Taboo

I don't believe the Bible asks us never to speak again of our former lives, of our sin. Sure, He casts it in the depths of the sea, but the fact is,

Firstly, we are thankful towards Him for saving us from our sin. We must never stop being thankful.

Secondly, it is our testimony - what He has done for us, where He has brought us from, what He has saved us from, and then where He has brought us to and saved us for. This was Paul's testimony - read his many accounts of his salvation. Paul basically says, "Look at how He has saved me - the chief of sinners!"

Thirdly, it is a mark of maturity and security when we are not "superstitious" about our "Word of Faith" or confession of sin/salvation. The contrast between light and darkness should be clear.

We must first confess our sins and ask for salvation to be saved from them, isn't it? We must first admit that we're sick and ask for healing before we can be healed, isn't it? How can Jesus heal us or forgive our sins if we don't think we need to be forgiven or healed in the first place, if we're proud or if we think we're perfectly fine without Him?

It's not fundamentally doctrinally wrong to say it differently, it's just that the attitude of the statement just doesn't match up to Scripture.

Therefore, in summary, I don't believe that I shouldn't talk about my old man, my former sin. It is a vital part of my testimony of God's goodness. I am not ashamed to confess the fact that without God, I am a hopeless sinner, that without His mercy, I would be a completely different person today.The two - sin and salvation - "go hand in hand" in that sense. I don't think I'll "tempt the evil eye" or "lose my salvation" by proclaiming facts - that I was sick, that I was a sinner, and therefore I needed Him, and therefore, He saved me.

"I am weak, but He is strong."


I don't believe in superficial and flimsy "positivity", burying my head in the sand, or repeating mantras to myself and convincing myself that they are true, as if my emotions were some kind of positive force, or that I can force things into being. (Yucks).



God puts to shame the words of the wicked. No matter what they speak, it will come to nothing. I believe that the verse in Proverbs (18:21 to be exact) has been taken grossly out of proportion, misunderstand, and falsely taught. Our words can be destructive and negative, therefore we shouldn't speak "lashon hara" (with an evil tongue). I'd rather see it as a warning against false speech, false witness, lies and gossip more than anything else. We should not slander and defame, speaking words of destruction. We also should not be like the ubiquitous "contentious woman" of Proverbs.

The warning can be applied as such, for example:

1. Don't speak gossip
2. Don't slander
3. Don't bear false witness
4. Don't speak in anger
5. Don't speak to cause contention

Isn't that simple and practical, rather than superstitious and pseudo-positive/pseudo-spiritual?

Quick and Easy Salvation

Is salvation quick and easy that we don't have to do anything?

No, that isn't the right question. 

Do we have to do anything to be saved?

That isn't the right question either. The fact is, salvation is costly. Yes, it costs a lot. But God paid the hefty price. He sent His son to die on the cross, to be punished for our sins. And He, out of no obligation, freely saved us.

It's not like we can ever talk about salvation as if were cheap and easy, as it its effortless and costs nothing. Because it cost God a lot. Just because it cost you nothing in a sense doesn't it costs God nothing, and that anything can talk about it like that. It costs God, and it should cut us to the heart when we think about how much it cost Him, and make us grateful and willing to do anything for Him.

It cost God, there it is costly. Therefore it costs us, in a way, because it puts us greatly in debt to God, with a debt we can never repay.

We should never speak lightly of salvation. We should realize how much it costs God, and thus, because of how priceless it is.

Salvation causes us to follow after Christ. We who have been bought at a high price now belong to God and not to ourselves and our sin. We live as debtors to God and His grace. His demands of discipleship will cost of our lives, our lives which are worth far less that His, which He deemed worthy of His sacrifice.

"We don't have to do anything to be saved". Here's my second point. It is so quick and easy to be saved, if it requires not even a molecule of effort, or desire, or repentance, or confession on our part, how come the whole world isn't saved, at the blink of an eye? If there's no difference between the life and attitude and action of the saved and unsaved, then why isn't everyone saved? And why does anybody need to be saved?

If salvation is such a free gift, given to us indiscriminately, that we don't even have to ask for, simply receive (and even receiving musn't be considered something so heretical as an action), if salvation is so passive a state, then why isn't everybody in this whole world already saved? 

