Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 1:00 am
Ciarajade,
Welcome!
Among the sins listed as deadly is gossip. I am sure I have gossiped many times, often without realizing it. I see many Christians commit this sin. Dallas Willard defines gossip as saying something about someone that causes the person spoken to, to have a lower opinion of the person spoken about. I believe he is correct. (Sometimes it is necessary to warn about a person on a "need to know" basis to prevent harm to another.)
Who among us can say they never gossip? We may do it without realizing it. We may do it, realize what we have done and repent. In fact, we may have a repentant heart, striving to live as Jesus would have us live, yet "we all stumble in many ways". There is a great difference between the person who tries to do what's right, although imperfectly, and the person who practices sin, i.e. sin is the "norm" for that person.
How sanctified must I be to remain justified? I do not believe there is a "line". What matters is "faith working through love" as John Mark Hicks puts it.
You mention C. S. Lewis. Have you read Dallas Willard's "The Divine Conspiracy"? Excellent book; some compare him to Lewis.
Welcome!
Among the sins listed as deadly is gossip. I am sure I have gossiped many times, often without realizing it. I see many Christians commit this sin. Dallas Willard defines gossip as saying something about someone that causes the person spoken to, to have a lower opinion of the person spoken about. I believe he is correct. (Sometimes it is necessary to warn about a person on a "need to know" basis to prevent harm to another.)
Who among us can say they never gossip? We may do it without realizing it. We may do it, realize what we have done and repent. In fact, we may have a repentant heart, striving to live as Jesus would have us live, yet "we all stumble in many ways". There is a great difference between the person who tries to do what's right, although imperfectly, and the person who practices sin, i.e. sin is the "norm" for that person.
How sanctified must I be to remain justified? I do not believe there is a "line". What matters is "faith working through love" as John Mark Hicks puts it.
You mention C. S. Lewis. Have you read Dallas Willard's "The Divine Conspiracy"? Excellent book; some compare him to Lewis.