[CS-FSLUG] TD: Status of Murder (was: Study Bible)

[Jon Glass]

On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 9:04 PM, Keli of Coxsackie
<keli at parchmentpress.net> wrote:
> Not sure i want to know your God..
> You can not confuse rejecting the Gospel with rejecting the Vice-Regent of
> God  (the Conscience)..
> If one never heard the Gospel they can still listen to the voice of
> Conscience.. regardless of religion..

The problem is that we cannot create God in our own image. God doesn't
allow us that privilege--yet, that is the very essence of man-made
religion. Read further in the first chapter of Romans. Man's guilt is
that he has not only rejected God's revelation of Himself, but has
created his own "god" in his own image--according to his own fallen
nature. God thereupon gives man what he desired--but the consequences
are frightful.

You may not like the seeming "heartlessness" of this, but God is not
bound to your or my understanding of Him. He is bound to His own holy
nature and perfection, and to His revelation of Himself (both in
nature and in His Perfect Word). The truth is, fallen man cannot
survive contact with the Holy, Righteous God. This is the heart of the
problem. It's like saying you want to walk on the surface of the
sun--you can try, but you won't get within a million miles of the sun.
You will be literally burned to a vapor, and then that vapor consumed
so that nothing remains long before you reach your goal. God's
righteousness will consume you long before you reach contact with Him.
The _only_ solution to this is the blood of Christ--and to defile that
with man's religion and conscience is not something that we get to
choose.

God's Word in no way ever gives any allowance for man's own conscience
or ability to bring him closer to God. The conscience's sole purpose
is same as that of the Law--to show us our own sinfulness before the
Holy God. It is only sufficient to condemn us--to show us our
helplessness and need. Whereupon the Holy Spirit can work the work of
salvation--building on the specific revelation that is God's Word.
This is clearly taught in Scripture--the Word is infused with this
teaching. Is it comfortable to us? uncomfortable? Whether it is or
not, it is God's revealed truth. Yet, the real problem, as we are
taught in Romans, and shown throughout Scripture is that man has
rejected what light he has been given. Though he has been given the
light of revelation--he has rejected it, and will reject whatever
revelation he has been given (conscience). We don't really have the
option to like this truth or not, or to replace it with our own
concept of God's nature.... Or dislike for it does not change the
nature of God or of His truth.

Oh, and to put the final nail in the coffin, religion is the ultimate
expression of man's pride--the greatest sin. It is when man is at his
best--the most moral, the most religious--that he is at his furthest
from God. I have personally seen this with buddhists, muslims, jews
and catholics, protestants, baptists--all religions across the
board--man's religion, without the regeneration of the Holy Spirit in
one's heart, is worse than vain--it is evil, placing man on the
pedestal upon which only God belongs, and it destroys those who depend
upon it for their salvation. I almost can't imagine why one would want
to see the good in such evil.

-- 
 -Jon Glass
Krakow, Poland
<jonglass at usa.net>

"I don't believe in philosophies. I believe in fundamentals." --Jack Nicklaus