The Gospel-Driven Synthesis of Justification and Sanctification Equals “Without the Law”
The following is my reply to a discussion with a blogger and regards the title of this post. The subject of the other post (not mine) was “repenting of good works.” I do not care to mention his name at this time (update: it was Tim Keller), but thought my reply in the comment section of the blog site was complete enough to turn into a post:
….So let me be respectful, but blunt: I believe you, Paul Tripp, John Piper, and Michael Horton are on an endeavor to synthesize justification and sanctification into a plenary monergism. This is indicative of your statement above where you talk of justification and sanctification as if they are the same in regard to application of grace and our role accordingly. I will get to the “so what” conclusion of this later.
Paul Tripp clearly holds to this complete synthesis as illustrated on pages 64 and 65 of “How People Change,” where he describes our condition as believers in the same way as pre-salvation. Per the mode of operation that is becoming more and more prevalent in this endeavor to synthesize justification and sanctification, he uses Colossians 1:21 as Scripture that is a present reality for believers, when it clearly refers to our unregenerate state before salvation. Likewise, John Piper does the same thing in one of his ebooks entitled “Treating Delight as Duty is Controversial”:
“Yes, it becomes increasingly evident that the experience of joy in God is beyond what the sinful heart can do. It goes against our nature. We are enslaved to pleasure in other things (Romans 6:17)”.
Note that he cites Romans 6:17 in regard to why we struggle as Christians presently; Romans 6:17 is clearly a verse that concerns the unregenerate, and he even states that we are still “enslaved” as believers. I disagree.
Michael Horton’s contribution to this endeavor is stated by him in “Christless Christianity” on page 62:
“Where we land on these issues is perhaps the most significant factor in how we approach our own faith and practice and communicate it to the world. If not only the unregenerate but the regenerate are always dependent at every moment on the free grace of God disclosed in the gospel, then nothing can raise those who are spiritually dead or continually give life to Christ’s flock but the Spirit working through the gospel. When this happens (not just once, but every time we encounter the gospel afresh), the Spirit progressively transforms us into Christ’s image. Start with Christ (that is, the gospel) and you get sanctification in the bargain; begin with Christ and move on to something else, and you lose both.”
1. We only find continued life as believers when we partake in the same gospel that gives life to the unregenerate. This is what he is clearly saying.
2. If we move on to anything else, we loose both; in other words, synergistic sanctification is a false gospel because it separates practical aspects of justification and sanctification, which are both supposedly defined by the gospel that saves us. This is what he is clearly saying. Hence, the new reformation that is supposedly on a mission from God to save the evangelical church.
I often get flack from those who say Michael Horton is a sound advocate of biblical obedience to the Law by believers. But in fact, this is not true. Horton believes that the Law serves the same purpose for believers and unbelievers alike. In Modern Reformation, “Creeds And Deeds: How Doctrine leads to Doxological Living,” he says the following:
“Christians are no less obligated to obey God’s commands in the New Testament than they were in the Old Testament”
Sounds good, doesn’t it? But then he goes on to say the following:
“The imperatives drive us to despair of self-righteousness, the indicatives hold up Christ as our only savior….”
In other words, the purpose of the Law is to drive Christians to despair when they try to keep it, and thereby causing them to embrace the Savior who is really the one upholding the law for us (indicatives). If you read the whole paragraph in context, he is saying that the purpose of the Law in the life of believers is to create a perpetual state of guilt in order to keep us dependent on the cross and the righteousness of Christ only. Again, and for all practical purposes, he is saying that the Law has the exact same relationship, and purpose, to unbelievers and believers alike. Additionally, this viewpoint concerning the Law would be efficacious to the synthesizing of justification and sanctification as well.
So, it therefore stands to reason, that your primary focus in sanctification would be the same primary focus of unbelievers (justification) as well for purposes of salvation; repentance. Because your doctrine, by definition, is narrow and limited to repentance, this aspect must be greatly embellished and expanded; hence, all kinds of introspective theories concerning idols of the heart and the need to repent of repenting (or repenting of good works).
