From: david_s@hsr.no (David Andreas Sjoeen)
Subject: Re: How many Christian Gods are there?
Reply-To: david-s@ifi.hsr.no
Organization: Rogaland University Centre
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 13:36:51 GMT

In article <10483@vice.ICO.TEK.COM>, bobb@vice.ICO.TEK.COM (Robert Beauchaine) writes:
> 
> In article <1992Oct2.103415.27085@hsr.no> david-s@ifi.hsr.no writes:
> >
> >Last, but not least: Love is a gift from God. We can't as sinners love
> >properly and purely unless we are born again.
> >
> 
>   I read your entire post w/o objection (it was pretty much standard
>   evangelical stuff), but I read this line and nearly went
>   ballistic.  
> 
>   Before I turn the Big Red Flame Thrower on you, let's see if I've
>   gotten the message:  since I'm not born again, I can't love
>   properly and purely, correct?  Sorry for the paraphrase, but there
>   wasn't much else to read into that statement.  
> 
>   Thanks!  You've just given me the reason I've been looking for to
>   leave my wife and kids.  After all, the love I feel for them isn't
>   pure, and it most certainly isn't proper.  Why drag them through a
>   life of deception and lies?  Might as well start murdering, too.
>   The love I feel for mankind in general must be perverted by my
>   sinful nature.  Surely can't use *that* as an accurate guide for
>   my behaviour.  

You can love, but not perfectly and unselfishly. I'm not saying that
you can't love. But in God's view, 'all my righteousness is as a
dirty piece of clothing'.
 
>   All sarcasm aside, why can't you Christians get the hell off of
>   your pedestal of self proclaimed righteousness?  The rest of us
>   live, breathe, eat, love, work, and die on this earth, every bit
>   as happy and fulfilled as you do.  Most of us even manage to do it
>   without damning our neighbor to hell or condemning their behavior
>   that we don't understand.

We are not righteous in ourselves. I hope noone is claiming that.
We are righteous because, and only because, of what Jesus Christ did
and does. We know that God has proclaimed that every man who
does not believe will suffer the same punishment as Satan and his
angels, `the lake of fire'. It is a natural thing, then, to try to
save other people from this fate by preaching the Gospel.

>   Note my state of residence, where Christians such as yourself
>   are attempting to leglislate homosexuality as a perversion,
>   costing homosexuals jobs, self esteem, and equal rights.
>   Now you tell me:  where's the love in that?

I do not believe that Christians should engage in politics, and 'judge
those who are outside'. The Bible tells us (Christians) to live as
strangers and foreigners in this world. Our assignment is to tell everyone
the Gospel.

The postings I have made on the subject of homosexuality has been a
response to messages claiming that homosexuality is not a sin according
to the Bible, and not, as many appear to believe, as an attempt to
portray homosexuals as worse people than others. Your status as a
lost sinner who needs God is not affected by which sins you commit. It
depends on if you are born again.

:)avid

-- 
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| David A. Sjoen   |"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they |
| Gulaksveien 4    | follow me; and I give them life eternal; and they |
| N-4017 STAVANGER | shall never perish, and no one shall seize them   |
| Norway           | out of my hand." John 10:27-29                    |
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