James Kraft

It is just my opinion, but I believe that all churches in one way or the other degenerate into either legalism or license. When any church believes that it is possible to live a sinnless life, they have fallen from grace and believe that Jesus died in vain. They have become faithless. New Christians may believe that, but they will surely learn as did Paul that no one can live a sinnless life and it is a sin against God to believe we can.

We should do the best we can, but we are all still sinners and fall short of the Glory of God. If we believe we can live up to Gods pefection in Holyness, then we do not need Jesus any more and we can worship ourselves for living up to Gods standard of perfection.

We also believe that since we are sinnless that everyone else is a sinner but us. We become righteous in our own eyes and everyone else is a sinner. It is the same old sin of the Pharisees that believed that their obedience to Gods laws would save them.

They saw themselves as perfect and everyone else who did not follow them was a sinner. Since they believed that obedience to the law would save them, then they added more and more laws to make themselves more righteous. But it was only selfrighteousness and pride. This belief is rampant in most churches today. It really is a lack of faith or no faith at all. Since we have become perfect in our own eyes we look down with disdain on all other believers who do not obey our man made laws and rules. Mathew 15:8-9. It is loveless.

Then there are those churches that do not believe in the absolutes in the bible, and we preach that homosexuality, abortion, sex outside of marriage, and many other absolutes are no longer sins against God and people. All sin has consequences. When ever we deviate from the absolutes in the bible we are living in sin.

When we do this we are taking license to sin. I do not believe that any true believer can loose their salvation, but if we are living in sin and telling others it is OK, then we are going to either reap the rewards of that sin or God will chasten us. If we are not chastened after a while then we have to wonder whether we are a true believer or not. God does chasten those He loves, but only to bring us back into fellowship with Him. God loves us to much to let us live in sin.

So either legalism or license are sins against a Holy God.

Living under the letter of the law steals grace out of the heart and we have no love. Living under license is to live in sin with no regard to Gods laws.

All churches have a little bit of both, but can degenerate and either fall from grace or live in out and out sin. Just my opinion again, but I believe one type of church sees the other one and go 180 degrees from them and fall into sin in the opposite direction. We are either in one ditch or the other.

But remember I am just a man and am fallable like all of you. So you can only take what I write in the light of Gods word.

January 20 2016 • Report