Well then, other than the fact that none of this stands the test of Scripture; so what? Here is the “so what?”: the complete synthesizing of justification and sanctification together leads to “without the Law” (most often in the Bible: “lawlessness“) in sanctification. We also refer to this as Antinomianism. Why would Christians even attempt to uphold the Law when we are no more able to do so than unbelievers (supposedly)? Again, Horton’s position on this is absolutely clear (I again point to page 62 of Christless Christianity). So then, are we to relish in our inability to uphold the Law of God? To the contrary, the Bible is saturated with verses that promise happiness and joy through our obedience.
Just this morning, a friend shared an article with me, and several others, from Christianity Today. It was a recent Jennifer Knapp (a contemporary Christian music artist) interview in which she defends her homosexual life style. She stated that she is not obligated to keep the Law because she, or anyone else, is unable to anyway. She (according to her) is only obligated to keep the greatest commandment of loving thy neighbor. Here is what she said:
“But I’ve always struggled as a Christian with various forms of external evidence that we are obligated to show that we are Christians. I’ve found no law that commands me in any way other than to love my neighbor as myself, and that love is the greatest commandment. At a certain point I find myself so handcuffed in my own faith by trying to get it right—to try and look like a Christian, to try to do the things that Christians should do, to be all of these things externally—to fake it until I get myself all handcuffed and tied up in knots as to what I was supposed to be doing there in the first place. If God expects me, in order to be a Christian, to be able to theologically justify every move that I make, I’m sorry. I’m going to be a miserable failure.”
She further poo-poos the Law with this statement:
“…what most people refer to as the ‘clobber verses’ to refer to this loving relationship as an abomination, while they’re eating shellfish and wearing clothes of five different fabrics,”
I find her statement eerily parallel to that of many “gospel-driven” proponents in regard to their perspective on the Law. Though I know you and others would never condone her behavior, I still find the parallels disquieting. If you care to respond, please don’t cite Reformers or Creeds, I am really looking for a solid biblical argument that I have this all wrong. And really, I hope I do.
Blessings,
Paul Dohse
A Biblical View of Resurgent Church Discipline in a Neo-Reformed Era: Parts 1-4
As a blogger on WordPress, I have seen a significant spike in interest regarding church discipline. I think this is because of its recent resurgence in Reformed circles. My missionary son-in-law, David Ingram, informed me that a single article regarding church discipline on his ministry website is downloaded at least 60 times per month. Unfortunately, many of the search terms I see on WordPress stats are “unbiblical church discipline.” Furthermore, in a church culture vastly uninformed regarding church discipline to begin with, the subject is coming out of a Neo-Reformed theology that is morphing at break-neck speed. I can only assume that confusion is ruling the day on this subject. The following four essays are from my book and a recent post.
In part one, I attempt to give an overview of church discipline and some new approaches. In parts 2, 3 and 4, I explain how some of these new approaches effect counseling and other areas of church life. I sincerely hope it clarifies this issue for many. Keep in mind, on the published pdf files, you can zoom in for easier reading.
The links to each part are the following:
Part 1: http://eldersresolution.org/Discipline%20Part%201.PDF
Part 2: http://eldersresolution.org/Disciplne%20Part%202.PDF
Part 3: http://eldersresolution.org/Discipline%20Part%203.pdf
Part 4: http://eldersresolution.org/Discipline%20Part%204.PDF
Poodles Gone Wild: Reformed Leaders are Teaching Southern Baptists How to Drive
I entered into God’s kingdom labeled as a Southern Baptist in 1983, and I’m not blind to the many problems, well, serious problems within the denomination. In fact, I left the denomination for 15 years because I actually thought there was something better. As I pined away in Dallas, Texas, longing for the means to move to Sun Valley and join John MacArthur’s church, how disillusioned I would have been to arrive there and find Larry Crabb in charge of the “biblical counseling” at Grace Community Church. After reading Larry Crabb’s abominable Inside Out, I could have only stood shell shocked, and 3000 miles from home to boot. Also, the discovery that Mac wrote an endorsement for John Piper’s Desiring God, a theological novel that made Timothy Leary weep with envy, could have only added to the insult.
