Will God Forgive Me?

"Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for..." Isaiah 40:1-2 

"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore and repent." Rev. 3:19

"This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after  that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.... For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Jer. 31:33-34 

 So many people think they have committed the unforgiveable sin or that they have gone to far and there is no hope for their souls that it is necessary to make a study on God's mercy. Truly, we cannot limit the mercy of God any more than we can put God in a box. It wasn't long ago that the Roman Catholic Church taught that if you committed suicide you automatically went to hell because you couldn't repent, but has since reversed itself saying this is limiting God and God decides who is forgiven, not us. 

Actually, the only unforgiveable sin is "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit," as delineated in Matt. 12:31ff. In Jesus's day, the Pharisees went so far that they attributed the works Christ had done by the finger of God to the devil himself. They didn't just think it but proclaimed it verbally and impenitently to overthrow the ministry of Christ. That is a pretty hard sin to do in this day and age even though it is theoretically possible.  

The point is that the person never repents and God sees this heart that we don't. Only God can judge that one has done this sin.  No matter what sin you have committed, you can be forgiven if you repent!  Israel had done every evil in the book but God didn't throw the book at them but told them even then He would not utterly cast them out and would forgive them (cf. Lev. 26:44). If you think you cannot be forgiven, you are already showing remorse and cannot be unredeemable or have gone too far; those people don't care and are impenitent. 

We must realize that even Christians do not get away with sin though God does not punish them per se. He chastises and disciplines or even prunes them that they may learn their lesson. In faithfulness, He has afflicted us that we may gain a heart of wisdom and for our own good (Psalm 119:67,71). They rod and staff of God is meant to comfort us. It is good to be taught by God. Some need to learn the hard way, the school of hard knocks. Guilt complexes are of Satan, but conviction of sin is the job of the Holy Spirit and God performs an open and shut case and doesn't just give us a vague feeling of shame or guilt--Satan does!  We all have a God-given conscience to listen to, but it can be wrong if not enlightened by the Word. 

When God forgives us, He deletes the file on us and keeps no permanent file or record (Isaiah 38:17); He blots them out for His own sake (Isaiah 43:25). He has swept them away like a cloud (Isaiah 44:22). He also casts them into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).  What God does is throw them into the sea and puts up a sign: no fishing!  God can utterly forget and delete memories!  If we confess the same sin over and over, we are dredging up old sins and God says, "What sin?" We cannot be forgiven too many times and even if it's the same sin. Do you want new sins?  We may have an easily besetting sin that overcomes us and we need special intercession or confession. Remember, "Sin is crouching at the door and wants to destroy you and you must not let it." Gen. 4:7 

He only forgives those with faith in Jesus and have repented of their sins. True repentance is without regret. (2 Cor. 7:10).   That means being sorry enough to stop them. If there is no remorse, there can be no forgiveness. The Christian may sin, but he doesn’t desire to and wants to live a holy life and has made the decision to follow Christ. The point of conversion is that God changes a person from the inside out and makes them a new person willing to do God’s will.

God forbid that we should take advantage of grace and go on sinning once forgiven. That would be a sin of presumption. No believer is without sin but is at the same time justified before God and a sinner saved by grace, not his conduct. God doesn’t hold our sins against us (cf. 2 Cor. 5:19; Psalm 32:2). But only Christians have power to overcome sin and it has no dominion over us. (Romans 6:14). 

In sum, when the believer sins, God doesn't hold it against them (cf. 2 Cor. 5:19) but disciplines them that they may grow spiritually and in maturity and faith.  "O what joy for those whose record has been cleared of guilt...." (Psalm 32:2).   Confession is not a matter of getting saved again, but of restoration to fellowship with the Father, the Son, and other believers as 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness."   Soli Deo Gloria! 

Why Don't They Believe? ...

