(April 19, 2014 at 6:35 pm)Esquilax Wrote:(April 19, 2014 at 6:09 pm)Lek Wrote: If I am devoted to being a professional soccer player and I'm told not to touch the ball with my hands, I won't touch the ball with my hands as a rule. Sometimes the ball may be speeding toward my face and I will put my hands up to block the ball. I know it's against the rules and I'm upset that I did it, so I try in the future to block it with my head or chest. Likewise, I might decide on the spur of the moment to make an illegal tackle, but I know this is wrong and won't make me a good soccer player, so I try to correct myself. From time to time, I mess up and I try again, but I really want to be a great player. Someone who desires to follow Christ will likewise generally succeed, with some failures along the way, especially when calling upon God for help and guidance. He's not alone, but he has the Holy Spirit to call upon. If I really want to be a great soccer player I will , as a matter of course, try to do what it takes to be one. The same for somone comitted to following Christ. If I'm not comitted, then I'll do what comes easier. Whether people care or don't care will eventually become evident in their lives. God, at the same time, looks at peoples hearts and efforts as well as their actions.
So what I'm seeing is you continuing to admit that it's beliefs and not actions that constitute what a christian is, and that even devout christians fail, so are you then admitting that whenever you call someone not a true christian you're claiming to have insight into how they feel about their failures that you cannot possibly have?
Obviously, you're not grasping what I'm trying to get across. I guess the readers can judge for themselves.