That was the 80’s; moving into the 90’s, after jumping ship from the SBC, I was nevertheless delighted to see Southern Baptist leaders recruiting the influence of John MacArthur and his Reformed Light theology. But my, how times have changed. For the most part, the Reformed movement, which has been picking up steam over the past 30 years, has been fairly balanced (as far as Reformed goes, relatively speaking) while adding many spiritual benefits to the evangelical community and even the SBC. But its (the Reformed movement) recent transformation in-process via “New Calvinism” is quickly becoming a fast forward study in lunacy. As a matter of fact, it would be hilarious if not for the fact that theology has life consequences. Always. This reality has brought me back home to the Southern Baptist Church, and also thankful for what I have learned. But upon my return, I see the lunacy I fled invading the motherland. The SBC is now moving from the barking Poodle in the Bud Light commercial ( Reformed Light), to the Poodle driving the car (too heavy / New Calvinism), with accompanied occupants in the backseat being terrified while the crazy Poodle runs other cars off the road and mows down fire hydrants:
So, what is the “New Calvinism” that the Reformed movement is morphing into at breakneck speed? Well, it primarily focuses around the Gospel-Driven Life and New Covenant Theology, but the crux of what is driving it is what I want to focus on here. Namely, hermeneutics. Namely, Grammatical-Historical hermeneutics verses Redemptive-Historical hermeneutics. I am going to keep this post simple and two-fold because really, method of interpretation is at the very core of what is driving all of the other issues here. I think my very simple definitions that follow will also serve the purpose of this post as well.
First, GHH holds to a (for lack of a better term) literal approach to interpretation. As the title would suggest, conclusions are drawn from the biblical text in regard to its grammatical formations of verbs, nouns, subjects, prepositional phrases etc. In the RHH, the Scriptures are approached with the idea that all words in the text are formulated for the sole purpose of projecting the finished work of Christ in both justification and sanctification. In other words, it is at least fair to say that the RHH is a much more subjective method than GHH. Many, many, many, examples could be given of how proponents of RHH often ignore tense, the location of the subject in the sentence, the plain sense of prepositional phrases, and which subject is receiving the action of the verb in order to come to a redemptive conclusion.
Though many examples could be given in regard to how these differences of interpretation effect practical theology and life, there is no more glaring, vivid example than church discipline. The difference in application determined by method of interpretation has been, and will continue to be dramatic. To begin with, A literal interpretation of Scripture will usually result in a very limited use of church discipline. Church discipline in the GHH realm will usually, and primarily, be applied to Parishioners Gone Wild. But in the RHH realm where the interpretation of every verse of Scripture is redemptive, church discipline will be seen to have a redemptive purpose. And as we know, the goal of redemption is to redeem us from sin, right? So, instead of church discipline being seen as a practical, judicial type process to keep order in the church, RHH leaders will see it more as a process to save us from any and every sin, since we were saved by the gospel, and are still being saved by the gospel everyday. In antithesis, GHH leaders will not see church discipline as a means of tweaking the saints in the same way Bible study and one on one discipleship does; but to the contrary, RHH leaders will see church discipline as a tool for fine tuning the saints. The result? Leaders Gone Wild.
I don’t even know where to begin to document the madness. There are a lot of Poodles driving out there. Instead of specific guidelines for specific categories of situations within the church; now, the failure to obey any, and every biblical imperative is game for church discipline. And remember, the goal is redemptive, so a mere verbal repentance that a literal interpretation would suggest will not suffice. More than likely, the discipline will be a protracted counseling situation (they use Galatians 6:1 for this) in which you will be in the discipline process (and not free to vacate membership) until you are released from counseling. As a matter of fact, in many reformed churches (including some reformed Southern Baptist Churches), when you enter into counseling with a pastor or leader, you are automatically considered to be in the redemptive church disciple process. I know of a case where an individual was meeting an elder for breakfast / discipleship every week. At some point, the parishioner took a job out of state, but was told by the elder that he was not free to leave the church because of struggles that were discovered in his life while those meetings were taking place. To leave the church at that time would have been the equivalent of leaving the church while under church discipline, according to the elder. This is by no means an isolated incident. Many, many parishioners have been under church discipline in the past without knowing it because their counseling turned out well, while others find out that “heavy counseling” and church discipline are the same thing.