 There is "no excuse," says Paul in Romans 1:20 and "God has made it plain to them" in Romans 1:19 that God exists. The "heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows forth His handiwork." Indeed, we can learn the laws of nature by studying the atmosphere and outer space. Job 38:33 is where God challenges Job to make us of the laws of the universe (presumably the laws of nature or some 50 universal constants that make reality as we know it possible and the Anthropic Principle or that God has designed or made a fine-tuned earth specifically for the sustaining of life per Isaiah 45:18. (He formed it to be inhabited!) 

All those laws of nature imply a divine Lawgiver.   Einstein in his humble and simple faith saw God as a great Mathematician and the Designer of the laws of nature that are in such harmony that it makes us seem feeble; the universe seems to him as "one vast mathematical equation."  If you see design or purpose as demonstrated in nature, you can assume a Designer or Purposer. Design doesn't happen by itself; it's planned that way or fixed. 

No amount of evidence can force, coerce, or make someone who doesn't want to become a believer, and God will not change your mind it it's dead set against His will: "If any man is willing  to do His will, he shall know...." John 7:17  We see this premise established in the history of Israel which saw many miracles from Moses and still disbelieved and rejected God. Psalm 78:32 says that they refused to believe despite the many signs of Moses.  

We do not commit intellectual suicide to become believers nor does God expect us to kiss our brains goodbye.  As believers we are to cater to a person's intellectual integrity but not pander to their intellectual arrogance, according to theologian John Stott.  Most intelligent or educated don't believe for the same reasons others don't: they don't want to believe (it may mess up their lifestyle or they might think they may not have any "fun").  What people do is feign intellectual problems or issues to mask      emotional, moral, or heart-felt problems.  People give pseudo reasons for disbelief and there are many (these are known as smoke screens that hide the real issues): thinking science has undermined the Bible; thinking faith is irrational; thinking the Bible is not historical and even unscientific; thinking its ideals or moral expectations are too high; thinking that religion is all "pie in the sky;" and especially when a person loves his sin too much so they won't repent.

Jesus was in the same predicament with the hardened Pharisees who refused to believe at least in the miracles themselves as from God (they believed they were from Satan) John 12:37 says that even though Jesus did many miracles, they would [not could not] believe. "I did tell you but you don't believe.  The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me."  John 10:25  We are to believe on the evidence of the miracle themselves.  John 14:11  Remember, miracles do not make faith, but only a thirst for more miracles and often evoke skepticism and unbelief, but faith makes miracles. 

Note that they might have believed if they had not already decided against it. Jesus told them to "believe for His works' sake."   But nothing could convince them, even the mighty works, signs, wonders, and good works, and miracles of Jesus who "was a prophet mighty in word and deed."  That means He practiced what He preached and preached what He practiced for an undeniable witness. 

Jesus called them to Him but they would not because their heart was not right before God. "You are slow of heart to believe..." Luke 24:25  Is your heart in the right place? The fact of the matter is that the heart of the matter is a matter of the heart. Jesus calls us in love but will not force us to come to Him. God "is at work within us to do and to work of His good pleasure."  Phil. 2:13 

The fact of the matter is that people are blinded by Satan and don't see the wonderful news of the gospel and that their problem is sin, not being unenlightened or uneducated. "Satan has blinded the minds of the that believe not...." 2 Cor. 4:4  But God can open the heart as He did to Lydia (Acts 16:14) and do a work of grace.  

People are ignorant all right, but God can open the eyes of the blind and the eyes of our hearts and set us free from the power of the devil.  The whole world is in his influence unless they are saved, then he cannot touch them. 1 John 5:18  Point in fact: It is that people will not believe, not that they cannot.  God doesn't owe them any more proof than is in nature, His natural revelation, and the Bible, His supernatural or special revelation.  Jesus would do no miracles on demand or a biggie miracle to dispel doubt and unbelief, but expected us to be believing.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Do All Things Occur As God Plans?

