Scuba Pete
Le plongeur avec attitude...
From your comments, I don't think we are even close on Grace. I take a radical departure from most people's views of Grace. In fact I have yet to find anyone who actually agrees with my beliefs. I'm OK with that to a certain extent, but it does make me second guess that understanding.
Too many rely on the intellect or study to understand God's will, when in fact it is the Spirit causing us to grow in grace that does this. I surely don't ascribe to a "hermeneutic cloud", but rather our inability to listen and simply follow the Spirit's will in our lives.
It's not a matter of how much we understand, but rather how much we apply that which we understand and actually put it into practice. You can only understand more of God's will by utilizing what you already know. While Grace is the free gift of God, that is not it's definition. Grace means becoming more like God. In fact the root of the Greek, charis, is what we get character and charisma from. This makes phrases such as "growing in the grace" meaningful. You "fall from grace" when you stop trying to grow in emulating God.
This is why I emphatically assert that baptism is an act of the cut heart, and not a "get out of jail free" card. This is why it is useless to baptize an infant as it is impossible for them to get any closer to God. They are already sinless in God's eyes.
Read all of Acts 2, where we are first introduced to the believer's baptism. Look at the transformation of the heart. First from mockery ("These men are drunk...") to one of knowing just how they crucified the Lord of Lords. Read the other conversions and look at the utter brokenness the full reliance on doing whatever the apostles asked of them. It's radical discipleship. It's simply off the hook, especially when compared to today's congregations. For the most part Christians in America ascribe to the Gospel of convenience and not of sacrifice.
Too many rely on the intellect or study to understand God's will, when in fact it is the Spirit causing us to grow in grace that does this. I surely don't ascribe to a "hermeneutic cloud", but rather our inability to listen and simply follow the Spirit's will in our lives.
It's not a matter of how much we understand, but rather how much we apply that which we understand and actually put it into practice. You can only understand more of God's will by utilizing what you already know. While Grace is the free gift of God, that is not it's definition. Grace means becoming more like God. In fact the root of the Greek, charis, is what we get character and charisma from. This makes phrases such as "growing in the grace" meaningful. You "fall from grace" when you stop trying to grow in emulating God.
This is why I emphatically assert that baptism is an act of the cut heart, and not a "get out of jail free" card. This is why it is useless to baptize an infant as it is impossible for them to get any closer to God. They are already sinless in God's eyes.
Read all of Acts 2, where we are first introduced to the believer's baptism. Look at the transformation of the heart. First from mockery ("These men are drunk...") to one of knowing just how they crucified the Lord of Lords. Read the other conversions and look at the utter brokenness the full reliance on doing whatever the apostles asked of them. It's radical discipleship. It's simply off the hook, especially when compared to today's congregations. For the most part Christians in America ascribe to the Gospel of convenience and not of sacrifice.
