Hello Jethro,
This will sting and I know its a touchy subject but Give it some thought please.
We will Judge if we think we can lose our salvation or if we think WE have to persevere. We have to have some sort of scale to stay saved. So we are always looking to that scale to see if we are within the bounds of that scale.
Hello (hey, your home is tipping to the left a little again, lol)
The Bible says the 'scale' is faith in Christ. But apparently, you, like most everybody else
can only hear the argument as a scale of 'works of merit'. That's not the argument! Years of being in forums has led me to start challenging this unfair judging of people going on in the church who endorse obedience as the signature of faith. That argument, thanks to the hyper-grace movement in the church, IMO, can only be heard as 'trying to be justified on the merit of works'. That is NOT what the argument means. I'm sticking up for them instead of thinking I'm sure they are only trying to earn their salvation when they know that's not what that means.
The scale will inevitably change for each of us because we are imperfect creatures. Once we go out of bounds on our own personal scale(that we made up) we inevitably have to look to the other person and remake our scale to be a wee bit better then the next guy.
But if the scale is properly understood as faith in the blood of Christ then the scale will neither change, nor vary from person to person. And best of all end any opportunity for unfair, unreasonable, and downright sinful judging (as in judging unfairly
without knowledge).
So in the end we have true blue(carnal) born again believers going," yeah, I don't follow the law, but He does." or "I have faith,but he doesn't."or" I don't sin like that,but he does."
Which is not my argument, but is the argument of the 'grace' crowd that condemns any and all 'law keeping' (for all it's varied meanings in the church, lol).
Why do we think we can judge other people as to the motives of their obedience to God?.....I will bet that this question from you derives from someone who believes that if a Christian starts to follow the Law they can lose their salvation.
Almost. Not
lose their salvation..
earn it.
It does primarily stem from the grace movement's belief that anyone who
honors the law in some way is automatically and without exception trying to be justified by that effort, as if they can see into the heart and motives of the person doing that. It's nothing more than sinful judging. The very thing Paul said NOT to do in regard to the law.
Who are we to think we can peer into the hearts and motives of people that only God can see?
They will fight tooth and nail, because their salvation depends on it in their own mind.
I've only met one, maybe two people that said this was the motive for what they did. But some in the church make it out to be the crime of the modern church. I suggest the exact
opposite is true. Not because I have an ability to look into the hearts of men, but because of what they say and teach.
No scripture, no reason and no logic from us will change it until the Spirit says," ok, Its time for this person to KNOW."
So, you agree. Unless they say what they believe, leave people alone in regard to their personal convictions about what the expression of saving faith should or shouldn't, or can or can't look like.
So you see, this isn't just a defense of literal law keepers (of which I am not). We the church love to examine others and judge the reasons why they're living the way they do when they haven't told anyone the reason why. Judging by appearances is a very dangerous, and sinful way to live.
