Christ_empowered
Member
- Oct 23, 2010
- 14,296
- 10,780
How far do (or should) Christians go w/ free will and personal responsibility? We're either slaves of sin or slaves of righteouness. While we were still enemies of God, Christ died for us.
We're all pretty much varying degrees of wretched before salvation. How far should we go holding people responsible and/or punishing people who are mired in sin? I'm not saying close down all the prisons and such, just...I dunno...shouldn't we all be able to look back at our behavior before Christ saved us and relate to even the most horrible human being?
Maybe its just that I associate these 2 concepts--free will and personal responsibility--with condemnation (obviously, because I messed up a lot before Christ saved me, lol). Also, so much of conservative Christianity seems to be...I dunno...punitive? Not that there isn't a place for punishmen, just...wow.
I guess I Just wonder how responsible people are when their minds and hearts are darkened by sin, both personal and just the grit and grime of living in a fallen world. I mean, should we really be sending people to the electric chair and advising homeless people to "pick themselves up by their boostraps" ?
Random question. Although I have a bias (raised by very left wing parents, also raised PCUSA, so predestination has sort of been drilled into me), I'm not looking for this to turn into a crazy acrimonious debate. I'm genuinely curious about what other people think.
We're all pretty much varying degrees of wretched before salvation. How far should we go holding people responsible and/or punishing people who are mired in sin? I'm not saying close down all the prisons and such, just...I dunno...shouldn't we all be able to look back at our behavior before Christ saved us and relate to even the most horrible human being?
Maybe its just that I associate these 2 concepts--free will and personal responsibility--with condemnation (obviously, because I messed up a lot before Christ saved me, lol). Also, so much of conservative Christianity seems to be...I dunno...punitive? Not that there isn't a place for punishmen, just...wow.
I guess I Just wonder how responsible people are when their minds and hearts are darkened by sin, both personal and just the grit and grime of living in a fallen world. I mean, should we really be sending people to the electric chair and advising homeless people to "pick themselves up by their boostraps" ?
Random question. Although I have a bias (raised by very left wing parents, also raised PCUSA, so predestination has sort of been drilled into me), I'm not looking for this to turn into a crazy acrimonious debate. I'm genuinely curious about what other people think.