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When Adam and Eve sinned, God exiled them from the garden, and through them, sin entered the world. Christ came to redeem sinners and make them into saints. But if Adam had not sinned, then would Christ have come? Could Adam have not sinned?
Here are some Augustinian considerations. [Read more…] about Could Adam not Have Sinned? Some Augustinian Considerations
John Piper recently explained that he will not vote for an egregiously immoral leader. Of the two main political parties in the USA, he finds neither presidential candidate viable. So he has decided to write-in his vote.
Some however disagreed with his approach because they felt that the pro-choice actions of democrats amount to much greater evil than the arrogance and deceit of the republican president. The accusation amounts to this: Piper compares apples to oranges or equivocates on the seriousness of sin.
He does not. The objection betrays a misunderstanding of what sin is and does. It further implicitly undercuts the metaphysical reality of sin. If that sounds too abstract, it is not. Let me explain in order to make this response concrete. [Read more…] about Did John Piper Wrongly Compare the Sins of the Left with the Sins of the Right?
We sometimes speak about our sinful nature. Which of course we have. The law of sin uses our flesh to further its aims (Rom 7:25). Yet one possible liability with using the phrase “sinful nature” entails what Paul Dirks recently described as a competition of opposing natures.
I would add that the phrase sinful nature implies that sin has a substantial nature. In other words, it would mean that sinful natures have a created existence because the only things that exist are those created by God. God did not create sin, and therefore it is impossible for sin to have substantial existence. Rather, sin only corrupts God’s good creation like rust on metal. It is not a thing but a corrosion of things.
A better way to speak of the power of sin comes directly out of Paul. He speaks of the flesh* and its passions and desires. By using such language, we can speak accurately about sin and also discover concrete ways to defeat sin since we will know what it is.
Speaking of a sinful nature as such can often obscure sin’s real power by making it sound like a dualistic force that we have to fight in a battle like in the ancient teaching of Manichaeism.
That is not the case. And here is why. [Read more…] about Do We Have a Sinful Nature? Better to Say, We Have Passions And Desires of the Flesh.
Both Jesus and his brother James discuss how temptation turns into sin. For Jesus, hating or lusting mentally commits murder or adultery. James concurs with Jesus’ teaching and discusses how desire, temptation, and sin interrelate.
Since getting temptation, desire, and sin right matters so much for our personal growth, we need to get this right. And besides, current discussions on same-sex attraction revolve around these same subjects. So it is also a timely subject for discussion.
For Peter’s second session at Muskoka Bible Centre’s Men’s Breakaway conference, Peter provides Biblical principles to overcome sin. Our primary zeal should be to honour God.
11:24 What are we fighting against? We are not fighting against sin, but we are fighting to “see the beauty and glory of Christ more clearly so that our souls may find satisfaction in him”
11:27 We are in a war; so we need to have war-like mentality. The war is internal (sinful flesh) and external: the world and the devil.
In North America, Satan puts people to sleep to get the people of God. Relax on the couch. “You are not in a spiritual war.” But we are in a war until Christ returns.
1 Pet 2:11: “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”
[Read more…] about Men’s Breakaway Liveblog 3 | Peter Mahaffey
Muskoka Bible Centre is hosting a Men’s Breakaway conference in Ontario. Peter Mahaffey, Assistant Minister of Grace Fellowship Church and part of Strength to Fight and part of Strength to Fight, is one of the two speakers this weekend. I’ll be live blogging the sessions (or at least many of them!).
Peter Mahaffey ministers to those who struggle with using pornography, and he is presenting on this difficult subject now. [Read more…] about Men’s Breakaway Liveblog 2 | Peter Mahaffey
