I've been doing a slow burn for the last day or so. Perhaps I can put this in a coherent fashion; we'll see.
If you have read this blog for very long, you know that I am a firm believer in the need for revival in the U.S. church. I commented in the past about Lakeland. I believed, and still do, that despite some of the extremes, it was a true move of God (and from what I hear, it is still going on, albeit in a less media-centric way).
I firmly was hopeful that Bentley would reconcile with his wife. I was also hopeful that there would be repentance and confession. Well, this hit my e-mail box 2 days ago. Let me quote the relevant part:
What happened there was from God, and Todd is a true servant of God. He has made some mistakes, and he is trying to get his life back in order, and you can be confident that he will.
OK. There are a few things wrong with the theology of those sentences. I agree with the first sentence; it was of God, and Bentley was a true servant of God. It is the second sentence that has me upset, so here we go:
1. He did not make mistakes—he sinned. People, there is a huge difference between a mistake and sin. A mistake is an error in judgment because we are finite. Sin is willful. Sin demands confession and repentance; a mistake doesn't require repentance, although it might require an apology. Sin is an affront to the living God. Sin kills. Sin demands atonement. Sin will destroy. Sin will eat a person from the inside out. I could go on, but I think you get the picture.
2. Notice the subject of the sentence: "He." "He is trying." "he will" Sorry; not going to happen. Never. Not in a thousand years. Not him; not you; not me. Period. We will never, ever, ever be able to get our lives in order. If we could, then Christ died for no reason. It doesn't matter whether you are a Calvinist, an Arminian, or undecided, it is a foundational statement of Christian theology that we cannot be good on our own. It must always be God, and God alone, who can get our lives "back in order." And even after that, we are still reliant on the ever present, ever empowering, grace of God, in the form of the presence of the Holy Spirit, to keep us.
Just in case you missed that, let me repeat it: None of us can get our lives in order, nor can we keep them in order, except by the work of the Holy Spirit! And the sooner we admit it, the sooner we can allow it to happen.
I know somebody will say something to the effect of "Well, that is implied. We all know that God has to help him." Sorry, still not going to happen. God does not help us! He does it. Do you understand? We can do nothing apart from God. As soon as we expect God to help us, we have taken back control of our life; we are again calling the shots. People, we are dead!. When was the last time (in real life) that you saw a dead person take control of their life? Exactly! It doesn't happen; they are dead. In the same way, we are dead so that God can live a holy life through us (see Romans 5-6, for starters). He calls the shots, he does the empowering, not us.
Bentley might get the shell back in place. God might even use him mightily again—I hope God does use him again. But, unless there has been true repentance, the shell will crack under pressure. When it does, not if, we will see the same problems. Don't think I am picking on him; the same thing is true of all of us. We need the immediate, current, moment-by-moment breath of God living in us or we will all be in the same spot.
OK. I'm done—for now.
</idle musing>
2 comments:
James, I agree with your point 2. But I'm not so happy with your point 1. Are you referring to any one particular sin? Of course in a more general sense Todd has sinned as we all have. But for you to say "He did not make mistakes—he sinned" you must have something more specific in mind. What? I know that it has been alleged that he committed adultery while still married to Shonnah, but there is no evidence to support that allegation. It was a mistake, and one that Todd has admitted, to get involved with Jessa rather quickly after Shonnah left him, but was it a sin? There were certainly mistakes, also admitted, that led to the situation where Shonnah left him, but were there sins? You really need some clearer evidence of specifics before you call someone's behaviour sin. And even if it is sin, don't forget who is entitled to cast the first stone.
Good post. Want to come over and do some preaching my little town?
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