Sunday, March 3, 2013

I'm The Worst Sinner of Them All

Today's message is inspired by my pastor's recent sermon. He said, "We're not very good at being good because we cannot achieve salvation through moralistic, therapeutic deism." And that's what I've always tried to do. When you are in a culture of rigid rules, constant judgement, and fear of hell fire and damnation, you have two choices: total submission or total rebellion. I think it's clear which way I went :) But as my pastor said, total submission will not gain you salvation. To say that you can obey (and work) your way into heaven is to dismiss the sacrifice of Jesus' crucifixion.  

Here are some of the things Paul said about his lack:


For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
1 Corinthians 15:9

Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
Ephesians 3:8

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
1 Timothy 1:15

I, Suzi Shumaker, am the worst of all the sinners. I am unworthy of salvation. I tell you this freely because, in the following weeks, I plan to write about my life since leaving the FOC and I know that there will be legalists from that group who will jump at the chance to point out how unworthy I am to present the gospel message. And when they do so, I will remind them that the great Apostle Paul, also claimed to be unworthy and the chief sinner.

10 comments:

  1. I don't understand how we can spent this precious life worrying about getting to heaven, or going to hell. Life is so fragile, and so very short. For me it is not about any of the above. I live my life trying to not only be happy, but to help others as well. I give my love, I give my heart. I strive for peace. I do not take anything for granted. I figure when I am dead, it will all sort it's self out. If god kicked the Devil out of heaven, seems to me if he lives here, as well as we do,then this could be considered hell. So if we strive to make this a better place,then we have done what we have been tested to do. I may sin every day of my life but, I try not to hurt others, or put myself higher then them. I don't think anyone is unworthy of anything as long as they are trying to be the best they can be. Hope I made sense. Dea

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    1. The reason you don't understand why someone could worry about their eternal soul is because you, apparently, don't accept your sinful estate. If you knew your crimes against a holy God then your sense of well-being would radically change. But it seems that you are trying your best to live up to your own moral code, which isn't too hard to do when you're defining reality. You are a good person, according to your rules.

      You said that you try not to hurt others or put yourself higher than them, but that is precisely what is done against God when you ignore Him and gospel of His Son, preferring your own philosophy and righteousness.

      Unfortunately, most human beings are doing this in various ways, so you're in the (vast) majority.

      Trying to do 'your best' isn't nearly as good as the perfection Jesus gives freely to those who trust Him. And it won't be good enough to escape the wrath of God.

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  2. Paul was also an Apostle not a woman. But I'm sure that you can point out all of the women that were called by God to preach and evangelize. Just because all the apostles had male names doesn't prove anything, right? You comparing yourself to Paul is a joke. You should never compare yourself to any man. You were made from man for a man, not to teach but to be under subjection for all time. Never mind I forgot this you are a feminist, so that part of being a Christian women doesn't apply to you.

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    1. Anon: If you and your entire family and everyone you knew and loved were in a burning building and the only fire fighter on the scene was female, would you refuse her help and allow your family to burn alive rather than accept the help of good-for-nothing, worthless woman?

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  3. Who said good for nothing or worthless? That was a stupid hypothetical. What does a burning building have to do with the fact that a woman was created by God with the rib of a man for the man? Sorry it's not progressive enough to reference the acctual truth of a woman's reality in scripture. The fact remains that all women ARE less than all men. How can you be equal if you are made from a part or what you would like to be equal with.

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    1. It's not a hypothetical, it's an analogy for Hell. Jesus did not come to put women down or put himself or any man above a woman. How ignorant you are to say that women are "less than men."

      What gender is God? The answer is, likely, no gender at all. "let us create THEM in OUR image....let us create them male and female."

      By the way, when Suzanne posted about the Proverbs 31 woman, you jumped on her for quoting the OT and said that was irrelevant; yet, you refer to Genesis to try to prove that women are less than men. That is not true, nor is it biblical. There is no male or female in heaven.

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    2. Hey anonymo: count your ribs. You have the same number as women. You were born from a woman. Susie is the mother of a son. Sounds like you have womb envy!

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  4. The biggest problem with the foc is that they are so uneducated. They don't know how to think for themselves.

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    1. Walter and Glenford did all of the thinking that they need!

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  5. This is off topic I know.. But here is just a little story, a sad one at that.. I remember back in the follower church maybe 6 or more years ago; two people went around at the Easter party out at the follower church and asked everyone of the teenage (unmarried) men "Why do we celebrate Easter?" Sadly enough, there was only one person who had any idea that it had anything to do with Jesus! But had no idea it was to celebrate the resurrection; there was probably something like 20-30 young men ages 15- 25ish and not one of them could tell these two that it was about the ressurection of Jesus Christ. Now I conducted a similar experiment on a co worker who had only been to one church once in his entire life; I asked him the same question, and without hesitation he gave me the correct answer...

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