Observations From Hadleyville: Grace

Sunday, September 2, 2012

THE MYTH OF SINLESS PERFECTION

During my freshman year of college we called it "Getting Tinked." The term came from a remark from one of the students, who said the Sinless Perfection movement sweeping the campus was like God plowing through the students, knocking them over; tink, tink, tink.

That was a heady year for me. The Jesus People introduced me to the Charismatic Movement, I met Joe--my best friend for life--and the "Tinkers" assured me I must be absolutely sin-free before God could ever use me. Well, at least one of those things--namely Joe--lasted.

Sinless Perfection is the notion that you can stand before God righteous and holy because of the pure and dedicated life you live. Now--obviously-- we're not talking about "sinners" here. C'mon! You have to be "saved" by Jesus, "washed in the blood of the lamb!" Then, because you have the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit it is possible to Just Say No to Sin. Therefore, since you CAN be sin-free, it follows you MUST be perpetually sin-free in order to be acceptable to God.

Okay, Theologically, it IS technically possible to fall on the grace of God in every temptation and escape. ... But DO you? I certainly don't, not consistently. Even the great Apostle Paul despaired that he kept doing the things he didn't want to do. That's because though you might be saved by the grace of God and the blood of Jesus you are still a fallen, corrupted, being. Christians battle the old sin nature every day of our saved lives on this earth. You are righteous in God's sight because of the overflow of Christ's imputed righteousness, not your own.

Given that the Bible is replete with references to man's fallen, sinful nature, I find it absurd that the notion of sinless perfection is a perennial among religious people--Christians in particular. Yet it continues to make the rounds, putting on a pious new face every so often and enticing believers who ought to know better. When we find it in someone else we call it legalism, or Phariseeism. In our self, we often praise it as holiness.

As something of a theologian, I find it necessary to correct this misunderstanding. Here goes: You are not righteous in and of yourself, nor am I. On our BEST day you and I have more in common with Adolph Hitler than with Jesus Christ. I state the contrast in such graphic terms that even the most spiritually myopic might understand my meaning.

Let me give you a couple of examples of how the Bible deals with the doctrine of Sinless Perfection. Paul lost his temper with John Mark. Peter acted hypocritically around the Judaizers. Did God stop using them? No.

Though Christian believers DO have the indwelling Holy Spirit we find we must fall on God continually for strength and grace. That is because we are not spiritually self-sufficient. in Paul's words, "Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Phillippians 3:13-14.

The Christian life is a process. It is true to say I have been saved, I am being saved and one day I will ultimately be saved. As for here and now in this life, it is the beginning and the process we experience. The ultimate will not be true until we get to Heaven, or God intervenes with the "2nd Coming Shortcut."

I say all this because I keep hearing Christians talk about salvation by grace, while demanding sinless perfection from others. Brethren, lighten up.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

WHAT ABOUT GOOD WORKS?

Beware of false additions to faith. Through the ages people have proposed that other things beside faith are required for salvation. They say that these are not works, but since they then turn around and require that one must do these things to gain salvation they are obviously a work which produces or earns salvation.

1. Surrender. Christ must be perfectly followed as lord in order for salvation to be real. Christ is Lord, but His lordship over the believer in this life is imperfect. Christians make a linguistic mistake with the word Lord. We understand it in the European sense of "king." The Bible uses it of Jesus in the Jewish meaning of a synonym for God. Jesus is God whether you obey or not.
2. Baptism. Baptism is visible obedience to Christ, but requiring it as a precondition to salvation makes it a work. (Mark 16:16 is not in the most reliable texts).
3. Repentance. If understood as a synonym for faith yes; if understood as cleaning up your life, and THEN believing, no.
4. Confession. Believers are called to confess their sins to one another(James 5:16) but nowhere is confession (usually in the sense of EVERY sin ever committed) demanded as a precondition to salvation.

The Thief on the cross is the salvation test case. He didn’t,
clean up his life,
walk the aisle,
pray at an alter,
get baptized,
join a church, or
give any money.
He simply asked Jesus for salvation.

QUASI-LEGAL DISCLAIMER

Don the Baptist considers himself to be both intellectually deep and extremely humorous. Don the Baptist assumes no responsibility for blog browsers who cannot tell the difference between the two. Blog browsers are advised to consider any "Observations from Hadleyville" content that makes no sense to be the result of a lack of intellect or sense of humor on the part of the blog browser and not that of the blogger. Don the Baptist is a non profit guy so don't bother suing Don the Baptist as it would be a waste of time and resources.

WORDS OF WISDOM FOR WRITERS

The secret of becoming a writer is that you have to write. You have to write a lot. You also have to finish what you write, even though no one wants it yet. If you don't learn to finish your work, no one will ever want to see it. The biggest mistake new writers make is carrying around copies of unfinished work to inflict on their friends.

I am sure it has been done with less, but you should be prepared to write and throw away a million words of finished material. By finished, I mean completed, done, ready to submit, and written as well as you know how at the time you wrote it.
-Jerry Pournelle

WHAT'S THIS HADLEYVILLE THING?

Those of you familiar with Mark Twain’s works might recognize my blog title. As Samuel Clemons grew older, he became increasingly disillusioned with humanity. Towards the end he began referring to the Damned Human Race; employing the secular and religious epithet at one stroke.

I find I’ve not reached that level of despair myself. I still believe in redemption and I still see signs of nobility even among we fallen, damned creatures. So, I could not bring myself to call this blog “On the Damned Human Race.” I do however, resonate with another of Clemmons stories; “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg.” And viola, there you have it. “Observations From Hadleyville.”