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"HOPE: On the Darkest Day."
"I believe I need to linger at the base of a cross with my Redeemer still upon it and absorb the reality of what happened on that day. The Cross is proof that I’m guilty. I must resist moving past this day too quickly for my understanding of Easter is dependent on my understanding of Good Friday. But I also believe that the Cross is indisputable evidence that God loves me—not in a soft, tenderhearted way but with a deep, fierce, scandalous love. The Cross is tangible proof that I’m forgiven. Sin has been defeated—it’s over!"
I like to focus profoundly on "grace" as a means to cover for what I have done and continue to do. I believe that we are justified freely by God's grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus, as God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. In so doing, regardless of my past or future sin, I am covered. Thus, if I lie, threaten people, destroy lives with my false witness, work with others (Christians) to do the same, we are all covered because we are justified through Christ. (" ... Cross is tangible proof that I’m forgiven. Sin has been defeated... ")
What I actually practice is Antinomianism.
In Christianity, an Antinomianism "refers to the doctrine that it is not necessary for Christians to preach and/or obey the moral law of the OT. There have been several different justifications for this view down through the centuries. Some have taught that once persons are justified by faith in Christ, they no longer have any obligation toward the moral law because Jesus has freed them from it. A variant of this first position is that since Christ has raised believers above the positive precepts of the law, they need to be obedient only to the immediate guidance of the Holy Sprit, who will keep them from sin. A second view has been that since the law came from the Demiurge (as in Gnosticism) and not from the true, loving Father, it was a Christian's duty to disobey it. Third, others have said that since sin is inevitable anyway, there is no need to resist it. An extension of this view is the contention of some that since God, in His eternal decree, willed sin, it would be presumptuous to resist it. Finally, still others have opposed the preaching of the law on the grounds that it is unnecessary and indeed, contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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The Christian community as a whole has rejected antinomianism over the years for several reasons. It has regarded the view as damaging to the unity of the Bible, which demands that one part of the divine revelation must not contradict another. Even more important, it has argued that antinomians misunderstood the nature of justification by faith, which, though granted apart from the works of the law, is not sanctification. In general, orthodoxy teaches that the moral principles of the law are still valid, not as objective strivings but as fruits of the Holy Spirit at work in the life of the believer. This disposes of the objection that since the law is too demanding to be kept, it can be completely thrust aside as irrelevant to the individual living under grace."[1]
Because my theological position is that whatever I have done wrong, or will do, is implicitly covered by Christ as a sacrifice of atonement for my sin, I can continue to go on doing what I have done, implicitly, because I am justified through Christ.
In other words:
• I can mislead with others at Western Seminary, and attorneys, and accreditors the public and the court at will, because regardless of my sinning, both current or future, ... I am justified through Christ.
• I can disregard the request of Bard Marshall and the church for me to step down from speaking since....regardless of my sinning, both current or future, ... I am justified through Christ.
• I can destroy lives with others because regardless of my sinning, both current or future, ... I am justified through Christ.
I actually have a warped view of atonement and sanctification as I view grace as an inexhaustible resource. AS I SEE IT, regardless of what I have done, regardless of what I will do, I am covered, because I am justified through Christ.
What I have actually done is fail to view grace and the work on the Cross as something that I should use and rely upon sparingly. My theological view puts Jesus and the work on the Cross as another thing I can manipulate to cover what I have done, continue to do and help me deal with the outcomes of the life long damage I have caused to others through my repeated actions.
I can sin and then read my bible, pray to god, remember the Cross and poof, I am cleansed and covered. Regardless of what I have done, regardless of the damage I have caused by my actions, regardless what I continue to do, I just need to remember the Cross and that I am justified.
[1] EVANGELICAL DICTIONARY OF THEOLOGY, WALTER A. ELWELL, EDITOR, Baker Books 1984.
