But where there are prophecies, they will cease;
where there are tongues, they will be stilled;
where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
For we know in part and we teach in part,
but when completeness comes,
what is in part disappears.
When I was a child,
I talked like a child,
I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child.
When I grew up,
I put the ways of childhood behind me.
For now we see through a glass, darkly;
but then face to face:
now I know in part;
but then shall I know even as also I am known."
~St Paul
It's
all about love. Love and knowing, as much as we can know. And unlike
what some suggest, the more we know someone - their hopes, their
passions, their needs and yes, their (our) imperfections - the more we
can love them, not loathe them... not consider them "totally depraved," but totally beloved.
We all need more loving in this world.
1 comment:
To love each other despite the fact we are all "totally depraved". It seems clear you're hung up on the word "depraved", as it is typically used these days to denote incredible evil of a rather insane degree. You do this sort of thing a lot.
But it is Biblical, as it simply means we're all sinners...we're all possessed of a sin nature and inclined to sin.
Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
Romans 5:12 – “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”
1 John 1:8 – “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
Ecclesiastes 7:20 – “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.”
1 Kings 8:46 – “If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;”
So the concept of "total depravity" is simply acknowledging the fact of our sin nature and to wash us clean of it is the reason Christ was born and put to death. Those of us who seek Him and seek to live on His terms are those we're to love despite their total depravity because we are also sinners seeking the same forgiveness.
It's no small thing to ignore the truth of our sin nature by which Scripture so clearly teaches we're victimized. It is the reason we need Jesus, and only He was born without it, which is what made Him the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin.
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