 Some Christians don't believe that God's will is always done.  They believe they can frustrate God and defy His will. It is true we can break God's laws and not obey Him, but this is known as the preceptive will of God or that will revealed to us. But there is another way to look at God's will: the secret, decreed, and ultimate will of God that we do not know till it happens. God is known for orchestrating history as He wills to glorify Himself per Eph. 1:11 where it says God works all things in conformity with His will. That means God is sovereign, and if He is not Lord of all, He cannot be Lord at all. There can be no  maverick molecule in the cosmos.  No  grain of sand outside His will. It was one grain of sand in Oliver Cromwell's kidney that stopped a war! God was working!  Job said we cannot frustrate or thwart God's will in Job  42:2. 

Some believers think that when bad things happen, they cannot be God's will or when men sin that God didn't decree to allow it to happen or  even direct it into being. The crucifixion is the most wicked event in history perpetrated by man and Acts 4:28 says that it went according to God's predestined plan and will. Now, when God says not to steal and I do anyway, I am breaking God's Law and preceptive will. But God may allow it to happen for He intends good out of evil. As Joseph said to his brothers, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good." Gen. 50:20  John Wycliffe, first translator of the Bible into English, made the famed dictum: "All things come to pass of necessity." 

That means God has a  purpose for everything happening and God even has a purpose for allowing evil according to Prov. 16:4. God is the Potter and we are the clay; we cannot complain to the Maker why we are made so. Some people are vessels of honor and some of dishonor, but all serve God's higher purpose. God used Judas to do the dirty work of betraying Jesus, yet Judas did it completely of his own initiative without God  impelling or compelling him. Judas went as it was written of him.... 

We pray that God's will be done and this means on earth as it is in heaven, to be done willfully and cheerfully from the heat and not forced to do it. God is stronger than our wills as Jeremiah found out in Jer. 20:7 when he said that God had overpowered him and he felt defeated by God who prevailed.  We know "that a man's way is not his sown; no one who walks determines hi sown steps." Jer. 10:23 and "A mans steps are determined by the LORD so how can anyone understand hi sown way?" Prov. 20:24 and "A man's heart plans his way but the LORD determines his steps." Prov. 16:9 We are not fully in control of our lives; even the king's heart is controlled by God as He controls a river's course per Prov. 21:1 and in Prov. 16:33 it says God controls the toss of the dice.  Soli Deo Gloria!

What Are Sins Against Faith? ...

 You should understand that we are all people of faith and that with different systems, it’s not a matter of faith vs. reason, but faith vs. faith. Faith is trusting in what you have good reason to believe. Doubt is not a sin against faith but a necessary component. No one has perfect faith: God requires sincere, unfeigned faith. Note: even Christians can be guilty of these sins. A sin against that would obviously be anything done in “bad faith” or demonstrating “no faith.”

1. For instance, having blind faith or not knowing why you believe or believing for no good reason at all. Not knowing what or why you believe is a way of not believing at all.  Faith without rational evidence is blind faith! 
2. Another would be the escapism and crutch of skepticism or of not accepting faith at all as a system to find truth, though it is a philosophical fact that all knowledge begins in faith and is contingent. You must always commence with some presupposition you cannot prove or disprove.
3. Nihilism is another anti-faith belief system whereas one denies truth can be known or anything has real meaning at all, or that even nothing makes sense at all or has purpose or even can be known; basically belief in nothing at all.
4. Postmodernism is a threat that denies absolute, transcendent, objective truth can be found or established at all; basically, to them, all truth is “relative.” The catchphrase is “That may be true for you, but not for me!”
5. We live in a post-faith era whereas Secular Humanists believe that faith is the enemy and that the only reliable tool for gaining knowledge is the scientific method. Therefore, one must observe it or be able to measure it for it to be true. But they don’t realize they are putting faith in the scientific method, their own power of reason, other scientists, materialism, and naturalism.
6. New Age or New Spirituality says we can find truth in ourselves and the “God within.” There is no universal truth at all and dogma is unofficial and personal.
7. Pragmatists are also anti-faith in that they say the measure of an idea or system is not whether it is true but its results and effects.

