"Dave" <dave_and_darla@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message news:LL%> Of course
Christians sin. "If we say that we have no sin, we are
> deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). If
> Christians understand the truth that God's Word teaches about the
> depravity of the human heart, they know that just because they are not
> conscious of failure does not mean that they are free from it. If the
> truth is "in" them as a controlling, motivating influence, this kind
> of self-deception will not take place. Whether someone claims to be
> "without sin" for a brief period of time or claims it as a permanent
> attainment, the claim is false.
As a friend of mine, a Methodist pastor, says,
What we currently have in popular evangelical Christianity is an unhappy
mix
of Calvinism and Arminianism. On the one hand, folks feel they are saved
by
faith & can never be lost, on the other they think they sin every day in
thought, word, and deed. So, salvation is understood as status with God
and special privileges: Christians aren t perfect [they say], they re
just
forgiven. But, the message of "holiness of heart and life" is rarely
heard.
Or, if it is, it is in the form of an unhealthy legalism.
What is needed is teaching and awareness of the "fullness of God's love"
for
us. See the site quoted at:
http://web.mac.com/craigadams1/Commonplace_Holiness/Blog/Entries/2008/3/10_Our_Mission%2C_Our_Glory%2C_Our_Power..html
Blessings,
Ann
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