Sin and Dysfunction – Part 3

Legalism vs. Licentiousness

Some Christians have wholeheartedly accepted the grace message, yet they also strive towards highlighting overindulgence and the abuse of grace: referred to by some as licentiousness. See the blog entry Dead Off Center.

Grace author Dr. Andrew Farley wrote the following recently on his Facebook page:

TWO VERY DIFFERENT DECEPTIONS

A. legalism:

1. forgiven, but not really forgiven- still need to ask.

2. free, but not really free- still need the Law for morality.

3. new, but not really new- still need to try to die to self.

4. Christ in us, but not really- out of fellowship half the time.

B. licentiousness:

1. totally forgiven so behavior doesn't matter.

2. totally accepted so behavior doesn't matter.

3. totally new so I never struggle, nor does it matter.

4. Christ is in me, so it's all Him, none of me. I go passive.

TRUE GRACE:

1. we are forgiven of all our sins, once for all.

2. we are dead to the law; Christ is the end of the law for us.

3. our old self died; the battle is between the Spirit and flesh.

4. Christ is in me, 24-7, without interruption.

5. behavior matters; it can be an expression of Christ and saves a whole lot of earthly consequences.

The Thought Connection

I, like many others, have made the connection between life's struggles and unhappiness - to a person's thinking. It seems that if people hold on to negative thoughts and beliefs, it gives rise to wrong ideas, emotions, motives, attitudes and, ultimately, behaviour. If you make a habit of reading my posts you'll no doubt see the words dysfunction and disposition a lot - I use these words to try to identify what could be called human dysfunction, which seems to cause problems in people's lives. It’s this human dysfunction that seems to impair a person's confidence, self-esteem, intuition, motivation and character. I suppose the Bible would call this human dysfunction – the flesh.

I see this human dysfunction as being like a sliding scale from debilitating apathy, depression and fear on one end - with a great deal of pride, anger and bitterness on the other. Fear creates an apathy and lethargy, a lack of confidence and feelings of low self-worth, which produce a low energy state, which makes it difficult to do the simplest of things at times. In stark contrast, the high energy state produced by pride and anger can motivate people to action. I think a lot of successful lawyers and greedy businessmen fall into this high energy category.