Furthermore, as more and more Southern Baptist leaders continue to tag along from Reformed Light to New Calvinism, we have Southern Baptist churches bringing parishioners up on church discipline for non-attendance, not tithing, questioning doctrine, and just about anything else that falls short of holy perfection. It is unclear as to whether some implement a “process” view of the actual discipline or a “repentance” view.
What we do have, is a scary coalition of Southern Baptist leaders joining with barking Poodles and driving Poodles to supposedly stand for the gospel (T4G: Together for the Gospel [but what gospel?] ). Their new pastor-buddy club consists of those who hold to the GHH (MacArthur [I think, anyway] ), and several Poodles driving. As their doctrine (the driving Poodles) reeks havoc among God’s people in many other categories besides unbiblical church discipline, Al Mohler, MacArthur, and others continue to hang out with them in conferences to oppose the likes of Joel Osteen, who is supposedly a bigger threat to the well-being of God’s people than the Christian mystics that they give creditability to. However, as one example, I would be willing to bet anything that the divorce rate in Osteen’s church could not touch that of churches that hold to New Calvinism, which are experiencing exploding divorce numbers due to there view of divorce from a “redemptive” perspective.
I conclude with two observations:
1. The SBC is already on life support, we don’t need Dr. Kevorkian presiding.
2. Any SB or Reformed saints looking for a new church home need to be privy in regard to the Poodles running any given church; do they just bark, or do they drive?
paul
2 Peter Chapter One: Obtaining a Rich Entry
It is so very tempting for me to think that 2 Peter chapter one is one of the most important segments of Scripture in all of the Bible. Peter writes this letter towards the end of his life, and the truth that he wants to continually remind them of is in verses 5-11. This is a primary focus of his teaching in the final lap, so that they will recall these things after he is gone:
“So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things”(verses 12-15).
What things? The things he previously writes of in verses 5-8. It is sort of a if you forget everything else I write, don’t forget this exhortation.
What is the end of following this instruction? Peter states the end of this teaching in verse 11:
“and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
The goal of this teaching is a rich entry into the kingdom. Obviously then, we can have an unfortunate entry fraught with fear and doubt. Peter states this by antithesis in verses 9 and 10:
“But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall,”
This is what Matthew Henry said in regard to the above text:
“He cannot see far off. This present evil world he can see, and dotes upon, but has no discerning at all of the world to come, so as to be affected with the spiritual privileges and heavenly blessings thereof. He who sees the excellences of Christianity must needs be diligent in endeavours after all those graces that are absolutely necessary for obtaining glory, honour, and immortality; but, where these graces are not obtained nor endeavoured after, men are not able to look forward to the things that are but a very little way off in reality, though in appearance, or in their apprehension, they are at a great distance, because they put them far away from them; and how wretched is their condition who are thus blind as to the awfully great things of the other world, who cannot see any thing of the reality and certainty, the greatness and nearness, of the glorious rewards God will bestow on the righteous, and the dreadful punishment he will inflict on the ungodly!
But this is not all the misery of those who do not add to their faith virtue, knowledge, etc. They are as unable to look backward as forward, their memories are slippery and unable to retain what is past, as their sight is short and unable to discern what is future; they forget that they have been baptized, and had the means, and been laid under the obligations to holiness of heart and life. By baptism we are engaged in a holy war against sin, and are solemnly bound to fight against the flesh, the world, and the devil. Often call to mind, and seriously meditate on, your solemn engagement to be the Lord’s, and your peculiar advantages and encouragements to lay aside all filthiness of flesh and spirit.”