Prayer Of St. Patrick

 “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace;

That where there is Hatred, let me sow Love,

That where there is Injury, let me sow Pardon,

That where there is Doubt, let me sow Faith,

That where there is Despair, let me sow Hope,

That where there is Darkness, let me sow Light,

That where there is Sadness, let me sow Joy.

Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be Consoled, as to Console.

That I may not so much seek to be Understood, as to Understand.

That I may not so much seek to be Loved, as to Love.

For it is by Pardoning, that we are Pardoned.

It is by Giving that we Receive.

And it is by Dying that we are born into Life Eternal.”—-St. Francis

Your Love For All God's People

 Paul had heard of the Ephesians "love for all God's people."  We can have a brotherly love of the brethren. But there is agape or godly love expressed by faith. "All that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Gal. 5:6  The problem with most Christians is that they don't love those they don't like or have no respect for or even offend them. Loving and liking are mutually exclusive.  You can do one without the other.  We are to love, not necessarily "like," someone and this love is not a touchy-feely type or emotive love, but expressions of love by action: Do not love in word and speech but in action and truth." 1 John 3:19  

Yes, we can love those that are offensive, this is tough love and a challenge to our senses. God may be calling us to love the most unlovable or unlovely!  We are called to love our neighbor as ourselves and to be good Samaritans as the epitome of that.  Be friendly then!  Show yourself a neighbor when the need presents itself.  We must have a special bond and love for our brethren for Jesus said, that that would be how they will know we are Christians (by our love for one another). It isn't necessarily a sin to not like someone or to be offended but to act on it in a biased and unfair or unfriendly manner. 

We may not feel love but that mean we cannot show love by doing the right thing or doing things in love or out of love as a motive. Watch your conduct and the feelings will follow!  The divine order must be fact, faith, feeling .. never go by feelings, even in your faith. Just because you don't feel love for someone doesn't mean you don't love them or cannot show and live in love. Soli Deo Gloria!

What's Behind Karma?

The demonic doctrine of karma (from Hinduism, New Age, and even Buddhism) must be exposed because, in this so-called Age of Aquarius, modern man is fooled and taken in by Eastern philosophy and thinking, letting it influence the Christian faith. Both Eastern faiths adhere to this and believe that actions in this life automatically determine your fate. Many Christians flippantly, or even seriously, say, "What goes around, comes around," and think that everyone gets precisely what they deserve in life like God has a ledger-book mentality, just keeping score of our deeds and dealing with us accordingly. Case in point: Job's friends accused him of evil-doing and told him to repent.

The beauty of our faith is that it is the opposite of karma: We don't get what we do deserve (mercy) and we do get what we don't deserve (grace)--both contrary to the doctrine of karma and its exact-reward concept. God doesn't just weigh out our good deeds versus our bad ones and deal with us as the result in the afterlife. Eastern thinking believes you cannot escape karma because it is the system of justice in the universe--people get precisely what they deserve, whether good or bad, and what's more, you should not interfere with someone else's karma--everyone is an island or a rock to himself and has to deal with his own reality and fate in life because he deserves it. This erroneous thinking also says that you can overcome bad karma with good karma, and this would make one believe it's alright to do evil if one balances it out or neutralizes it with a good deed--sort of like wasting fuel on a solo flight but planting a tree in remorse to make up for it.

How do we know karma is wrong? The Bible teaches that suffering is not something we can comprehend and that there's an easy answer to--one only need consult Job. No religion has a complete answer; God expects faith, but He gives us meaning in suffering.   If karma were true, why did Jesus suffer more than any man--did he deserve his sufferings? There is not a man alive that God is not good too and doesn't deserve to die a thousand deaths--even believers. George Whitefield was asked what he thought of the poor souls going to the gallows: "There, but for the grace of God, go I." It is said that if God were to actually wipe out evil from the earth, none of us would be left. The question is not why is there evil, but why is there good. The psalmist in Psalm 103:10 (ESV) delineates our thinking: "He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities."

