Which do you have a desire for at times? (Private Poll)

Joe - thanks for the thread and for the defense earlier, I am ok, really. I think 4boys has a point when she says:

Sometimes I think there is a comfort in knowing others struggle like we do and we are not alone. But on the other side I have heard confessions that were more like bragging and self justification then repentance and godly remorse. I think we just need to use a little judgement here. Just like the self righteous hypocrite can play the 'I am holier than you are so I love God more' game we can also play the 'I was a bigger sinner than you were so I love God more now' game. Neither of these of course gives God the glory for our salvation or our sanctification.

 

I do not see the harm in asking or wondering about the poll. If you post a poll or a comment in any thread does that not allow for some to have questions ? Please look at the comment about seeing the human side of fellow posters in the context of my ENTIRE post. I did not quote you in that post. It was not in response to or an attempt to continue a discussion.

My comment was about those who said they do not struggle with some or all of the sin on your list. I would hope that I could make a general comment within a thread that you are a part of without you thinking that I am in some way making that comment to you directly,because if you read the whole post you I think you would see that, and you may also see that our views may be more similar than you think which was said before.

 

Joe,

As Tentmaker said earlier, he did not take what I said as an attack. It seems you are the one who thinks it was.

If I have offended you, please forgive me. I only posed a question to show that some could not vote on any of those things the poll wasdirected to.

I did say I struggle from time to time with sin, but none of those.

I was not trying to debate.

As to the 'grow up' comment, all of us need to grow in Christ.

 

Tentmaker saw it for what it was, not an attack.

 

Guys,

Quit putting me in the middle of this. I am neither offended nor hurt and I don’t feel I was attacked but I am getting a bit irritated. If you have a personal axe to grind with each other do it without mentioning me. This poll was conducting a decent discussion on how knowing other people are tempted and how that can be a help or a hindrance to brothers and sisters in Christ.

Everyone is tempted, but everyone is tempted in different ways. You want a better list of sins to poll people on, try the 10 commandments. I love the evangelism show Kirk Cameron does on TV using the 10 commandments to lead people to Christ.

Most people, especially lost folks, if you asked them, “Do you keep the 10 commandments?” they would initially answer yes. But then you go through the list. OK, you never killed anyone; you never cheated on your wife, but get down to the end. Have you ever coveted something someone else had? Now that is a pretty hard commandment to keep. Not to condemn anyone but I don’t think anyone can keep that. Then factor in what Jesus told us in Matt 5:17-28. He said that lust in our hearts is the same as adultery and that hate toward our brother is the same as murder. The Pharisees kept the letter of the Law, but Jesus explained that God is concerned not only with the actions we do but with the attitudes and intentions of our heart. Now can you keep that law? Now tell me how you have no other god’s before Him. Tell me how you keep the Sabbath day and honor your parents. When we apply God’s standard the way God intended every one of us has broken every one of the commandments, and don’t even think about bearing false witness and telling me you have not.

I don’t think anyone here is trying to say they are holier than anyone else, we are all sinners. We just all don’t commit the same sins in the same ways. What is wrong with that?

 

Wow, I just wanted to share something from an email devotional I get everyday. I don’t know how many of you subscribe to “Today’s Word” but I get an email devotional from them every morning. Today’s is from Gal 6:2 and I am going to post the entire article because it seems so relevant to this discussion to me.

 

Thanks, Tentmaker...

Today's Word has a very timely message. May we all etch it upon our hearts and carry it as an effective witness for Christ.

Again, thanks.