christian must be teachable.  

Joh 8:10-11, Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
"No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
We are not to condemn people; however, those who are students of the Word are called to correct those who claim to be Christians yet behave in a way contrary to Christ's teaching.   Jesus did not condemn the woman; but he told her to repent--change her behavior.  

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