Case in point: If you remember the massacre of refugees by the Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in Thailand (known as the "Killing Fields") in the mid-'70s, you should be informed that this happened on Buddhist turf, and they refused to help their own Buddhist brothers who were getting their comeuppance  (some 300,000 stranded in no-mans-land on the Cambodian border), because they felt they shouldn't interfere with their karma--Buddha taught that you are to be an island to yourself. It was Christian goodwill and relief organizations that stepped into the save the day and be the example of Christ's love for the outcast and rescued those in need. This is an example of that what the world needs is more Christian love, according to Lord Bertrand Russell, British philosopher, and mathematician, who happened to be atheist. There is no basis for the love and compassion of one's fellow man in a world of karma.

There is a certain manner in which we get what we deserve, reaping what we sow, but this basically refers to our eternal destiny whether in the flesh or the spirit and if we are in the habit of judging we shall be judged accordingly. Spiritually speaking, we are to sow to the Spirit, not the flesh. But Christians do indeed suffer the consequences of their acts but are forgiven and there is no eternal aftermath. The doctrine of karma has to do with the exact-reward concept that you cannot escape it and it is the final judge of your destiny.

One must not say that he has blown it and will suffer for it the rest of his life, because God doesn't punish us for our sins--He only prunes or disciplines us (according to Romans 8:28 all things will work out for the good) that we may grow and learn a lesson and be sanctified. God isn't finished with us yet and is still working on us--we are a work in progress! The immediate response when something disastrous happens, is that God is out to get us, or we may ask, "What did I do to deserve this?" We are not capable of understanding the motives of God and must accept by faith that He intends it for good just like Joseph said, "You meant it for evil, but God intended it for good" (cf. Gen. 50:20).

And so why is karma evil? It denies grace and mercy and means that there is an impersonal force in the universe meting out justice mechanically like fate. God is personal and deals with us accordingly, and knows us and has a plan of good and not of evil toward us and as Psalm 145:9 (ESV) says, "The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made." There is no one that will be able to claim that God is not good and that they got more than they deserved in life because of His blessings. The uniqueness of Christian thinking is the introduction of the concepts of grace and mercy as seen in the atonement of Christ.

People that believe in karma don't help out their fellow man, because they believe everyone must suffer his own personal karma. Karma denies the reality of a substitutionary death (no one should interfere with someone's karma), as done by Christ on our behalf. We get what we don't deserve and are delivered from what we do deserve! Eastern salvation or "nirvana" is released from this impersonal law of karma.

God is not only "great" like Islam proclaims, but He is also "good," and this is what they deny, seeing God as capricious, arbitrary, or whimsical and able to treat man unpredictably, according to any rational basis. This doctrine leads to pride in thinking because people think they are "self-made" and don't owe God anything for their prosperity (it is God who makes one have the power to get rich per Deuteronomy 8:17-18). This reminds me of the definition of a Victorian Englishman: A self-made man who worships his creator.

There is justice (meting out punishment as deserved and giving one his due). But God metes out justice with mercy and there is not always justice in this life--in which case they will meet it in eternity, so no one ultimately escapes it, except by the mercy of God in Christ. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Cf. Gen 18:25). Governments are God's ordained means to monitor evil and punish wrongdoers, but God's justice is never escaped. No one will be punished beyond that which strict justice requires, but believers escape justice by virtue of their faith in the atoning work of Christ on the cross, where He suffered for us.

We must acknowledge God's ultimate control of our destiny and that it is in His hands--He is sovereign over all. Remember what Jesus said to those who inquired why a person was born blind, whether he had sinned or his parents: "Neither, it was so the glory of God should be manifest." It is good news that there is no karma (I'm not saying we don't sometimes get what we deserve, but there is no iron-clad law that cannot be escaped and our destiny isn't controlled by it), and one should rejoice in the fact that we can say regarding our salvation: "What did I ever do, to deserve this?" This answer is nothing, it was all grace--God gets all the glory from start to finish.

