The death of OSAS

The final nail in the coffin was driven in for me today for OSAS (once saved, always saved). Yes, I thought I did that a long time ago, but maybe the coffin is now encased in the middle of the Hoover Dam.

To hear a pastor lament to an OSAS believing group of Christians about how many Christians have "no sense of sin" and that they treat "sin as no big deal", caused me to ponder the statements.

Let me say first that I thank God many times for my friends that happen to believe OSAS to be true and they do try to live for Jesus the best they can.

I feel this issue is a dangerous natural outcome of OSAS and I have seen it brought to light many times. Saved Christians that feel no need for corporate worship on Sundays with a church...ever. Some that I know have a particular sin that they continue to live in because "Jesus died for ALL of their sins, past, present, future" and so they give in constantly to this one sin because they are prone to it with no regard for its consequences . Didn't Jesus already forgave them for it? On one occasion I tried to point a sin out, in a loving manner, to someone and they indicated that it did not matter if it was sinful or not because they had been forgiven. So, in essence, you can never sin again if you were once forgiven?

I think you can sin and that it could still count against you. When I wake up every morning, I still believe that I am married to my wife. Is that belief going to cut it? No, I need to recommit to her every day. By doing nothing, or by doing something that is contrary to our vows, I cause harm to our relationship.
To an even greater extent, the same holds true for Jesus. By doing nothing, or doing something that breaks his commandments, I cause harm to our relationship. Only through repentance and the Grace of Jesus does the relationship get restored.

Romans 11:17-22
17If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." 20Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. 22Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

Luke 8-13
13Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.

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Insights from Gollum and Mary

I came across two interesting reflections today that I think really need to be read. They are both short and easy to understand for minds like mine :-)

The first one is a quick reflection on man and his sinful nature. It is called Gollum-- the mirror of man.
It only takes about 90 seconds to read....so go read it.

The Anchoress will not be blogging this week and she is posting a sort of " best of" posts for the week while she is working on something else. The post called Mary and the Crucifix is an excellent reflection. It starts out talking about the loss of a friend and also family members. Then it reflects on some of the pain and suffering that Jesus and Mary went through.

The following line will make more sense when you are done reading her post.
"It’s hard to remember all that. The Crucifix is the reminder."

Go read them both and you will have your mental workout for the day.

March for Life

Did you see any news articles for the March for Life? I didn't think so... at least not from a secular station. Sometimes the biggest lies are the things that are ignored. The sins of omission are greater than the sins of commission.
so what am I going to do about it? My family is going to pray. We will teach our children why the "culture of death" is wrong. We can also donate things/money to the local pregnancy centers. We may not change the whole world but I hope we influence a small part of it.

does Pat Robertson speak for you

okay, quick question, does Pat Robertson speak for any of you out there?
Here's a quick link to his predictions for this year.

to type or not to type

Most of you reading this blog already know that I have a neck injury and typing or using a mouse to surf the Internet causes more pain than I would like it to in my right arm and hand. Last Friday I received an e-mail from buy.com and it was offering a $40 rebate on Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9.0. So, I figured I would give it a try and it is working out very well. I still need to learn some of the commands that I need to use to move around without using a keyboard but is definitely typing faster than I can with a keyboard and with a whole lot less pain. I'm currently typing this particular blog post using this voice recognition software instead of the keyboard. The software says you can dictate about 150 -- 160 words per minute, but currently with the medication I don't think I can think that fast.