The Lordship salvation/free grace debate has been done to death, as has the Calvinist/Armenian/Dispensational debate. I am not trying to join, renew, or in any way encourage those debates.
I just want to share an experience with you. Sort of food for thought.
I spent most of my life in the dispensational/free grace camp. At my last church I began to move more into Calvinism and LS theology thought stream, then just Calvinism without LS theology.
Until the last few weeks, that is.
You see, my neighbor is dying of liver disease brought on by chronic alcoholism. She is saved, and vocally and wonderfully trusts Jesus to get her to heaven. She is a loving, giving person who most nearly lives out the Sermon on the Mount more than anyone I ever met. She has fought the beer can all her adult life, and I do mean fought it. She went through detox and rehab countless times, and would be a strong church supporting Christian for years and then relapse. She hates her sin as much as I have ever seen anyone hate sin....and yet, she goes back into it.
She makes it very clear that the marvelous thing about Jesus is that He saves sinners: that He didn't come to call the righteous, but the sinner to repentance. She shares freely that it is precisely BECAUSE she could not overcome her own sin that she needed, sought, and found the Savior.
We shared a pastor for a time, and share friends. Comments made by them about her include:
"She is reaping the just consequences of being unrepentant too long." (Never mind that she is repentant!)
"She wants to come to Jesus for salvation while clinging to rebellion and clinging to her sin." (Not true! Her sin clings to her, not the other way round.)
"If she were truly saved, she would have the power to overcome this sin." (Really? I wanted to ask that person why he still is so blamed grouchy if he is really saved.)
I have to say, this is changing my theology quite a bit. I don't quite fit dispensational when it comes to end times, but I realize I was wrong to drift from free grace.
Or to put it the way my neighbor does, "I believe in Jesus and salvation. The rest is just religion."
She may turn out to be the best preacher I was ever privileged to know. Even though the "church" doesn't even want her for a member. Even though she is a woman. Even though she is unlearned, uncouth, unkempt, and a currently nondrinking dying alcoholic.
Looks like God jumped out of my box again!
I just want to share an experience with you. Sort of food for thought.
I spent most of my life in the dispensational/free grace camp. At my last church I began to move more into Calvinism and LS theology thought stream, then just Calvinism without LS theology.
Until the last few weeks, that is.
You see, my neighbor is dying of liver disease brought on by chronic alcoholism. She is saved, and vocally and wonderfully trusts Jesus to get her to heaven. She is a loving, giving person who most nearly lives out the Sermon on the Mount more than anyone I ever met. She has fought the beer can all her adult life, and I do mean fought it. She went through detox and rehab countless times, and would be a strong church supporting Christian for years and then relapse. She hates her sin as much as I have ever seen anyone hate sin....and yet, she goes back into it.
She makes it very clear that the marvelous thing about Jesus is that He saves sinners: that He didn't come to call the righteous, but the sinner to repentance. She shares freely that it is precisely BECAUSE she could not overcome her own sin that she needed, sought, and found the Savior.
We shared a pastor for a time, and share friends. Comments made by them about her include:
"She is reaping the just consequences of being unrepentant too long." (Never mind that she is repentant!)
"She wants to come to Jesus for salvation while clinging to rebellion and clinging to her sin." (Not true! Her sin clings to her, not the other way round.)
"If she were truly saved, she would have the power to overcome this sin." (Really? I wanted to ask that person why he still is so blamed grouchy if he is really saved.)
I have to say, this is changing my theology quite a bit. I don't quite fit dispensational when it comes to end times, but I realize I was wrong to drift from free grace.
Or to put it the way my neighbor does, "I believe in Jesus and salvation. The rest is just religion."
She may turn out to be the best preacher I was ever privileged to know. Even though the "church" doesn't even want her for a member. Even though she is a woman. Even though she is unlearned, uncouth, unkempt, and a currently nondrinking dying alcoholic.
Looks like God jumped out of my box again!
