Not requiring confession and just offering luck as an alternative, men of the world will just choose 'luck' and not confess. Meaning?

[Gottservant]

Hi there,

So this is a thorny problem for me. I have known for some time that Ray Comfort preaches that the sinner needs to be convicted of the Law, before they are offered Salvation. That approach seemed fine to me, for some time, but I never really felt great about approaching people about the Law. The problem for me, was that it seemed too authoritarian. You know, "thou shalt not" did not seem like a great way to introduce people to the Gospel. But I had a realization recently, that it really is the best of two alternatives: if you don't offer "the Law" to someone, that is, require a confession of some sort, but just put their hope down to luck, a "Man of the World" is always going to just choose "luck". They will choose "luck" and they will leave "confession" until it is too late.

Why does trusting luck, leave a "Man of the World" with no interest in "confession"? The reason is, the "Man of the World" is already trusting luck. If you say "your luck might run out" you are not telling him anything he does not know already. That may be fine, while you are coming to grips with the Law yourself, but at some point, you are going to have to point out, the limitations of luck alone, as a "faith". The limitation of luck, is in part that you don't need to confess anything, to make the best of it. Luck comes and luck goes, and confession has nothing to do with it. Indeed Christ said "the Holy Spirit will convict you of sin" (John, from memory), that is that we fall short of the Law. In other words, we can never have enough of "luck", because we do not trust God, to change our hearts.

I don't know if I am harping on here, I just find it so frustrating, that "men of the World" cannot be trusted. It feels like I am being straight-jacketed into espousing the Law, because I can't trust men, to approach "luck" sensibly! As Ray Comfort says "if you say 'why do I need a parachute?' and I hang you by your ankles out of the plane, when you come back in, you are going to say 'give me that parachute!'". Men need to know their standing, in the Law. If they don't, the Law is never going to save them, from a life of sin. I say this, in all honesty, still thinking "there must be a way to reach Men, that they will want to find in their own way". You can't praise Men, Men don't trust prophecy, but surely they don't hang their life on whatever luck comes their way? Well, they do!

I think the difficulty for me, is that the only way you can really preach the Law, is on a one-to-one basis. I mean, in love. Like you don't approach a crowd and say "what are this crowd's sins?" - that approach doesn't make sense. Not for the most part. I think what it is is that we need to preach Jesus as crucified by sin. John says the Holy Spirit will convict them of sin, because they do not believe in Jesus. Jesus is compromised by the Law, because He makes Himself a sacrifice for sin. No one makes themself a sacrifice for sin, and does not suffer the Law. There is power, in that. Luck, is there "yes", but when you see the effects of the Law on the sin Christ became, then you are shocked into action. I think that is where the Holy Spirit, has been taking me with this. Not to put off luck forever, for no reason, but to amplify the danger of putting things down to luck and to bring the Law into perspective, as the justifier of punishment, for those things we have left undone.

I suppose it is a curious thing, to let you hear my thoughts on Christ, the Law and Luck, but it has helped me understand where I should stand - so thank you!

God bless.

 

[Zachariah]

As humans we cover up shame(death) with our ego(Adam/Man). When we live in the ego or our "Adam nature", for a time we can avoid our underlying trauma and shame. I'm not sure if you know much about identity, but the ego is an identity that we have for ourself, invested in the feeling of pride. Somone egotistical is "up themselves" and think they are gods gift to earth. Everyone has some level of ego identity, that's how we feel good about ourself. The cloths we wear etc. Extreme ego identity would be considered narcesistic and so indulged in one's self that they can't seem to find empathy for anyone else. But, the bigger the ego, the bigger the shadow. Meaning the more egotistical somone is, the more insecurities they are covering up. This i believe is your lucky man. The bible refers to the ego as Adam. Its the human condition of sin and man's nature. Sin manifests as ego. We all have it at some level. To repent is to put the ego to death, generaly we assosiate this with guilt or shame and in the bible is known as gods judgment. The lucky man, or, Adam will go for aslong as they can avoiding spiritual death and the repercussions of self consiousness/gods judgmet. Although there are consequences for hiding from judgment, and that is, that you become a slave to ego. In the ego we care about what we wear, what people think of us etc You can see here the relationship the ego has with its shadow(judgment). Its trapped and enslaved itself. This is what the story of moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt is all about. Egypt being the slavery and the ego.

The truth is, the lucky man isn't so lucky. He's in a state of slavery. Until he comes to terms with his shadow and undergo spiritual judgment, he will not find God. For it is in the darkness we find God and new life is born.

Hope that helps.

 

[Gottservant]

As humans we cover up shame(death) with our ego(Adam/Man).
[...]
This is what the story of moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt is all about. Egypt being the slavery and the ego.

The truth is, the lucky man isn't so lucky. He's in a state of slavery. Until he comes to terms with his shadow and undergo spiritual judgment, he will not find God. For it is in the darkness we find God and new life is born.

Hope that helps.

Wow, such a dense, rich exegesis of the problem I have been dealing with!

You are right, even to say, its as if we become a slave to our luck.

I wonder how you would persuade God, that giving up His Son was a good idea? (To approach the problem, from the other angle!)

The jury is still out, whether God will be happy with how salvation has played out. (It's for Him, but does He appreciate the gift?)

The concept of ego, is key here: because that is the currency all our decisions are made in...

 

[Zachariah]

Ego vs God. Pride vs Honour. The less identity we have invested in pride, the more we can invest in god. And vice versa.

 

[St. SteVen]

I have known for some time that Ray Comfort preaches that the sinner needs to be convicted of the Law, before they are offered Salvation. That approach seemed fine to me, for some time, but I never really felt great about approaching people about the Law.

Interesting topic, thanks.
I have seen Ray do that. And have heard the TCs used that way before. (TCs = Ten Commandments)

I have mixed emotions about it. Ray is taking advantage of the biblical ignorance of people on the one hand, but if the Spirit delivers conviction through their God-given conscience, then who would stand in the way of that?

As mature Christians, unless you are a Sabbatarian, we know that we are not under the law. But the law did have a purpose. To make us aware of sin. As the Apostle writes, "... I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” - Romans 7:7

On the other hand, we have lost touch with the original intent and meaning of the TCs. Having westernized them. Using the Lord's name in vain now means saying "God" as an exclamatory, rather than making an oath in His name. People say, "I swear to God" now with no clue what they are violating.

Much more to say about all this.