“Ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein.”
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Wednesday, February 15, 2006
From death to life
Today I heard someone say this: Most religions are about trying to make good men out of bad men, while the Gospel is about God making living men out of dead men.
4 comments:
Anonymous
said...
The trouble with those kinds of statements is that they embrace some truth and appear "spiritual". In reality, they often fail. For instance, there are some very good men among the unsaved, as we see them, and conversely, I have seen some very wicked men among the redeemed.
Jim, I can't remember who I heard say that. It was someone on the radio. What I have is not a quote; I was just trying to capture the thought as I remembered it. I do remember something of the context was that most religions offer ethics and morals as a way of man making himself better.
Robert, All my life I worked very hard at alliteration in my sermons. Sometimes, the alliteration forces statements that work in a church setting where the congregants are mostly believers. I got away with it. In a philosophical setting it wouldn't wash. I saw this statement in much the same way.
One example is the good Samaritain who helped the poor chap along the way. There is no evidence the good Samaritain was a believer, but he did far more good than many. I guess that was my point.
I wish that conversion always brought out the best in men, but it doesn't always. Perhaps this is why we see so many passages emphasizing good works; the faith being demonstrated in good works.
Having mixed with liberal theologians, I have heard some very good sermons on how to live after the fact. The trouble is, they missed the starting point; conversion.
Cheers,
Jim
PS. I really enjoy reading the articles every day.
Yes, I think that the person making the statement didn't mean that Christians shouldn't become better men and women. But that is fruitless if the starting point is skipped.
4 comments:
The trouble with those kinds of statements is that they embrace some truth and appear "spiritual". In reality, they often fail. For instance, there are some very good men among the unsaved, as we see them, and conversely, I have seen some very wicked men among the redeemed.
Cheers,
Jim
Jim, I can't remember who I heard say that. It was someone on the radio. What I have is not a quote; I was just trying to capture the thought as I remembered it. I do remember something of the context was that most religions offer ethics and morals as a way of man making himself better.
Robert,
All my life I worked very hard at alliteration in my sermons. Sometimes, the alliteration forces statements that work in a church setting where the congregants are mostly believers. I got away with it. In a philosophical setting it wouldn't wash. I saw this statement in much the same way.
One example is the good Samaritain who helped the poor chap along the way. There is no evidence the good Samaritain was a believer, but he did far more good than many. I guess that was my point.
I wish that conversion always brought out the best in men, but it doesn't always. Perhaps this is why we see so many passages emphasizing good works; the faith being demonstrated in good works.
Having mixed with liberal theologians, I have heard some very good sermons on how to live after the fact. The trouble is, they missed the starting point; conversion.
Cheers,
Jim
PS. I really enjoy reading the articles every day.
Thanks. And thanks for your continued comments.
Yes, I think that the person making the statement didn't mean that Christians shouldn't become better men and women. But that is fruitless if the starting point is skipped.
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