The Last Blog I did on the idiots from Westboro made me wish to discuss the 'real' doctrines of Christianity.
Total Depravity - Man is not 'good' in any sense of the word. Man (and to the woman out there, man is used as in 'mankind'. It is inclusive of you) fall far short of God's standards (Romans 3:23, 5:12, 6:23). Our thoughts are evil, and our hearts aren't pure (Gen 6:5, Jer 17:9). There is nothing good in us that God says, "Hey look! I've gotta have him for my child.
Justice-God is just. He cannot wink at our sin. There has to be a payment for the sin. We have a similar sense to us. When we see those who commit crimes turned loose by our farce of a legal system, we feel the burning indignation in our hearts that injustice was done.
Love-The bible says that there is no greater love than a man lay down his life for his friend. Since God's love for us is so great, he came up with a way to appease his sense of justice and take care of the punishment for our sins himself.
Grace-God, in his love for us, gives us grace. Grace means unmerited favor. It means getting what I don't deserve. It's like mercy on steroids. Mercy is not getting what you deserve (the cop letting you go with a warning when you deserve a ticket). Grace is getting much more than you deserve (the cop in the example above, not giving you a ticket, but giving you $100,000 because he wanted to.) God's plan is based on grace. It's not about how good of a boy I can be (thank you Jesus. I'd not have a chance). It's about how good Jesus was. It was about Jesus paying for what I did by his death on the cross.
Forgiveness-By grace, we get forgivenes. The bible says that our sins are as far from us as the east is from the west. When God looks at us (once we accept the gift God paid for, that is) he doesn't see me and my sinful self. He sees Jesus. My sins are covered by the blood Jesus shed.
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