I am beginning to feel a little uneasy. I have just read eight pages (twice as much as the previous two days) and have become aware of an omission; there is a word which is now conspicuous by its absence. I have read that the 'driving forces' of individual lives are guilt, resentment and anger, fear, materialism, and the need for approval. The word I was expecting to find is 'sin'.
TPDL makes the same fundamental mistake that troubles so much modern preaching; the notion that 'guilt' is a feeling. 'Guilt' biblically is 'blame-worthiness'. The court judges the man to be culpable and he is thus 'guilty' even if he whistles his way to the gallows. 'Guilty' is a verdict not an emotion. The word to describe our own consciousness of culpability is 'shame' not 'guilt'.
It is true that many are driven by these forces but the reason we are susceptible to such controls is that we have come under the 'driving force' of another spirit and have crossed the line in our personal choices again and again in clear defiance of what we knew to be the right thing to do. The lives of human beings are 'sin driven' These others are really just so many different symptoms of the one disease; man is separated from God.
Jesus Christ did not come into our world to make us happy but to 'put away sin'. The consequence of his 'putting away sin' will be, among other things, happiness but it was never his 'driving force'. He came to reconcile us to God through his own death and the reason that this was necessary was not because our lives were driven by wrong purposes but because our lives were out of sync with God.
The danger of symptom-based remedies is that they can leave the underlying disease uncured. The direction seems to be being set by today's 'point to ponder'; "Living on purpose is the path to peace." I have just returned from a Buddhist kingdom which is famous for its calm and tranquility. A Bible verse was constantly in my thoughts; “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.” (Luke 11:21 NKJV) Apparently peace is not always good for us.
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About Me
- Ron Bailey
- For most of my life I have been involved in the field of Bible study and teaching. I am part of a local church in the UK but spend much of my time visiting other churches at home and abroad in teaching and preaching.
