Last night the Lord showed me the fallacy of the CASINO doctrine. Never heard of it? Neither did I until He showed it to me.
CASINO stands for "Christians Are Saved In Name Only". It refers to Christians who believe that they are saved, yet still feel it necessary to be under the law. Lacking faith in Christ's sacrifice, they believe that they must be guided by written laws and/or commandments in order to be righteous or saved or ... (whatever rationale they choose). While they generally agree that the OT law is no longer binding, they divide it into subsets, e.g., sacrificial law, ceremonial law, moral law, etc., even though no such division exists in Scripture. They claim that without obedience to the law and commandments, a Christian is not really saved (or in obedience to God, or righteous in God's sight or other rationalizations.) They believe that unless a Christian obeys the law, they are not a true Christian -- CASINO.
I have previously posted arguments based on Romans 7:4-6, where Paul wrote "In the same way, my brothers and sisters, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are enslaved in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the written code." Apparently this section of Scripture wasn't clear enough.
Last night I was reading Romans 6. It says, in part, "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." This goes beyond what I had previously considered. It clearly says that you are either a) under the law or b) under grace. You can't be both! The power of sin is enormous! It will continually have you question your behavior. It keeps you focused on the law! Am I being obedient or not???
Now, if I go into a store, I intend to pay for those things that I choose to buy. Guess what? There is no temptation to steal! I don't need a commandment to tell me not to steal, because I am led by the Spirit. If my neighbor buys a new car, I may admire it, but I don't desire (covet) it. I am happy for her/him, nothing more. If I find my neighbors' wife attractive, I don't need a law to tell me to not try to seduce her. Beyond that, I don't need a law to tell me not to commit murder, as I have never been motivated to do so. All those desires -- stealing, coveting, seduction, murder -- and many others are created and energized by sin. BUT I AM DEAD TO SIN AND ALIVE TO GOD IN CHRIST JESUS!
Paul continues on in verses 16-18, "Do you not know that, if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you who were slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted and that you, having been set free from sin, have become enslaved to righteousness." You cannot be both a slave to sin and a slave to righteousness. And if you are no longer a slave to sin, why do you need the law -- any kind of law -- to tell you right from wrong?
It makes me physically ill that some people who call themselves Christians still feel it necessary to have a set of laws and/or commandments to tell them how to behave! It is a denial of God's grace! It goes against what is clearly written in God's word.
Romans 6:20-23, "When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what fruit did you then gain from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the fruit you have leads to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
I welcome any discussion about this subject. I especially want to hear from those who insist that, even though we are Christians, we must put ourselves back under the law (commandments, "moral law", etc.) and thereby give sin power in our lives.
CASINO stands for "Christians Are Saved In Name Only". It refers to Christians who believe that they are saved, yet still feel it necessary to be under the law. Lacking faith in Christ's sacrifice, they believe that they must be guided by written laws and/or commandments in order to be righteous or saved or ... (whatever rationale they choose). While they generally agree that the OT law is no longer binding, they divide it into subsets, e.g., sacrificial law, ceremonial law, moral law, etc., even though no such division exists in Scripture. They claim that without obedience to the law and commandments, a Christian is not really saved (or in obedience to God, or righteous in God's sight or other rationalizations.) They believe that unless a Christian obeys the law, they are not a true Christian -- CASINO.
I have previously posted arguments based on Romans 7:4-6, where Paul wrote "In the same way, my brothers and sisters, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are enslaved in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the written code." Apparently this section of Scripture wasn't clear enough.
Last night I was reading Romans 6. It says, in part, "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." This goes beyond what I had previously considered. It clearly says that you are either a) under the law or b) under grace. You can't be both! The power of sin is enormous! It will continually have you question your behavior. It keeps you focused on the law! Am I being obedient or not???
Now, if I go into a store, I intend to pay for those things that I choose to buy. Guess what? There is no temptation to steal! I don't need a commandment to tell me not to steal, because I am led by the Spirit. If my neighbor buys a new car, I may admire it, but I don't desire (covet) it. I am happy for her/him, nothing more. If I find my neighbors' wife attractive, I don't need a law to tell me to not try to seduce her. Beyond that, I don't need a law to tell me not to commit murder, as I have never been motivated to do so. All those desires -- stealing, coveting, seduction, murder -- and many others are created and energized by sin. BUT I AM DEAD TO SIN AND ALIVE TO GOD IN CHRIST JESUS!
Paul continues on in verses 16-18, "Do you not know that, if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you who were slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted and that you, having been set free from sin, have become enslaved to righteousness." You cannot be both a slave to sin and a slave to righteousness. And if you are no longer a slave to sin, why do you need the law -- any kind of law -- to tell you right from wrong?
It makes me physically ill that some people who call themselves Christians still feel it necessary to have a set of laws and/or commandments to tell them how to behave! It is a denial of God's grace! It goes against what is clearly written in God's word.
Romans 6:20-23, "When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what fruit did you then gain from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the fruit you have leads to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
I welcome any discussion about this subject. I especially want to hear from those who insist that, even though we are Christians, we must put ourselves back under the law (commandments, "moral law", etc.) and thereby give sin power in our lives.
