RE: What Is A Modern Day Pharisee?
Oh dear @snowpea,
I feel for you. I, too, was once a legalistic to a similar extent to which you had mentioned. At the same time, I was what I euphemistically label a K-Love Christian the manner of which is ruled by emotionalism and an empty sentimentality with a deep down hatred for the actual gospel of Christ albeit unawares to my person. I look back at my "Christianity" and cringe in horror. The LORD brought me to the point where I had counted all things as loss for he excellency of Christ not unlike the Apostle Paul along the road to Damascus.
Before that time, I was subconsciously a God hater because I had inadvertently conditioned salvation on what I have done. The work in my mind. The "if" you speak of is precisely what I am talking about. Concerning work that was done that is specific since being borne in His body on the Cross, there is no if. There is only a "when" for the elect of God.
God had appointed a time for which I was caused to repent of my dead works righteousness. I know the implications of what I am telling you may be disconcerting. There are only two options a person will respond to this peculiar message. They will either hate it or rejoice. There can be no ambivalence or spectrum. Either they realize that Christ's death actually paid for their sins en Toto (past, present and future) at Calvary or they do not. That's the way it is.
You refer to the Holy Spirit. It is by this Spirit that the truth of the gospel is ascertained and believed upon like it is your only hope. All ducks go into one basket. It is not like cryptocurrency. You can't hedge your bets with works and I am sure you are aware of this.
What I think may not have occurred to you is that thing I referred, the making a choice aka decisional regeneration is indeed a work. The only work that God will accept is the one that He himself performs and it is as follows.
John 6:28-29 KJV
Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? [29] Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
@anthonyadavisii, what a lovely comment!! This is a lot to unpack! I've never heard of k-love, can you further describe what it is? It sounds very charismatic.
What you said was not disconcerting at all. I'm just wondering, do you believe in Calvanism? (You probably already know what it is, but if you don't know what they believe, they teach strongly on the doctrine of election. Some hardcore Calvanists cannot defend any idea of freewill.)
Are you continuing to wrestle a little bit with yourself since your departure from legalism, or am I way off? Anyway, sorry for so many questions haha! Thank you for your response. :)
I use the label to describe my walk when I was an gospel unbeliever in the Jesus fan club. The problem is there a lot of Christian entertainment that is heavy on the emotions but often shallow or outright false concerning doctrine. So, yeah, I was caught up in that mess for a few years at least. I'm not saying all mainstream Christian entertainment is unbiblical and lacking fundamentals but would conjecture that a most of it is.
Yes, I was what you would call a 5 point Calvinist. For those that do not know, the 5 points are represented by an acrostic known as TULIP and will state them for background.
T is total depravity or alternatively total inability. This states that man, in his default state, is spiritually dead and unable to come to Christ of his own volition but requires a supernatural work of God on their heart (heart of stone > heart of flesh) in order to even be able to trust in the gospel that is in Christ ALONE for their salvation.
U is for Unconditional Election. This means that God chooses persons not based on any merit of their own or fulfilling any type of condition. No, salvation is a free gift that cannot be earned.
L is for Limited Atonement. This represents the idea that Christ's death is limited in scope to only those that He has chosen before time. I think many opt to rephrase this one particular redemption because they don't like the connotations of "limited". The idea is Christ died for certain people paying for their sins in entirety. It was not a potential atonement but an actual atonement. Let's just say the transactions where committed to the blockchain and they are indeed immutable. Christ will not lose one of those the Father has given Him.
I is irresistible grace also known as effectual calling. Put it simply. If you are one of God's elect and your day has come to be brought unto belief, you will most assuredly be brought to that belief. It cannot be resisted and, no, there won't be kicking or screaming. We will be made to understand and rest in the truth.
P is perseverance of the saints. This one pretty much ties into what I said about God not losing any of the Elect. God cannot fail; therefore, each and every one of His elect that believe will likewise be caused to endure. A true believer cannot apostatize. It is impossible.
Ok, now that THAT's out of the way. Notice that I said that I WAS a Calvinist and there is a reason for this. As a "K-Love" Christian, I was on one extreme end of the spectrum with high emotions but shallow doctrine. Once I was introduced to reformed theology, I became almost obsessed with doctrine in an intellectual sense. I probably had a working definition of the gospel at this point but I did not trust in it fully. I had my works in my back pocket but I would have been hard pressed to admit it. I think most people banking on their works to any degree probably were in the same boat. The problem is you can know the propositions that make up the gospel while at the same time not believing in them fully. I'd imagine the walks of these kind of accompanied with a lot of metaphorically self-flagellation or guilt from not keeping up their quota of obedience points. It's sad really. When we are granted faith, we are supposed to walk by it. If we believe the gospel, we know that God is pleased with us on the merit of Christ's death no matter what we do. Shall we sin that grace may abound? God forbid. We know that while all things are lawful, not all are profitable. Also, we know that the law is fulfilled in love.
Therefore, my rule of life is love and trying to do that which is profitable for the body of Christ only by His grace that I do. Most Calvinists are so close to an actual biblical faith but close will never be enough. It's Christ death either paid for your sins or they did not. Just like horseshoes and hand grenades. Almost doesn't cut it.
If you would like to know more as to why I do not consider myself a Calvinist, I have an article written by a brother of mine that more or less encapsulates the argument. Here is the link
https://theneongaslamp.wordpress.com/2017/12/15/why-the-label-calvinism-is-no-longer-tenable-or-why-i-can-no-longer-accept-the-label-calvinist/
Thanks for the reply @snowpea and sorry it took so long to get back to you! Happy New Years!
k-LOVE is a syndicated Christian radio station.
Oh, I see. Thanks for resteeming @bluerthangreen!!