One way to help identify lies is to find a verse that moves me to tears of longing, a verse that I feel resistant to believe because it is too good to be true. Then to work backward to see what the lie is. I used this method to identify the first lie. There is a passage that has moved me to tears ever since as a child I first heard it in a solo from Handel's Messiah.
Lie: God forgave my past sins, but in the future I will commit a sin that will place me outside the provisions of the New Covenant.
Truth: Jesus Himself is guarding the door of the New Covenant to guarantee that I do not walk outside the boundary of its provisions.
Scripture: "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us." (Romans 8:31-34)
Explanation: I live in terror of disqualifying myself. This fear make me passive by this reasoning: Since I am destined to commit an unpardonable sin, there is no reason to expend any effort to build my relationship with God. Another point of angst is that I am a Calvinist: The presence of this fear shames me since my emotions contradict the doctrines to which my mind assents.
3 comments:
You have made an observation about your calvinist perspective that I have observed in others: Calvinists seem to choose their belief in God's sovereignty of their salvation because they are insecure in their faith, Armenians seem much more secure in their faith, even though they admit that there is a possibility they might not go to heaven. I think we know our hearts and whether we have chosen to follow God. I think the power to choose strengthens our faith.
Well, I certainly fall in the category of those insecure in their faith, so I want a god who is more powerful than my weakness. I explicitly chose Calvinism for this reason. Perhaps if I ever become strong in faith, I will be emotionally capable to face a god who took a less hands-on approach to my salvation.
I think you are stronger in your faith than you give yourself credit for. I think you would believe in Love even if someone claimed that they could prove that such a thing did not exist. I think you would pursue loving others even if no one else did.
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