This kind of refutation will get you blocked on @johnshore’s “progressive Christian” Patheos site.
John Shore's blog 84 comments
What Jesus must think when listening to evangelizers
<avatar92.jpg> M Didaskalos 11 days ago Removed
[from the column] "The message of the Great Commandment boils down to this:
God loves you. I love you. You are worthy of unqualified, absolute love.
The message of the Great Commission boils down to this:
You should stop believing whatever it is you believe and instead become a Christian.
When you combine those two messages—as every evangelizing Christians must—you get:
I love you. Now change."
Swing and a foul ball. Made contact, but no base hit.
The Bible plainly teaches that we are inexhaustibly, unutterably, unfathomably, forever loved by God. *We* aren’t repugnant to God. It’s our sins that are repugnant to a holy and righteous God. And yes, we are irredeemably sinful. Big sins, little sins: it really doesn’t matter. We, like David [Psalm 51] and the entirety of humankind, were conceived and born in sin, and we do a lot of sinning once we’re born. If we don’t repent of our sins and receive a Savior who takes our sins and gives us His righteousness, we don’t go to heaven. And that legal transaction is God’s love story: Jesus becoming incarnate of the Virgin Mary, living a sinless life, and going willingly [ http://biblehub.com/john/10-18... ] to the cross. Even joyfully to the cross: “. . .for the joy that was set before him [Jesus] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” What joy is that? The “joy of bringing many sons and daughters to glory."
Jesus didn’t die because He ticked off the Romans; He wasn’t the Great Social Activist. Jesus didn’t die to show us how to face death bravely; He wasn’t the Great Example. He was, and is, and will always be the Savior from sin to those who — as He declared in His first imperative at the outset of His earthly ministry — “repent, and believe in the Gospel.”
The writers of the “God-breathed” [ http://biblehub.com/2_timothy/... ] New Testament epistles echoed these requirements for entrance into the kingdom in many places, among them here:
** "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (NIV) 2 Cor. 5:21
** "and He [Jesus] Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed." (NASB) 1Peter 2:24
To summarize: You're a sinner. You need a Savior. Jesus -- the God-man, second Person of the Trinity, eponymous founder of Christianity -- even said so, sometimes with an admonitory warning: "Unless you believe that I am He [the Savior, the Messiah], you will die in your sins." Ouch. So much for do-it-myself salvation on terms I dictate to God.
When the Holy Spirit convicts you of your sin and your need for a Savior and the identity of that sole Savior ("there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we may be saved"), you can respond by repenting and receiving Jesus. Or not. You pays your money and you takes your chances.
Now . . . who really does the changing? Once you've humbly repented and received the Savior Jesus (through faith which is itself a gift from God), you become a "new creation." And the Holy Spirit, with Whom your spirit is now joined, does the changing in you.
Once again, it just ain't about you.
John Shore's blog 84 comments
What Jesus must think when listening to evangelizers
<avatar92.jpg> M Didaskalos 11 days ago Removed
[from the column] "The message of the Great Commandment boils down to this:
God loves you. I love you. You are worthy of unqualified, absolute love.
The message of the Great Commission boils down to this:
You should stop believing whatever it is you believe and instead become a Christian.
When you combine those two messages—as every evangelizing Christians must—you get:
I love you. Now change."
Swing and a foul ball. Made contact, but no base hit.
The Bible plainly teaches that we are inexhaustibly, unutterably, unfathomably, forever loved by God. *We* aren’t repugnant to God. It’s our sins that are repugnant to a holy and righteous God. And yes, we are irredeemably sinful. Big sins, little sins: it really doesn’t matter. We, like David [Psalm 51] and the entirety of humankind, were conceived and born in sin, and we do a lot of sinning once we’re born. If we don’t repent of our sins and receive a Savior who takes our sins and gives us His righteousness, we don’t go to heaven. And that legal transaction is God’s love story: Jesus becoming incarnate of the Virgin Mary, living a sinless life, and going willingly [ http://biblehub.com/john/10-18... ] to the cross. Even joyfully to the cross: “. . .for the joy that was set before him [Jesus] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” What joy is that? The “joy of bringing many sons and daughters to glory."
Jesus didn’t die because He ticked off the Romans; He wasn’t the Great Social Activist. Jesus didn’t die to show us how to face death bravely; He wasn’t the Great Example. He was, and is, and will always be the Savior from sin to those who — as He declared in His first imperative at the outset of His earthly ministry — “repent, and believe in the Gospel.”
The writers of the “God-breathed” [ http://biblehub.com/2_timothy/... ] New Testament epistles echoed these requirements for entrance into the kingdom in many places, among them here:
** "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (NIV) 2 Cor. 5:21
** "and He [Jesus] Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed." (NASB) 1Peter 2:24
To summarize: You're a sinner. You need a Savior. Jesus -- the God-man, second Person of the Trinity, eponymous founder of Christianity -- even said so, sometimes with an admonitory warning: "Unless you believe that I am He [the Savior, the Messiah], you will die in your sins." Ouch. So much for do-it-myself salvation on terms I dictate to God.
When the Holy Spirit convicts you of your sin and your need for a Savior and the identity of that sole Savior ("there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we may be saved"), you can respond by repenting and receiving Jesus. Or not. You pays your money and you takes your chances.
Now . . . who really does the changing? Once you've humbly repented and received the Savior Jesus (through faith which is itself a gift from God), you become a "new creation." And the Holy Spirit, with Whom your spirit is now joined, does the changing in you.
Once again, it just ain't about you.