Does anyone here believe in the doctrine of "sinless perfection"? What I gather about it, from people who espouse the doctrine, is that they themselves never sin. They say if they sin, they immediately lose their salvation until convicted, repent, and become saved again. They claim this rarely occurs. They claim to never sin for extremely long periods of time. They say that there are Christians who never sin once, after being saved, until the day they physically die.
The Catholic church has a doctrine. Put simply; they divide sins up in to two categories, venial sins and mortal sins. Both are cleared by the sacrament of confession. However if you die before getting to confession with a venial sin on your soul, you go to purgatory or a mortal sin, you go to hell.
Doctrines like this and what you shared have nothing to do with the truth because they focus on sin instead of new life, (they keep score), they focus on how a person is doing compared to the Law instead of how a person is being lead by the Holy Spirit.
When I go before God, I would rather be a sinner saved by His grace than a person who declares to be sinless, because I have a excellent 'good works to sin ratio', or just got hit by a bus after leaving confession.
MrRow seems to be an expert in the field. He's been trying to cause strife ,confusion, and division for a long time.
But he'll be gone soon (or so he says), wonder who satan will be using then to ask probing questions to cause brethren to sin with anger in their hearts?
��but nothing unclean will enter it�� (Revelation 21:2)
This verse gives us a succinct view as to the requirement for entry into Heaven.
Nothing unclean will enter. One must be perfectly clean, without any stain of sin in order to get into Heaven. St. Paul agrees with St. John when in
Hebrews 12:14 he states that we must strive
�for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord.�
It seems very clear to me that in order to get into Heaven there is a certain �Holiness� that must be obtained.
Therefore, I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.(Matthew 12:31-32)
��either in this age or in the age to come.�
If you are in Hell, there is no possibility of Forgiveness and if you are in Heaven there is no �need� for forgiveness there. So�where else might a person be if it is not Heaven or if it is not Hell?
The Church has for over two thousand years known what this Scripture was speaking of about and the Jews also for almost two thousand years before Christ.
For anyone to claim that they do not sin is to show their ignorance of what sin is or to show themselves as Deluded.
I'm not an example per se. I'm seeking God to be saved. But I believe that if Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, that He is powerful enough to give us the grace and strength to resist temptation! The Holy Bible says HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT! I believe in an all powerful God when we totally yield ourseelves to Him that He can keep us from all sin and unrighteousness. This is biblical. God is not weak, little, or mean. He can provide all our needs! Just think, God created the whole heavens and the earth, space and creation never ending, God never came into existence! He has always been there and always will be! How Great is God? We can't describe it. And compared to the universe we are nothing in size, not even big enough to see or dwell upon! Yet He created us, died for us, and wants to save us! I know The All Powerful God and Creator can keep us from sin if we allow Him His way with our lives! Amen!!!!!!:applause:
God calls us in Christ to be perfect, even as His Father is perfect. Now that is a tall order and as far as I know, although there are many pretenders to it, no one here has successfully been perfected to the point that they are the Third Person in the Godhead and can say that they are completely, perfectly sinless.
Perfection is the underlying goal of salvation and salvation is both an event and a process. Our initial faith in Christ is the open doorway to this journey. And the Word of God makes clear that only through the blood of His Son can God can declare anyone "perfect", and that by faith alone.
The doctrine of sanctification in Scripture shows that Christians continually are in need of it, and that is probably the most clearest Biblical evidence that we are people always in need of a Savior. To be sanctified is, per the NT Greek and context, is to be made holy, to be in the process of being fully consecrated to God .. and again, that's the process of salvation worked out uniquely in each of our lives.
There are those who think they can declare they've arrived at "perfection" but they sadly miss the point that Biblical sanctification teaches .. that we are all works in progress. They presume to think they are All That and then some. Sadly, they end up actually living with some of the saddest depths of depravity there can be.
It is true that we are weak and don't walk perfectly, as much as we might want to. But perfection, something Christ commands of us, is something that IS attainable. It's the backbone of balanced Biblical holiness as understandable by many believers today. There are many men and woman of every age, race and tongue who we'd call "saints" because of that uncommon quality of complete consecration to living out their life as images of Christ. You know who they are. That elderly sister whose serenity shines from her face as she shakes the hands of her peers and hugs the necks of people totally unlike her .. that young man who is totally sold out to God and desirous of pursuing Him and who, even in this filthy age, still casts his eyes away from indecency. THEY EXIST and they are who would be "sinless" in that they successfully die to themselves, keep themselves pure and trust only in JESUS to keep them that way, not their works.
But you ask them, and they will readily admit they are human and can and do stumble. In fact, they will with tears admit they struggle with subduing the passions that other believers so completely cave to and justify every day, rationalizing their sin. To me, that is what our efforts to be perfect as Christ commands, adds up to.