The fact is, this has a lot to do with Calvinism, or more likely, misinterpretation of Calvinistic principles, because the logical answer would then be, "because not everybody is predestined."

I believe in active salvation, not passive. I believe God didn't just randomly choose some to be saved and others not, regardless of action. That will result in the following:

Firstly, if you're chosen to be saved, no matter what you, no matter how sinfully you live, you will be saved. Secondly, if you're not chosen to be saved, no matter how righteously you live, no matter how much you seek God and etc., you will not be saved.

I believe that anybody who calls on God shall be saved, because the Bible uses the word "whosoever" or "whoever" a whole lot, and "whoever" means "anybody". 

(Rom 3:22)  Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
(Rom 10:13)  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

(Mat 7:7)  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
(Mat 7:8)  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

That being said, of course nothing that we can do can save us, that's why we need salvation. That's why we need God. We cannot save ourselves. I'm simply saying that grace is costly, and those who have truly received cannot speak of it in a disrespectful way, and that salvation is active, meaning, it translates to action. It's not something we just passively "get". God saves us beyond and in spite of our actions, that is true. God saved Saul, who was not seeking Him, that is also true. But salvation does not make us inactive and lazy. And God does honor those who call upon Him, who ask, who seek, who knock, who show mercy, who are humble, who are meek, who are poor in spirit, who are weak, while at the same time regarding all men as fallen, all as undeserving, all as unworthy.

How can we understand all this? How can it make sense to us, who want to seek everything in black and white, when God is so far beyond comprehension? One thing I know, truth can never be known apart from God. If we want to know the truth, if we want to understand, we must know Him. He is above and beyond us in every way, and yet, makes Himself accessible.

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
(Rom 11:33-36)

Repentance - Turning to God or Turning from Sin?

Repentance is turning from our ways to God's way, from ourselves to Him.

Repentance does involve turning from sin because sin is "my way, my choice, my actions, my path and my decision." Can repentance ever not involve turning from sin? Of course not - that is immoral and absurd. Repentance has always been, throughout the entirety of God's dealings with the human race, turning from sin to God. Can repentance simply be "turning from sin", turning from ourselves? To what? To self-improvement?

It is twofold, as 1 Chronicles expresses so eloquently, turning from our wicked ways and seeking His face".

Seeking His face involves admitting that "my ways" are inadequate. That I need Him.

We need Him, because our sin and our actions cannot be dealt with by us. We need His intervention. If there was not problem with our actions, if we were perfect, we would not be needing His salvation in the first place.

He saves us from sin.

He makes us a new creation, removing the body of sin, the person who has sinned and will continue to sin, from us. He has done this. He is doing this each day. And, His work in us will be finished when we see His face.

God's Love and Tolerance - of Mercy and Punishment

We are fallen, corrupted beings who wish to ascribe to God the same shallow, weak affection we call love. God's love is not love in the way we understand.

God does not love us, and therefore leaves us as we are. He loves us, and He sees the devastating consequences and end-results of our sin. He does not deflect from us the end-result of our wrong-doings and spare us from the bed we make for ourselves. That would make us weak, and being excused from the punishment of lesser sins, we would be emboldened to further destroy our souls with far greater trangressions and more rebellion. 

Rather, He turns us from our wicked ways. He "slaps" us with a dose of reality - the realization of the self-destruction, selfishness and corruption within us, in order that we may may turn from our wickedness to seek the way of righteousness.

God is never is an "easy way out of hell". He doesn't save us from the consequence of sin, He saves us from sin by removing sin from us.

If we have no realization of gravity of sin, if we have not suffered the harsh lessons of the law, our schoolmaster, we would have no gratitude towards God, and thus take salvation as a mere license, a covering for all future transgressions.

God is not One who saves us in order that we can continue to live in sin, to freely sin without consequence, to destroy and corrupt our souls -  He saves us to walk by liberty, the true liberty of freedom from sin.


Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. (Luke 7:47)
 
He shows us grace in the moment of utter desperation. He showers forgiveness on us after our eyes have to be opened - when we are completely without hope, absolutely crushed by the weight of our misdeeds and corruption, when we realize how impossible it is for us to be saved, when we realize we have no more options, in our despair, when we are overwhelmed, when we are faced with certain death.

That is ultimate grace.