Talk:KCU/03/3-1

Instructor's feedback on first draft

As a first draft, what you have here falls short (if it were submitted as the final draft, you would not pass--good thing it's not the final draft!). You do have a decent introduction. Your discussion of the Mormon belief is interesting.

Things to be improved:

1. Fill in the places where you only have an outline or point--like who are the main proponents of different positions on how you are saved & the names as well as actual beliefs of different groups holding to these different positions.

2. Your paragraph on the Mormons can be expanded to several paragraphs. You should bring in actual Mormon documents & writings to support your claims about what they believe. You should look at the Scriptures they appeal to (when they appeal to Scripture as they also have other authorities besides the Scriptures) & evaluate their interpretation of those biblical passages. You can bring in technical commentaries on the biblical evidence as dialog partners: e.g., commentaries from the NIV Application Commentary Series, the Word Biblical Commentary Series, the New International Commentary on the New Testament Series, &/or the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament Series

3. Generally, you can deal with other positions in a similar way as I suggested for the Mormons above.

4. Clean up the formatting. Do not indent your paragraphs as they cause the long horizontal box formatting you see. When you want to start a new paragraph, hit enter twice (which leaves an extra line between the line you were at before & the line you are at after doing so).

Here's some resources that may be helpful:

http://www.the-highway.com/faithandworks_Machen.html

http://www.the-highway.com/articleJan98.html

http://www.the-highway.com/Justification_Packer.html

http://www.the-highway.com/Justification-Armstrong.html

http://www.the-highway.com/Justification-Gerstner.html

http://www.fisheaters.com/solafide.html

http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aiia/james2-24.html

http://home.inreach.com/bstanley/works.htm

http://www.justthetruth.net/Can%20I%20Fall%20From%20Grace.htm

http://www.preparingforeternity.com/grace.htm

http://www.jefflindsay.com/faith_works.html

http://www.soundofgrace.com/mar99/murrell.htm

http://www.founders.org/FJ59/contents.html

Here's an excellent, relevant forum contribution from one of the students in my Ethics online class (Nancy Gainer), which can be a dialog partner for you. The perspective would favor saved by grace (vs. works):

There was a pastor once in the 1980’s that had a strong opinion on the recovery movement, which was becoming popular in his church. He thought that the people were getting off too lightly, because they were free moral agents and responsible for their sin, and he didn’t think that they had been powerless to control their alcoholism. As Dr. Henry Cloud states, this is only partly true. The Bible does say that we are responsible and accountable for our sin. It is our problem and no one else’s. But the Bible gives another message more devastating and convicting. The Bible says not only that we are responsible for our sin, but also that we are powerless to keep from sinning. This is very profound: we cannot change, and we are held responsible for not being able to change. Does anyone need a Savior? (Cloud & Townsend, 2001).

I have been as guilty as anyone for judging someone, who states that (1) they are helpless to control their urges, because they were born that way. Another one that really bothers me, (2) I am not responsible because my parents didn’t do their job in raising me and it is their fault I am the way I am. According to the Bible, we are all held accountable for our individual problems, and we cannot change ourselves once we are in them. In short, we are in prison, or as the Bible states, we are “slaves to sin”. It is no one else’s responsibility but ours for our problems.

The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 3: 9-18 that if man were free to perfectly choose obedience, then someone other that Christ could have lived a sinless life and escaped judgment based on human merit. The command to obey all of the Law or be cursed proves that those who are under the Law are cursed, as Paul teaches in Galatians 3. Logically, then, if people had the ability to obey the Law perfectly, then it would not follow that being under the Law insured that they would be cursed. But Paul said that it did. This provides a fatal counterexample to any universal claim that responsibility implies we have the ability on our own to change our lives (DeWaay, 2005). Martin Luther’s position is that all fallen sinners are in bondage to their own sin so much so that they will not submit to God without a prior sovereign work of God’s grace. This became what is known as Luther’s doctrine of “grace alone” (DeWaay, 2005). We are all only saved by the grace of God and not by anything we do ourselves. In Second Corinthians 12:9, Jesus says that in all of our burdens and trials, His grace is sufficient for us; His strength is made perfect in our weakness. We can accomplish anything through the grace of God and His Son Jesus Christ.

While the law and all our versions of it cannot help bring us out of our bondage to sin, Jesus can. He replaced living by the law with living by the Spirit. This means that to live according to a relationship and a process that empowers us, we need to get back to a dependency on God. To change the areas we cannot change, we first have to admit to them (confession) and admit we are unable to change them by ourselves (poverty of spirit). Then we have to be set free by establishing a relationship with Him, which takes care of the guilt and condemnation of the law (forgiveness). Then there must be a change of mind and a change of direction about the seriousness of the sin (repentance). Winning the war over sin included the entire growth process itself as we live the life the Spirit provides. Significant problems like addiction and other patterns of behavior do not give way to simple formulas such as “that is sin. I won’t do it anymore”. To achieve victory we need to change fully in all of life as we commit to the life of the Spirit (Cloud & Townsend, 2001).

I have never read the 12 Steps before, and they make a powerful statement about our powerlessness and dependence on God for His assistance in conquering our problems. This Twelve - Step program, as I see it, can apply to anything in our life and not just addiction. What a powerful tool to have to work with!

In the book, Total Forgiveness, we are reminded that in Matthew 5:7 we need to be merciful for then we shall be shown mercy. We should be gracious to others and not judge them. We don’t know what struggles they are dealing with, and our mercy toward them may make the world of difference in their life that they need to persevere. Jesus is not telling us to ignore what is wrong, when he says not to judge others, but to not administer unfair or unjustified criticism. There is one acrostic in the book that I found helpful and powerful and I would like to share it with you. When speaking to or about another person, ask yourself if what you are about to say will meet their NEED:

Necessary – Is it necessary to say this?

Encourage – Will this encourage them? Will it make them feel better?

Edify – Will it edify? Will what you say build them up and make them stronger?

Dignify – Will it dignify that person? Jesus treated other people with a sense of dignity"" (Kendall, 2002, p. 96).

One small bit of advice I am going to leave you with is as much for myself to follow as to help you with your every day walk, and that is to forgive yourself, because God already has.