Comments on: Christian identity theft

By: Xion

Xion — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:03:49 +0000

“All of those things on the to-do list above are good things. But that list is not what makes you righteous. You are righteous because of Christ. Period.”

Thanks Dave. This is the heart of the gospel. It is the good news. It is grace vs. law. It is imputed righteousness vs. earned righteousness. It is the essence of Christianity.

Why then do I almost never hear it from the pulpit? What I usually hear is all the stuff you aren’t doing that you outta be doing. The pulpit piles on the guilt. Of course, we should be doing more, but it earns us no more favor with God than we already have.

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By: opinionated teen

opinionated teen — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:01:39 +0000

Whoops, pushed the button twice! *embarrassment!*

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By: opinionated teen

opinionated teen — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:00:01 +0000

Thank you, Mr. Burchett. Good article.

Random, why are you making snarky comments about how WE talk about OUR faith? Why does it matter to you? Don’t tell me you’ve started caring! I would also add that just because a giant elephant existed at one point doesn’t mean it has to exist now. Animals go extinct. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything for or against Intelligent Design.

Sometimes, the Random Name on WorldMagBlog tries a little too hard to prove us Christians wrong.

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By: opinionated teen

opinionated teen — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Thank you, Mr. Burchett. Good article.

Sometimes, the Random Name on WorldMagBlog tries a little too hard to prove us Christians wrong.

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By: JessicaRenshaw

JessicaRenshaw — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:07:18 +0000

Dave,

This article is right on–and incredibly timely. My husband and I, under the auspices of our church in Long Beach, California, have just started a small home group on Letting God Speak Truth to the Lies You Believe. Last week we discussed God’s premium on truth–Jesus is the Truth, in Phil 4:8’s whatsoevers, “true” tops the list of what should fill our mind, etc. Tomorrow we plan to talk about what feels true (but isn’t), especially about ourselves, to share that God and the devil each have a very different plan for our lives (for instance, John 10:10’s abundant life vs Satan’s “theft, death and destruction”). Your article perfectly expresses what I have been floundering around trying to express in my own mind–the fact that our identity is in Christ, despite our often living out of, being driven by, the identity that feels true because of messages (verbalized or not) we internalized in the past, that God’s goal for us is to grow up into our true identity. We plan now to distribute, read aloud and discuss your article as part of tomorrow’s meeting. Thank you! (Ultimately we hope to go into Theophostic’s method of letting God lead us to the event in our past where a lie was embedded, letting God speak truth to the child we were then and freeing us from it.)
Jessica Shaver Renshaw
P.S. I too have a book (novel), Compelling Interests, in the witness protection program! It followed on the heels of my first Christian book, Gianna:Aborted and Lived to Tell About It (Focus on the Family, 1995) which was a best-seller around the world and Gold Medallion semifinalist (beat out by Billy Graham’s son–how can one compete with Dr. Graham and who would want to?). Different publisher–gave it zero promotion despite reviews that called it “the War and Peace of the abortion issue.” I’m sure glad God is sovereign. If He doesn’t want to raise it, so be it.

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By: mmacmurray

mmacmurray — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:16:55 +0000

Thanks for this reminder, Dave.

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By: Sawgunner

Sawgunner — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:37:50 +0000

I grew up in Garland Texas and even knew a family named Burchett. The only other Burchett I know was Wilfred Burchett, who from what I read was a proCommie Aussie journalist in Viet Nam.

Anywho.. thanks Dave. I seldom forward or share WMB essays on Facebook but yours is definitely FB grade

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By: Random Name

Random Name — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:08:31 +0000

Speaking of identity theft:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090623/ap_on_sc/as_indonesia_prehistoric_elephant

The link above describes finding the remains of a giant pre-historic elephant.

Obviously, the elephant stole the identity of a dinosaur.

As evangelical Christians don’t accept evolution, this whole thing is a giant swindle, perpetrated by Charles Darwin on April 1.

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By: awstar

awstar — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:04:36 +0000

“Your very spiritual DNA was rewritten and you became a new person. ”

I would submit that the spiritual DNA has always been there — i.e. the Word of God as recorded in the Bible. It’s the gift of the Holy Spirit that we get immediately when we first believe the Gospel which begets us as a new person. And it is the Holy Spirit who can decode the spiritual DNA and remake us into the new creation we are called to be, when we continue to trust in God’s Word.

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By: menliketreeswalking

menliketreeswalking — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:06:47 +0000

Thanks for this post. It is somewhat related the question I asked a while back about how to relate to people struggling in their walk– in talking with a friend this week, I have been very tempted to just slap him around and tell him to clean up his act to counter his disappointment and lack of direction in life. But God’s remedy for us– to embrace the life in Christ freely offered to us– is so much better advice. Thanks for this!

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