I'm getting disgruntled thinking of Christians who believe in "karma." The law of karma states that there is an accumulation of good and bad karma and that the total net differential is one's karma. And you can compensate bad karma with accumulated good karma!   This is the belief that bad deeds (there is a causal relationship between deeds and events) catch up to you and you can offset them by good deeds or "good karma." It is analogous to the business executive with a private jet that plants trees to offset his carbon footprint (his guilt).  Ultimately, it leads to the belief that you are judged by whether your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds to get into heaven. That is to say, some deserve heaven and some don't.

Buddhists and Hindus believe in "karma" and that everyone is an island suffering his own "just dessert." The Hindus of India have trouble with the lower castes because they think they are getting what they deserve. "If someone is suffering, that's his karma." Buddha taught that we are all an "island to ourselves." Remember the disciples asking Jesus "Who sinned?"   I believe in the "Law of the Harvest", and that we reap what we sow, according to Gal. 6:7. Remember what Hosea said: "They sow the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind" (Hos. 8:7). If we sow to the flesh we will reap destruction, and if we sow to the Spirit we will reap eternal life (our destiny respectively). There is a way out with the Lord, and that is mercy and grace. Psalm 103:10 proclaims, "He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities." 

That is the essence of Christianity: We get what we don't deserve (grace) and we don't get what we do deserve (mercy). I heard one guy say that all he wanted from God was what he deserved! Well, do I need to point out that we all deserve hell? Thank God that there is a God of a second (or third, etc.) chance! God doesn't keep a record of all our sins to hold against us, but has thrown them to the bottom of the sea and sent them as far away as the east is from the west. (Cf. Mic.7:19; Psalm 103:12.)

The big dilemma is how do you explain the sufferings of Christ and of Job? I have heard it said by a wise man that if we suffer it is so that others won't have to, and if we don't suffer it is because others have. Thank God for forgiveness and a fresh start; we can be born again to a new life in Christ no matter we may have botched up our life. We are all a "work in progress." "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground..." (Hos. 10:12). karma is a word that should not be in the believer's conversation, except in disapproval.

In summation: karma is balderdash, poppycock, and hogwash. (We have a personal loving God that cares for us individually who knows each of us and has a plan for our lives.) "He has not dealt with us according to our sins...." By and large, karma is simply a mechanical, iron-clad law of cause and effect for good and bad deeds and their effects that is counter-Christian.    Soli Deo Gloria!

Suffer The Little Children....

Jesus welcomed the little ones, wanted them to come to Him, and blessed them, while the disciples had no time for them and thought Jesus was too busy to be bothered. He said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, [in NIV: "do not hinder them"] for such is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19:14). Jesus rebuked them and told them that to such belong the kingdom of God. He also said that he who humbles himself like a little child shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Are children the enemies of God? Yes and No. James 4:4 says that he who is a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Children are born in sin, of course. "In sin did my mother conceive me," says Psalm 51:5. The Minnesota Crime Commission issued a report saying that little children are born to be criminals and if they are not civilized by the parents will grow up delinquent. The grace of God covers all children till the age of accountability (I don't want to get into an extensive proof of this doctrine here because most believers accept this) and children are to be welcomed into the church body and its fellowship, and not to be treated as outsiders. There will be no children in hell, and God loves all children and wants to bless them. If you make one of them stumble you will be better off with a millstone around your neck and cast into the sea. They have angels that always behold the face of God and take care of them.

Yes, children sin but they have not learned to discern good and evil and are innocent to a certain extent. Technically all unbelievers are children of Satan but children can be converted to Christ--the way of salvation is so simple even they can comprehend it. God can and sometimes does speak to us through the children, just like St. Augustine claimed happened to him. We were all enemies of God before salvation and the miracle is that God loved us in that while we were His enemies He sent Son to die for us. 

It is true that infants are completely self-centered and their world revolves around them, and it is the job of the parent to civilize them and bring them up in the training and nurture of the Lord ("Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it," says Proverbs 22:6, ESV). Responsible parents stand in loco Dei or in the place of God to teach concepts of authority, respect, and obedience.

