QC and accountability (29/4/16)
Joyce and I shared about our attending the wake of a son of a Christian couple I had known from my JC days. This young man had been having problems at work and had just broken up with his long-standing girlfriend. We saw the broken hearts of the parents and remembered also our own bereavement when Doreen died. Suicide is always the hardest way to die in how it affects the family of the deceased.
I know we have spoken on this issue before, but we again affirmed that suicide is not an unforgivable sin - but one in which the sinner has no chance to repent. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which is truly unforgivable, is when the sinner has no desire to repent.So the believing Christian who is truly saved should be saved even if he/she sins and takes his/her own life. Not every one of us will have the opportunity to confess our sins if we die suddenly, after all.
We also did a brief recap of "why bad things happen to good people". Our response then is:
1. There are no good people
2. For those who love God and are called according to His purpose, there are no bad things (Ro 8:28).
We are 'more than conquerers' through Christ, because in Him all our sufferings and afflictions and deaths only serve to bring us closer to Him rather than to separate us from His love.
And I mentioned that, in our seeing Christ as the most valuable and fulfilling of all things, we unite both our need for fulfillment and the glory of God as the One who satisfies us completely. God so often gives the hardest tests to those He trusts the most.
What then of the promise in 1 Co 10:13 that God will always provide a way of escape for those of us who are tempted? The promise does not guarantee our compliance with the ways of God - it guarantees that we will never be overwhelmed by temptation with such power such that we have an excuse to sin.
I know we have spoken on this issue before, but we again affirmed that suicide is not an unforgivable sin - but one in which the sinner has no chance to repent. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which is truly unforgivable, is when the sinner has no desire to repent.So the believing Christian who is truly saved should be saved even if he/she sins and takes his/her own life. Not every one of us will have the opportunity to confess our sins if we die suddenly, after all.
We also did a brief recap of "why bad things happen to good people". Our response then is:
1. There are no good people
2. For those who love God and are called according to His purpose, there are no bad things (Ro 8:28).
We are 'more than conquerers' through Christ, because in Him all our sufferings and afflictions and deaths only serve to bring us closer to Him rather than to separate us from His love.
And I mentioned that, in our seeing Christ as the most valuable and fulfilling of all things, we unite both our need for fulfillment and the glory of God as the One who satisfies us completely. God so often gives the hardest tests to those He trusts the most.
What then of the promise in 1 Co 10:13 that God will always provide a way of escape for those of us who are tempted? The promise does not guarantee our compliance with the ways of God - it guarantees that we will never be overwhelmed by temptation with such power such that we have an excuse to sin.
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