The Righteousness of Christ.

The argument is: “Does the righteousness that we receive at salvation affect the soul or is it a positional righteousness alone?”

If your faith doesn’t change you, then it’s possible that the Holy Spirit is not conforming you to the character of Christ. Part of sanctification is being made holy, but why do some people who call themselves Christians, show no real evidence of holiness in their lives? They are being taught that positional righteousness is all that matters, that God will not judge them on their sanctification. This teaching fails to promote the kind of character change that the Holy Spirit wants to accomplish in every Christian’s life, from the moment of salvation.

We are justified by faith, and not by works, but the point of the Christian life is not just to get a free pass to Heaven, it’s to be conformed to the character of Christ, while we are here on this earth, (Romans 8:29). While it is true that sanctification is progressive, we are not instantly made holy in Christ, our characters should be changing as we live our lives. The condition of our souls is important to God, and even if the condition of society is not accommodating to Christian beliefs, God still wants our souls to be holy.

Each generation has its problems, and so each saint in every generation I believe is given the necessary grace to live out their Christian lives. I know it’s difficult to be a Christian in this current generation, but I believe God will reward the Christians of this generation if they persevere till the end. I believe there will be a special reward for every Christian who has persevered in every generation, but I believe the reward will be greater for some Christians who experienced more difficulty and possibly persecution, compared to the ones who didn’t.

So, the goal for believers of this generation today is not just to sit back and coast to heaven, or rely on their positional righteousness, but to be conformed to the character of Christ and not to be compromised to these generational sins. Also, to fight against the contaminating forces that are trying to pervert them spiritually and accepting the grace of God that will help them resist these sins, and availing themselves to all of God’s help and graces, in order to make them holy indeed, and to receive a special reward from their Lord when they get to heaven, or when Jesus Christ returns. This is Mike.

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Catholic Identity.

I was born into the Catholic Church and was baptized as an infant, I had my first communion and reconciliation as a child, and was confirmed as a teenager. Although I was never devout, I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour when I was 21 through an evangelical Christian radio ministry, which in turn gave new life to my Catholic faith. Although I remained a Catholic, I identified as a born again Christian. It wasn’t until much later in my life that I learned the difference between the two denominations and what they taught about being born again. Regardless, there was a significant change in my life back then, which continues to this day. Being Catholic is much like an identity to me and I remember growing up under the papacy of St. Pope John Paul II. The culture I grew up in was largely affected by his papacy, and the way the culture viewed the church was significantly different from the way the current culture views it. Growing up, the pope didn’t try to be rele...

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“Life in the Spirit” is an example that the Apostle Paul gives in the book of Romans starting in chapter 5 and going through to chapter 8. He begins by telling us we are justified by faith (5:1), and have gained access by faith into the grace of God (5:2). We have been delivered from God’s wrath (5:9) and we have been reconciled to God through the death of His Son (5:10). He goes on to explain that through Adam all die (5:12), and that the free Gift of God brings justification and righteousness to the believing sinner (5:15-17). Through our conversion we are baptized into Christ and into his death, which frees us from the law and makes us dead to sin (6:2-4). He explains that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we are given new life in Christ (6:4). Our old unregenerate self was crucified with Christ so that our body of sin might be done away with (6:5-6). Because we have died to sin, we now submit ourselves to God being that we are now under grace, not the law (6:8-1...

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