Following Peter’s instruction as contained in verses 5-8 results in a surety of our election. Obviously, we cannot earn our election, but following Peter’s instruction will make us sure that we belong to God. If one is sure that they belong to the kingdom and have extensive knowledge of its glories, they are truly unshakable and will not stumble in this present life. Peter says to be “eager” and diligent to make our calling sure, resulting in a rich entry into the kingdom of God.
Peter teaches the practice that leads to this rich entry in verses 5-8:
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Again, Peter emphasizes the importance of effort on our part. We are to make “every” effort to add these qualities to our life. To the degree that we practice these things, we will have surety and a rich entry into heaven. The goal is to implement these qualities in increasing measure, which also keeps us from being unproductive in our knowledge Christ. To the degree that we know Christ, we can effectively follow him as he commanded. However, sandwiched in between these qualities is the working together of knowledge and practice (add). We can’t follow what we don’t know, so adding knowledge is of great import, but the Holy Spirit will not give a continued, increased understanding along with true discernment without our practice. This is a theme throughout Scripture (John 7:17 Hebrews 5:14).
Peter starts with the foundation of faith which can only come from God, and then we supplement or add to faith the following seven categorical qualities: goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and finally, love. Don’t miss this: all of these qualities are connected or build on each other. You can’t build on any of these qualities without the foundation of the prior. You can’t add knowledge to faith unless you have goodness first. Peter doesn’t say to add knowledge to faith, he says to add goodness, and then knowledge, and so forth. Call it a building; the foundation is faith, and each floor provides a foundation for the next until you get to the top floor which is love. Or call it a chain; the chain is made up of eight links, and it is not a complete chain without all of the links. But I prefer to think of this concept as an electrical circuit. Every electrical circuit needs a power source and a proper load (components on the circuit and complete connection between them) to work properly.
Whatever your analogy, we are on safe ground as follows: it is absolutely essential that all of these elements are in operation daily in order for each element to be functioning properly. They all work together to maximize each other. Obviously, to the degree that we add to goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, and brotherly kindness; we have a higher quality of love. Think of love and how it would be diminished if one of the other elements were missing. For instance, lack of knowledge would end up as an attempt to love with a love that is not according to God’s way of love. Love would not last very long without perseverance, etc. Therefore, let’s look at each quality individually.
Goodness (arete): it means courage and valor. The idea of an excellent or praiseworthy courage. We are to nourish or add courage to our faith. Knowledge (gnosis): knowledge. Self-control (egkrateia): temperance or moderation. We cannot serve multiple masters. Perseverance (hupomone): patience, continuance, joyful enduring, waiting. Godliness (eusebeia): piety, holiness. Brotherly kindness (Philadelphia): brotherly love. Love (agape): benevolence.
It would seem that forgetfulness is one of our more formidable nemeses in regard to adding these qualities to our faith. But as you can imagine, it would be easy enough to fill our daily lives with the practice of these qualities. Certainly, life its self offers plenty of opportunity to practice the one element of patience. Do you struggle with patience? Take note of how well you apply the other elements, they all contribute to our grand goal of love.
paul
Hope is on the Calender
The mind – we can’t do anything without it, though some argue that many do. But certainly, it can be our greatest ally or our worst enemy. Another certainty is the following: the mind functions very poorly without hope. Hopelessness always leads to an ill-fated end, even if accompanied by joy; “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
Many truths in the Bible give us hope across a wide spectrum of life full of things that trigger our thoughts and emotions. As I am preparing to plan a trip to PR to visit my daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter, I was nagged by something that I loath in life, goodbyes; and then after that, flying, another object of my disdain second only to goodbyes. However, I praise God for something that He has given me in life, and has probably given to you as well; when I am confronted with thoughts that bring about bad feelings, my mind starts scanning for truth that that will lift my spirits or at least prevent bad feelings from becoming unreasonable, or even sinful. Oddly, Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 came to mind:
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. 9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time.
God is completely sovereign, all wise, all knowing, and completely holy and good in everything he preordains. Though the times of life bring about different emotional responses; as we say in the modern vernacular, “it’s all good.” Because God is in control, hope is always on the calender, and it’s there everyday:
“22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, ‘The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ 25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD” (Lamentations 3:22-26).
