pergi sendiri

Well, we can start from the viewpoint of Matthew first. The Lord's speaking on the Mount was to His disciples (not unbelievers), which represents, the believers. Yet, the Lord touches on the relationship between fellow believers in the kingdom. When most Christians read Matthew, they do not realize that this book deals not only with the doctrine of the kingdom, but with the practical kingdom life.

Even, Peter's question in Matthew 18, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Until seven times?” (v. 21) shows that believers still can hate. Of course, the Lord's answer, “Jesus says to him, I do not say to you until seven times, but until seventy times seven.” Seventy times seven means that we must forgive others an unlimited number of times. There is no need to count or keep a record of the number of times you forgive others. Over and over and over, you need to forgive them.

Verse 34 says, “And his lord was angry and delivered him to the tormentors until he should pay all that was owed to him.” This refers to the Lord’s dealing with His believers at His coming back. If we do not forgive the brother who sins against us, we shall be disciplined by the Lord until we forgive him from the heart, that is, until we have paid everything we owe. Then the Lord will forgive us. This is forgiveness in the kingdom. This implies that if we do not forgive a brother from our heart today, we shall not be allowed to enter into the kingdom in the coming age [the reward].

Many Christians do not understand this portion of the Word. Verses 34 and 35 indicate that the one who does not forgive his brother from his heart will be under the hand of the tormentors until he forgives everything. Certainly such a one is a saved one. Nevertheless, he is given over to the tormentors for a period of time. This does not mean, however, that he is cast into prison forever. Rather, he will be tormented until he pays the debt, that is, until he forgives his brother from his heart.

Today most Christians believe that as long as they are saved, there will be no problem in the future. But in this parable the one who refuses to forgive his fellow slaves is not a false Christian, but a real Christian. You need to realize that it is possible for a real Christian one day to be delivered to the tormentors. Perhaps you will say, “The Lord Jesus will not do this to me. I have never robbed a bank. I have always been righteous and have not mistreated others.” But the Lord may say, “No, you didn’t rob a bank or damage anyone, but you have not forgiven your brother from your heart.” According to God’s mathematics, to forgive is to forget. However, you may not be willing to forgive those who have offended you. This is a serious matter. If you claim to be in the kingdom life in a practical way, why then are you not willing to forgive others from the heart? Your unwillingness to forgive causes you to lose the kingdom life (the reward).



.................. Definitely, John knew this from his days with the Lord and experienced this .........................

In 1 John, you will noticed he uses words like walk (living according to), abide continuously, stay in fellowship etc. Though we possess the divine life, it is still possible for us to sin if they do not live by the divine life and abide in its fellowship. In other words, we did not enjoy the daily salvation (Phil).

It is interesting to note that in 1 John 2:1, "... and if anyone sins, we have an Advocate ....". The word sins used is an aorist subjunctive , denoting a single act, not habitual action.

It is possible for a child of God to hate someone occasionally, but no regenerated person should do this habitually. If you hate others habitually, there is a question whether you have received the divine life. This is similar to committing sin. A believer may commit sin occasionally, but he should not do this habitually. If you sin habitually, this will also raise a question as to whether you have received the divine life.

Hope that helps ... (too long )

This post has been edited by pehkay: Apr 2 2014, 07:42 PM

NOOOOOOOO. Purgatory unfortunately is a great perverse teaching of salvation (no offence to Catholics).

There is an unclear understanding of salvation which produce this system of error which taught that persons who are disposed for eternal salvation but do not obtain it before the time of their death can obtain it only after being completely purged in purgatory.

It even come to unscriptural practice of praying for dead believers with a superstitious ..er .. view that prayers along with material offerings and mass are able to relieve and shorten the sufferings of souls who are on their way to obtain their eternal salvation in purgatory.

Well, not about heaven. But YES, it is IMPOSSIBLE to forgive in our natural ability. Forget it. Condemn it. There is no way to do it in ourself. And forgiveness is not about losing your salvation. There is no such thing.

Our inability to forgive others lies in our dispositional anger, lust, riches, and ambition. All these problems are within us. We are people full of pride and that anger is hidden in our disposition. No matter how patient or forbearing we try to be, anger is still deeply rooted in our disposition. This is what makes it difficult for us to forgive others. Furthermore, we are troubled by lust and riches, both of which damage the kingdom life. Finally, there is the problem of ambition. Matthew purposely covers these five problems in his Gospel to show that we must take care of them in order to be in the kingdom [not about losing salvation but living the christian church life today]

This is why in principle, all the kingdom people must be little children. To be humble is to be like a little child. If we are not humble, we will either be offended by others or we will offend others, that is, we will either be stumbled by others or stumble others. All stumbling takes place because of pride. If we were not proud, we would not be stumbled.…If a little child is offended, the offense will be forgotten in just a few minutes. But once adults are offended, they are stumbled because of their pride. Furthermore, the stumbling we cause to others also issues from our pride.

Just bring the matter of your not able to forgive others to the Lord. Let His resurrection life do it for you. Enjoy His grace and let Him work out the salvation in you. The Lord is THE KINGDOM. The more you enjoyed and experienced Him, the more His "forgiving others" life grows in you. Stop trying to forgive. It will not work. Just contact the Lord first and foremost.

Cheers!

This post has been edited by pehkay: Apr 3 2014, 08:40 AM

It is really higher bro. And I am not even talking about the divine romance.

God created us in His image and according to His likeness (Gen. 1:26a).