Though children may have not accepted Christ yet, God is working on them and it is the job of the parents to teach them the truth and way of salvation. We should never treat them as if they are enemies of God--that is the logical outcome of believing they are. Only God knows and sees who His elect are and we are not to judge people prematurely or before the time. The wheat and chaff look similar when growing together and it is not the task of believers to separate them because they could be wrong.

"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19:14, KJV). Jesus welcomed children with open arms and blessed them when his disciples thought to rebuke them that He had no time in a day when children were of little worth in a man's world. The kingdom of God belongs to them in the sense of being grandfathered in to be included in God's blessings until they reach the age of accountability and know good from evil (per Isaiah 7:16). We are to consider them in and treat them that way. Children have the faith of their parents and haven't really developed a personal relationship with Christ--they are just beginning to know Him through those who teach and their family members. You must have faith in Christ alone and that means not in Christ plus your parents or plus family ties--where would that faith be if the family fails. Children can even be confirmed in the faith and not be saved, just having gone through the motions and memorized the Dance of the Pious.

Children can comprehend a great deal of spiritual truth and be enlightened, and even taste of the heavenly gift, and share in the Holy Spirit per Hebrews 6 (but these matters do not prove salvation), and love of Bible stories or preaching without coming to a complete spiritual apprehension--which is pending their decision to follow Christ and deny themselves. Even having the ability to discuss Bible doctrine or knowing one's way around Scripture is no proof of salvation. They are incapable of making a decision to take up a cross at such an early age and their faith isn't confirmed until it is tested by God as if by fire, because it is more valuable than silver or gold. The gospel message must be presented clearly enough to be rejected, but not an easy-believism, which undermines it. You aren't saved until you get convicted, realize you are lost and are converted through saving faith and genuine repentance, and most children cannot adequately articulate how they met Jesus and it transformed their life--for giving public testimony of Jesus is part of salvation ("For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved," says Romans 10:10, ESV).

Just liking church, doing church, or loving Jesus (you aren't saved by loving Jesus or your idea of Him) and so forth are not salvation--they are responding to their own world as they know it, and would love Buddha or Confucius if they were Asian--our emotional experiences can be duplicated in other religions. Children are very impressionable and can be influenced even to be suicide bombers at that age of innocence. The point is that we should bring them up in the training and nurture of the Lord and in the fear of God and God promises that our efforts of teaching them will bear fruit some day. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it," (cf. Prov. 22:6). This refers to exposure to the admonition of the Lord.

Don't be so quick to believe a superficial testimony of a child who is incapable of discerning true spiritual truth. What happens is that they have their parents faith and haven't developed their own until they get out on their own and in the real world and get tested. Just because Parents stand in loco Dei or in the place of God and represent His authority as authority figures don't mean they can lord it over them without biblical sanction. Children owe their parents due respect and affection just the same. In my estimation, it is next to impossible to "save" your children, however, you can lead them in the way of truth--and commend them to God and the Word of truth. They are just the first lesson of relationship that the children are exposed to and must pass this test to go on to know the Lord.

All you can hope is that your labor was not in vain and God will take care of them, as you submit to His nurture and providence. We instill truth in them as seeds that God will cause to grow and germinate someday unto salvation. We are to treat all children as if they belong to the kingdom, and woe unto him that causes one of these to stumble in whatever faith he has. But I believe that there comes a time to leave the bosom of the family, and they call it that because it's a sheltered environment, and then you must prove your faith is genuine and not just second-hand. Jesus said we must be willing to renounce our family ties and allegiance to all other loyalties, and even love Him more than father or mother. Remember, Christianity is not a way of life, but a vital, vibrant, and growing first-hand and personal relationship with the living God and Savior. And it is no easy step to leave the hearth and cut the umbilical cord to find one's true identity in God without the aid of the familiar domicile. Soli Deo Gloria!

