you appear to be missing my point
Submitted by F.O.D. on January 24 2001 09:15:30
In reply to Re: yes, good point submitted by Jordan on January 23 2001 17:31:47
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Let's take an example from what St. Paul himself says. In his day there was open idolatry with pagan worship. Animals would get sacrificed to Zeus, Aphrodite or anyone else, but the meat would later be sold in the marketplace. So you could wind up being invited out to dinner with friends, and find yourself munching on steak that had been sacrificed to Zeus. Horrors! And the 10 Commandments clearly say "you will have no other gods before me". So, eating meat offered to an idol is clearly sin. Or is it? Paul says it is not. He says meat is meat, it doesn't matter one whit where it comes from, it's all the same to your digestive system. So don't worry about it, eat it. But he also recognises that some people still think about that idol while they're munching the steak, they can't get over the fact that the meat came out of a pagan temple, and in their own mind they are commiting idolatry. As far as they are concerned, they are sinning. Paul recognises that eating meat in these circumstances is indeed sin, and any brother mature enough to recognise that it is not should nevertheless refrain from eating in front of his weaker brother, so as not to mar that brother's relationship with God. The point I am coming to in an aroundabout way is that you keep saying "one cannot continue sinning and believe that Jesus will come to his defence" [well actually I do believe that, but that is an argument for a different time. Do you really put limits on Jesus' love for you? Does the depth of his sacrifice dying for you really mean nothing to you? Are the words "neither the present nor the future, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" truly empty to you? But I digress] But you are begging the question, and failing to realise that some, if not many, Christians are honestly convinced that being gay is not a sin. In this case it is completely meaningless to talk about "continuing in sin" if what you are continuing is not, in fact, sin. It's like saying "you can't be a Christian because you eat meat offered to Zeus". Do you understand what I am saying? Fod |
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