- Anonymous said...
- Okay, well, I understand your viewpoint. I disagree, and I will tell you why, but I hope you publish this on your blog with refutation. I am not a theologian, but an attorney, so I must address your arguments in my way. I read those papers you suggested awhile ago, but I think they are very poorly written and as such, unhelpful. Mixed metaphors, split infinitives, and a perpetual comma happy-hour confuse even the confused. I don't fault you for suggesting them, but... I hope you be amenable to the discussion without sig becker quotes. You are using several Bible verses in isolation to prove a preconceived idea. Now, any student knows that this approach (to any topic) must be held in a critical light. To understand a concept you must read things in context. You can prove anything in the world provided you offer a narrow enough scope. Upon rereading Romans, particularly chapters 4 moving into 5 you do not find one shred of suggestion that any substantive change happens to a man apart from faith. Faith is not, as you insist, the thing that appeases God. God demands righteousness. Christ, and faith in him is the way that God makes it possible for a man to become righteous. I'm not going to judge your heart, but the words you use make it seem like you're making a god out of faith. The cherry, my friend, is righteousness, not faith. Faith is God's chosen vehicle for delivering righteousness. What I hear you saying is that man's overarching lack is faith. Please show me Scriptural evidence (not using verses in isolation) which describes man's problem as faithlessness. No rather, all throughout the Old and New Testament we find the Apostles preaching that humanity's fundamental problem is a lack of righteousness. Our sin is what separates us from the Father. God could've chosen 6000 different ways for man to regain this right standing with him, but he chose to send his Son, and made faith the vehicle for receiving the righteousness that Christ achieved. Objective Justification makes God an unjust lying demon and I would not worship him, if that's who I thought he was. How evil and pathetic would some so-called god be who tells us he damns us for failing to be perfect throughout the entire Old Testament, but then as soon as Jesus shows up, moves the goalpost? Now, post-Jesus, righteousness is not the object, but faith is. Everyone is now righteous, according to you, and now we need to get this Pick 'n Save card (faith) so that we can access heaven--even though, when Abraham lived, righteousness was the key to heaven. If that is who the god of the Bible is then I would spit in his face like the Roman soldiers. Don't you think it's a bit presumptuous to suggest that God would damn someone for something OTHER than breaking his holy law? I really hope that isn't what you're saying, but it sort of sounds like it. God damns man for his failure to keep his Law, not for his lack of faith. (now, it turns out that without faith it is impossible to keep the law. But faith is not the object. Christ's obedience and righteousness is credited to those in whom faith has been created. It's only through the Word and Sacrament that a man receives Christ as his substitute. You have been deceived. ---Tom Wyeth
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Real Ichabod said... - Tom, we're not going to debate you further on this topic. We have stated clear Scripture and shared the links to a number of well written papers. We're sorry if you don't agree and misunderstand where we're coming from.