God’s compassion is new every morning (some translations: “mercies”). We see this in His creation; the solar days, every day is a new day and God’s compassions are also new. I have a motto that I have adapted in my life, “no matter how dark today looks, wait for tomorrow.” Dark Day seems to have a favorite lie: “Today is forever.” He also gleefully gloats as each day becomes darker as his lie is believed, “hope is not on your calender,” he says. But it surely is. Several years ago, I taught a children’s Sunday school class. One lesson was on James, chapter one. There was a nine year-old girl in that class who was going through a dark time in her life. Later, her father came to me and said his daughter came to him after the class, joyfully proclaiming, “Dad! We learned that trials always have an end! Why was that such a surprise?; hopelessness is a lier, that’s why.
I like to write and recently learned that one should look for successful authors and read their works to become a better writer. One such author that caught my attention was Iris Chang, the young journalist who wrote “The Rape of Nanking,” which was on the New York Times Best Seller list for ten weeks. A hefty feat for someone 29 years of age. I read through portions of the book and found her to be a worthy mentor indeed. I also did some research to learn more about her and discovered that she committed suicide in 2004, seven years after the writing of TRON. She had left three suicide notes dated November 8, of that year. I quote from the one of the notes:
“I had considered running away, but I will never be able to escape from myself and my thoughts. I am doing this because I am too weak to withstand the years of pain and agony ahead.”
How did she know that her suffering would be for years? She didn’t. Who lied to her? Hopelessness did. What she didn’t know was that hope is on the calender every day. She also wrote:
“When you believe you have a future, you think in terms of generations and years. When you do not, you live not just by the day — but by the minute.”
But we always have a future, God’s mercies are new every day. Didn’t anybody tell her? You know, somebody like you. If you are a Christian who reads at a sixth grade level and is armed with the word of God, you are a hope expert. Everywhere you go, you are rubbing shoulders with people who need hope. This is a quote from Wikipedia concerning Iris Chang:
“At the time of her death she had been taking the medications Depakote and Risperdal to stabilize her mood.“
Which means that she was under the care of a Psychiatrist. But she obviously needed more than a Psychiatrist, for by the writing of her own hand, she said she had no hope. What she needed was someone like you, a hope expert. The world does not need more “experts” and reformed Christian philosophers, it needs everyday hope givers like you armed with the word of God. I became privy just today in regard to a new local church in Beavercreek, Ohio. They got the whole thing that’s workin’ for church growth these days; the contemporary building, the Starbucks coffee booth, the praise band, the padded chairs instead of pews, etc., etc., add nausea. The website even had a video of the pastor presenting an introduction about the church, Starbucks cup in-hand, I kidd you not. Well, the pastor can drink Caffe Mocha Dolce Lattes with a shot of Expresso, but can he give hope? I doubt it, because the website also indicated that they farm-out all of their counseling to a local organization of “expert” counselors, probably like the ones who got a hold of my would-be mentor.
Well, after my discovery, I wanted one of the many variations of hope that the Lord offers. I wanted hope that maybe I would get to see Iris in the kingdom because she had sought the ultimate hope in Jesus Christ. But my findings were bleak. Iris wrote the following in the same note:
“I know that my actions will transfer some of this pain to others, indeed those who love me the most. Please forgive me. Forgive me because I cannot forgive myself.”
I listened to a pastor give a presentation at the job bank today. He talked about the need to “love ourselves.” You see, if we don’t love ourselves, obviously, we won’t forgive ourselves either. But we don’t need self-forgiveness, we need forgiveness from God by trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Besides, when would we ever love ourselves enough? Good luck with that one! It’s just more proof that the everyday Christian bumpkins need to get to the hopeless before the pastors do.
Well, what should I do now? Should I read the book? Can I still look to Iris as a mentor? I think I will, because the suicide notes were written a day before her death. Who knows what happened the day after? Only God and her were in that car. I guess God’s world is so full of hope, that at times we can take hope in what we don’t know for certain.
paul
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
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