Be Perfect As Your Father In Heaven Is Perfect

 Jesus exhorts us to be perfect in many ways and in different connotations, denotations, and meanings. Obviously, no one is perfect but God, so that can not be what He meant.  There are different interpretations of what "perfect" means, such as complete and mature or without fault or blemish or flaw.   The elder is to above blame for instance.  Pelagius was a heretic that debated St. Augustine and insisted that since God commands perfection, it must be possible, and taught what was known as sinless perfectionism.  This is now called "entire sanctification" or perfectionism. It is said by Catholics that saints and the Pope have attained this level of holiness.  We are to bear with each other's faults. Eph. 4:2

But God admonishes us not to think of ourselves as holier than thou (cf. Isaiah 65:5). What is commonly understand by the standards of achievement for the believer is that perfection is the standard, but direction or effort is the test.  Let me give you an example from the Old Testament.  After Israel had received the Law, they told God, "We will do all that is written..." They should have realized that no one can keep the Law but God and should have begged for mercy and grace. Christianity is not a rule book or to-do list or list of dos and don'ts. It is a relationship and Paul even claimed, "not to have laid hold of it yet." Phil. 3:12

Do I need to point out verses that say we cannot attain sinless perfection:  1 John 1:10 says if we claim to be without sin, we make Him a liar and the truth is not in us.  Eccl. 7:20 says "Surely there is not a man on earth who does what is right and doesn't sin." and Proverbs 20:9 says "Who can say, 'I have kept my heart pure, I am clean and without sin?'" Psalm 119:96 says there is a limit to all perfection. The point is that we are not saved by performance, but by faith alone and the Law was not given to be a way of salvation, but to measure us.  It was given to show no man can keep it!  "It is indeed the straightedge of the Law that show us how crooked we really are." Romans 3:20    

If we keep the whole Law and offend in one point, we are guilty of breaking it all.   What I'm saying is that no one keeps the Law without fault except Jesus and we all fall short and to try to put yourself under it makes you obliged to the whole of it.  We cannot attain to God's standards until we reach glory and no longer have the old sin nature or sin virus we inherited from Adam. We not only have broken one of the laws but the whole of the Law and cannot keep it! We all fall short of God's glory. Justification means that God reckons us as just, not that we are just. He calls us just in His eyes; we are both sinners and just at the same time (cf. Gal. 2:17).  God no longer counts our sins against us! (cf. 2 Cor. 5:19). Christianity is not about "Do!" but "Done!"  It is a done deal.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Musings On Faith...

 What are some meditations regarding the common faith?

It began at salvation, flourishes in time, and is completed and fulfilled in glory! Only in a world where faith is difficult can it be possible; there can be no easy-believism or easy faith; it might be easy to believe but hardly worth it. Faith comes by the gift of God: “It is the work of God that you believe….” (cf. John 6:29). It comes by virtue of hearing and by hearing of the Word of God—preaching per Romans 10:17 (and we are to grow in our faith and go from faith to faith ever increasing in glory per 2 Cor. 3:18 and Romans 1:16–17). Remember the servant who said to Jesus: “I believe, help thou mine unbelief.” Meager faith in a big God is better than big faith in a small or limited God.

Some people think they have faith without a doubt, but that would be knowledge, not faith. We all live in a doubt-certitude continuum. There are degrees of certitude but God requires us all to take a leap of faith, not into the dark but into the light. Faith is trusting in what you have good reason to believe and knowledge isn’t always certain. It isn’t then a matter of how much you believe but how thorough your repentance that may be the issue! Faith and repentance go hand in hand and there can be no genuine repentance without saving faith! (Acts 20:21).

Faith is only measured by obedience, not ecstasies or experiences. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nazi martyr, said, “Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes.” You cannot walk in the glow of some epiphany or glorious experience or encounter with God. “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” Isaiah 7:9. We do not walk into some perpetual religious high or remain on Cloud Nine as believers but our faith must be tested as if by fire. Thus, you should say that faith isn’t now much we believe but how well we obey; God doesn’t want our achievements but our obedience! In sum, you might say, “It’s not how big your faith, but how big your God.” (Don’t put Him in a box and limit Him.)  Soli Deo Gloria!