What is God's image? God's image is what God is in His divine attributes. God is love (1 John 4:8); God is light (1:5); God is holy (Lev. 19:2) and is even holiness (Heb. 12:10); and God is righteous (Psa. 7:9b) and is even righteousness (Jer. 23:6). God is also patient and is even patience itself.

God's image is the totality, the aggregate, of all that He is. He is love, He is light, He is patience, He is kindness, He is mercy, and He is forbearance. All the items of God's attributes added together equal the image of God. When Christ came to express God in humanity, He expressed God in all His attributes. This is God's image.

God created man in this image. Therefore, we all have a small amount of love, light, and other virtues. We are not animals; we are human beings created in the image of God. Hence, we do have some virtues, although they are temporal and do not last.

The goal is that we will be eventually contain Christ. We are made in the Christ's image with a goal to contain Christ as the reality of all that God is.. Just like a glove is in the image of the hand, with the goal that it will "contain" the hand, thus, fulfilling its purpose.

God made us as men in His image to express what He is. In this expression God's attributes become our virtues. God's likeness is just the expression of what God is. God's image is what God is. When this image is expressed, that is God's likeness. As human beings we were made in God's image to express what He is.

..... (there is still dominion (1.26b) e.g. man given authority to represent God and to have dominion over the earth)

This post has been edited by pehkay: Apr 7 2014, 08:30 AM

??? for what reason ?

Well, it's not to answer your question but to impress you on the number of steps men fell as seen in Genesis.

Before the fall, no sin barrier existed between God and man. This was the so-called dispensation of innocence, when man was ruled directly by God. He lived before God and was responsible to God. Unfortunately, man failed under God’s rule and became sinful within and without; so the holy and righteous God had to leave man.

Consequently, from the time of Adam’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden to the time of Noah’s departure from the Ark, God established the conscience within man to represent Himself in ruling over man. This is the so-called dispensation of conscience. In this period man was ruled by his own conscience and was responsible to his own conscience. Unfortunately, under this self-rule, man again failed. He ignored the rebuke and control of the conscience, the issue of which was murder and fornication, which proceeded unto utter corruption and fullness of wickedness. God judged this dispensation by the flood.

After the flood, God told Noah, "Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed" (Gen. 9:6). Because man was neither subject to God’s rule nor obedient to self-rule, God authorized man to represent Himself in ruling over man. Therefore, not long afterwards there was the beginning of nations; there came into being among the human races the rule of political authorities, the power of the society, and the control in the family. For example, in a nation there are the president and the officials; in a factory, the supervisors; and in a family, the parents and elder brothers, etc. These are the authorities set up by God to represent Himself in ruling man. This is why Romans 13:1 says, “Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers.” This is the dispensation of human government, in which man is ruled by man and is responsible to man.

From the point of view of government, man’s fall was a fall from God’s rule to self-rule, and then from self-rule to man’s rule. The more one is ruled by God, the nobler he becomes, but the more one is ruled by man, the more base he becomes. Today, man’s condition is a complete rejection of God’s rule. There are possible minorities who are under self-rule, being controlled by their conscience; however, the impact of their conscience is very weak. The majority are living under human rule and never conform unless they are being ruled by someone. Yet many still fail in this dispensation of human government. They not only disobey, but also endeavor to escape and even overthrow man’s rule. Today what is set before our eyes is a rebellious and disorderly condition. Thus, man is a total failure whether under the ruling of God, self, or man.

Since man has been degraded from God’s rule to human rule, God, in saving man, must recover him from human rule to divine rule, that man may once more live before God in simplicity and under His direct authority. However, this kind of recovery cannot be realized in a moment of time. As man became degraded by falling from divine rule to human rule, passing through the stage of self-rule in between, so in God’s plan of recovery he must retrace his steps from human rule to God’s rule, passing through self-rule in between. Since self-rule is the step between human rule and God’s rule, when a man is saved, he must first be delivered from human rule and return to self-rule.

All those who live under human rule are living before man. They dare not do many things because of the fear of man. Whenever they are not under man’s jurisdiction and observation, they do as they please. However, those who are under self-rule are not so. They live by the feelings of their own conscience. Being controlled by their conscience, they do not need to be ruled by others. They are restrained in all their utterances and behavior, not because of their fear of man, but because of the ruling of their conscience. They are free to act only when their conscience approves. Outwardly, they appear to be still subject to the rule of man, yet practically, this rule is unnecessary, because their conscience is sufficient to rule and control them.

Sadly, the condition of many Christians today is not so. Their behavior still requires the rule of man. Students must be controlled by their teachers, children by their parents, and business personnel by their supervisors. Often they care only for those who are around them outwardly, but care not for the conscience within. This proves to a great degree that they are still living in the fallen condition of being ruled by man. Therefore, only severe dealings with our conscience will deliver us from the fallen condition of human rule to that rule by the conscience. Then in all things we can live and act according to the feelings of our conscience.

However, the final goal of dealing with the conscience is not simply to restore us to self-rule. If we remain only in the feelings of conscience, we are still in a half-fallen situation and fall short of God’s will. Therefore, dealing with the conscience is not just to cause man to return from human rule to self-rule, from the eye of man unto the conscience, but even more to cause man to pass through self-rule and attain to God’s rule, to pass through the conscience and live in the presence of God. To deal with the conscience so that we are brought back to the conscience is still a negative objective; the positive objective is that we be recovered to God Himself. Therefore, the final goal of dealing with the conscience is to bring us back to God’s rule.