December 22, 2008

The Righteousness Of The Best Of Us - The Saints Struggle With Original Sin

"Things About Bellevue That Embarrassed Me!" I posted in March

NASS' comment on her blog "... Then Steve Gaines had to do what he does nearly every week and make it about him. He jumped up and immediately broke into an "impromptu" a cappella solo and the congregation soon joined him. Please, pastor, I'm trying to give you some helpful advice here. It's not about you! (Nor is it about Jamie, but The Jamie Show has become a Bellevue staple.) These little spur-of-the-moment, pastoral solos, tacked onto the end of a congregational hymn or inserted into the middle of a sermon are not "impromptu," they unnecessarily and inappropriately call attention to yourself, and IMO they are not conducive to a positive worship experience."

TN Lizzie said...
"One guess where she got the tiara. "There's no telling ~ Craig or her sons? Her DIL's? Any of the Mamas who have been drawn closer to Christ through the Moms ministry? No, I was thinking from Donna Gaines. Do you really think Donna would let go of her tiara?
1:02 AM, December 16, 2008

My comments about Joyce Rogers, NASS' comments about Steve Gaines and Jamie Parker and TN Lizzie's about Donna Gaines are abrasive comments perhaps bordering on unacceptable. However they do point out the consequence of original sin in the lives of the best of believers. They point to the hold that "him who has the power of death" still has over the "not yet glorified" believer. These comments point to the inclination "concupiscence" to evil of even the sanctified. In our battles against the evil of the world and Satan, the least victorious is the battle against the flesh! We can renounce abortion and denounce Satan all the while giving place to the flesh, perhaps the most deceptive of our enemies. We ourselves are our greatest enemy. The sin of Adam and the sin of the world resides potentially in our souls. It is a daily battle to keep ourselves in humble obedience to all God has for us. These failures are so easily hidden until people like NASS, TNLizzie and myself so abrasively point them out.


So often we neglect this aspect of original sin, if we believe in it at all, that not only are the worst of humanity very evil but the best of humanity share in this heritage as well. Scripture says we all have sinned and fallen short of the kingdom of God.


Joyce Rogers, singing to her husband, the pastor of a great church, was drawing attention from the worship of God to the worship of a man. Dr Rogers should have stopped her from this awful show of flesh. If the best of us don't know how to contain the base elements how can the rest of us expect to do the right thing? This is a battle we all must fight and it requires the help of the Holy Spirit daily to do the right thing.

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