7 Sins The Church Ignores

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Sstavix
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Interesting article! But here's the question that comes to my mind. What can be done - either on a church level, or on an individual one - to turn this around?
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ccgr
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offer weight watchers programs perhaps?
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Sstavix
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... well, I suppose that could help with gluttony.... :lol:

I was thinking more along the lines of something to prompt a change of heart. For example, the LDS church seems to have seen the "apathy" sin as highlighted in the article, and it has been addressed by some of the leaders during the semiannual talks.
President Dieter F. Uchdorf wrote:In Jacob’s words, “Why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him?” But as “we talk of Christ, … rejoice in Christ, … preach of Christ, [and] prophesy of Christ” at every opportunity, we must never lose our sense of awe and profound gratitude for the eternal sacrifice of the Son of God.

The Savior’s Atonement cannot become commonplace in our teaching, in our conversation, or in our hearts. It is sacred and holy, for it was through this “great and last sacrifice” that Jesus the Christ brought “salvation to all those who shall believe on his name.”
As for the sin of "comfort," this was actually addressed in a pretty cool video my wife found from an Irish Christian group called Rend Collective. It explains their mission and their motivations, too. Here it is.


Gareth Gilkeson wrote:The holy spirit moves in us most when we move out of our comfort zones and into the world where the need is. In other words, the Holy Spirit is most active in us when we are most active in building His kingdom here.
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ccgr
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Neat video , thanks for sharing, very true that many famous people stepped out of their comfort zones to make changes happen for the better! For some reason I have a taste for Lucky Charms now...
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This is my $0.02... certainly not an attack on any person in particular. But, after reading the article, I'm left SMH :(

The author brings up a little truth, no doubt. We are to struggle against sin; God's grace is no license to unrighteousness. However, no Biblical solution was offered; it was just a list of 'thou shalt nots' - and what does Paul say about the effect of the Law (Rom. 7)? Furthermore, the author presented his argument from the (at best, Semi-) Pelagian definition of sanctification.

At its heart, this article grossly confuses Law and Gospel, substituting: "the power of God unto salvation," that "in which you stand, and are being saved," etc. with: 'don't be a glutton,' "do not bear false witness," etc. It is not the preaching of the Law which sanctifies, but the Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the Gospel, baptism, and the Lord's Supper (i.e. "Word and Sacraments"). For example, 1st Corinthians finds the church in Corinth in a mess, right?

What does Paul, being "carried along by the Holy Spirit," do? Does he say: 'Corinthians, you are in sin. Therefore stop doing this, that, the other thing, and also stop this...?' By no means, but what does the Spirit, through him, say? 'In light of the Gospel (Christ crucified for sins), you ought put away these things,' and "you were bought with a price, therefore...," and 'in light of my admonitions against sin, let me remind you of the Gospel I preached.' And all of this while never mixing, nor confusing Law and Gospel.

1st Corinthians, like all the epistles, delivers Law passages (admonitions, prohibitions, et al.) either in light-of preceding Gospel passages (i.e. 'Christian, Jesus bled and died for you. Therefore...'), or directly preceding a section of the Gospel ('Christian, you ought to do, or not do, *because* Jesus bled and died for you.')

The problem is the opinio legis, the "opinion of the Law," which is part of our fallen nature, and part and parcel of original sin. You see, our natural tendency is self-justification; we are bent in such a way that we seek to *do* something, anything, in order to justify ourselves before God. This tendency is not taken away from Christians when they are saved (Acts 15, Galatians, Colossians, etc.). Therefore, when we read Holy Scripture, when we teach others, etc., our tendency is to focus upon what we can do for God, rather than the focus of Holy Scripture which is what God has done (and is still doing) for us.

The result is that we turn Christianity into a set of rules we must follow. And then we are shocked by either our own constant failure to keep these rules, and/or lying about our own performance, we are shocked by *everyone else's* inability to follow the rules - forgetting the entire time that our most righteous deeds "are but filthy rags" before a Holy God. Remember, "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing (Gal. 2:21)."

The long and short is this, if we want to see growth, maturation in Christ (in ourselves, and others) we must *not* to preach the Law as the solution to sin within the Church (which is what this article does). The solution is to present the Law in its full sterness, and the Gospel in its full sweetness, without confusing, mixing, nor excluding either.

And, "I delivered to you of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures... (1 Cor. 15:3-4)."
Last edited by Whatshisface on Tue Sep 08, 2015 8:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Simul iustus et peccator.

This is your brain on Christianity:
http://worldvieweverlasting.com/
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Whatshisface
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Here's are two great responses to this same issue.




Simul iustus et peccator.

This is your brain on Christianity:
http://worldvieweverlasting.com/
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