Fundamental self-righteousness

<<anyone else want to join? I don't want to be the only honest one on here..>>

Sure, since I am the chief sinner, I don't mind!

I struggle with:

1) my mouth....I talk too much when I should listen more. I pray every day for God to help me keep my mouth shut when it is inappropriate to talk.

2) my negativity - I pray every day for God to help me deal with my nit-picking and my "devil's advocate" behavior

3) my lack of faith - I pray for God to help me trust Him more when it comes to my lost loved ones....I know God can do anything, I just have to trust Him to do anything...ya know what i am saying?

There are more...I only scratched the surface....

 

Ladies,

You don't owe anyone any explanation. For one thing, it will do no good. Your self-abasement will neither abate nor placate the hostility of those who breathe the accusations, nor will it convince them. But most of all there is no one on this board to whom you must give account.

 

Neither will it gain you points with God...

 

In some cases it bears saying...

I've seen so many people locked into a works relationship with God, based on guilt and shame, that they cannot possibly live the gospel, which Jesus told us was to bring life, and that abundantly!

 

The day I'm perfect....well it won't be here on earth! There is no amount of works possible that will ever make us right with God, nor will ever make us perfect. HOWEVER, I do sincerely appreciate the sisters sharing their hearts. I can understand perfectly what they are saying as those are things I believe most modern Christian women struggle with daily...especially allowing our husbands to be the God created Head of the Household. It's not easy not to treat our husbands like one of the kids and constantly tell them what to do...and I'm biting my tongue and sitting on my hands here because I really want to say how they are...oops, being quiet.

I find if I simply do my best each day and let God handle the rest it works out pretty good.

I am not quite clear on what you mean about not living the Gospel, I think I disagree with that. As for life abundant....I don't think I've ever had such an abundant life, my cup has run over into my saucer and it's running over onto the floor!

 

I always find if we will focus on the commonalities instead of the differences and stop trying to convince everyone else how wrong they are and how right we are we'd get along a lot better. I decided long ago it didn't matter what you believed as long as you believed that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord....the rest is man made religion and interpretation. Once we get to Heaven we're going to find that it didn't matter much anyway and we wasted a whole lot of time we should have spent doing more for the Kingdom of God.

 

As long as you have the steps to salvation correct, that is so true! Salvation is through faith and belief in the grace and mercy of God.

What you do after that in your Christian life involves reading the Word and praying for guidance....in order to be sitting, standing, and walking in the will of God. It doesn't change your salvation status though!

 

nobody said it would!

 

sad for them....LIBERTY is a key word here, because most Christians don't understand liberty. I don't bear guilt, I am just being realistic about the areas I need God to help me with.

 

I certainly understand where you ladies are coming from, but I don't think this thread would have been started if not for the onslaught in the 20/20 threads. The truth of that situation came out long ago, but a handful persist in their personal vendettas. Don't yield to it. Like I said, it will not have the desired effect.

 

There are no STEPS to salvation, it's not a process it's an event. I think this is what messes people up so often and what causes doubt in their salvation later in their lives. So many think they have to say specific things, or be a certain place...none of which are true. We try to make something so simple, so hard. Christ said, believe and confess and that's it!

As for reading the Word and praying for guidance, those enhance our walk but our salvation isn't dependent upon them, nor are they required for us being in God's will. It makes it EASIER to be in God's Will, it gives us a greater desire, but I believe God gives us the hunger for His Word, he gives us the desire to live our lives in constant prayer. I'm not sure there's any effort, other than obedience, on our part. I think it's sort of like faith...God gives us the faith we need to have faith.

 

I have not read the 20/20 thread, and have no intention of doing so. I'm quite certain (after watching that program) there are many IFB members whose hair is on fire and they feel quite incensed at what they feel is an attack by a liberal media (can't tell you how many times I've heard THAT phrase!)

The title of this thread appealed to me because of the word self-righteousness. You don't have to be IFB, SBC, AB, GB or whatever to have that word apply. Matter of fact, you're a little self-righteous in trying to tell us we shouldn't have this discussion. and I'm not sure it's your call as to whether or not something will have a desired effect, as you didn't start the thread and I don't think you're understanding MamaCW's intention here. If three of us get it and are willing to have this discussion and agree, then I think it's had its desired effect.

 

Oh, I figured, but I didn't like that he ASSUMED that's why the thread was started, he didn't ask you if that was what started it.

I agree that self-righteousness, nor abuse, is limited to any one group....just ask the Roman Catholics!

 

This is such a difficult topic because it can "get you" on both ends.

You can be self-righteous and think that you can do no wrong, or you can be self-righteous through exaggerated humility.