Thinking 2 – RIGHT IN THE CENTRE!

This news cannot leave indifferent anybody who thoroughly contemplates on what they really mean and what consequences they may have on one's life. For each one of those people, nothing will be the same as before. The deeper their understanding of same, the stronger their response will be: they will either become more fervent supporters, or ever stronger opponents.

Here is the most important news without its explanation on this page. A more detailed argumentation can be found on following pages for all those who will be able to read the following few sentences to the end, accept and believe that this news is really so good. We therefore ask you to read slowly and contemplate:

– The One mentioned in the introductory words, who unconditionally loves and accepts us and forgives us from the bottom of His heart, transforming us through His love, is God Himself! Notwithstanding the fact that most people have a completely different and opposite picture of Him, God's love and His acceptance are fully unconditional! What does it mean?

It simply and literally means that it does not depend on your goodness and your works, on what you are and what you do. He accepts you as you really are, whatever you are and whatever you do (which does not mean that He accepts things you do), because He loves you because of yourself. Because of love for you He has a goal – not to leave you the same but to change you and save from eternal perdition if you agree to that. Only unconditional love and acceptance can make the change, and not the other way round.

Or to say it more directly, your sins are not and cannot be the cause of God's rejection of you as long as you do not reject Him and come to Him for healing – you should distinguish it from the fact that they can easily become the cause of your rejection of God if you continue to cherish them deliberately and persistently. They will not alienate God from you, but rather they will alienate you from God. They will not affect God's attitude toward you, but rather your attitude toward Him.

In other words, there is no condition on God's side, only on human side. That is, this God’s unconditional love and acceptance one can stop to accept, although that is inheritable gift of salvation (birthright that everyone receives).  

For understanding and accepting all that was said, it is of utmost importance to distinguish already mentioned fact that God's unconditional love and acceptance do not mean that He accepts what we do, but that He unconditionally accepts us who are doing it. To comprehend love fully among other things means that one should make distinction between a person and what that person is doing. This is because love is a attitude toward (relationship with) another person as a being, and not with all its individual wishes and behaviors. And just because of this distinction it is possible to love a person and condemn some of its doings at the same time. It is like the parents who do not accept some of their children's doings which they consider dangerous exactly because they love them. Many people, however, misinterpret non-acceptance of somebody's actions as non-acceptance of the person who is doing them. More precisely, they perceive this non-acceptance of certain types of behavior as conditioning, opposition and non-existence of unconditional love, which is completely wrong. (Remember: not accepting somebody's behavior and some of one’s actions does not at all mean, and is not equal to rejection of that person as a human being.)

Shocking? Hard to believe? God says so, but humans distorted it, because they cannot believe in something like that as it sounds too good to be true. We have been taught ever since we were born that favor, mercy and love must be earned and deserved, so that we continue applying this wrong premise even to God's love and acceptance, and most people find it difficult to unlearn it. Check the arguments in favor of the above, in Holy Scriptures, as quoted on the pages to follow. For those who are able to do so, let's go on:

– To conclude from the above – Our good works, faithfulness, obedience, behavior... are not the cause (reason) for God's love and acceptance, His mercy towards us and forgiveness; nor are the cause of our justification, reconciliation, salvation... All this is only the consequence of His unconditional love, acceptance, mercy, and forgiveness, as well as of our understanding and accepting of that fact. And all this by means of faith, i.e. by becoming familiar with God through everyday personal relationship with Him.

– God's grace (mercy and favor) can in no way be earned or deserved (it is undeserved). It is not a reward for proper actions, nor a pay for obedience. We cannot make ourselves good enough for it, nor it is based upon anything we do. It is based exclusively on what Jesus did. It is already ours by birth, and it is free!

– Our personal (subjective) justification and reconciliation with God does not depend on what we are like and what we do, but on what we believe – do we believe that God has already justified us and reconciled us with Him (salvation from sin accomplished for the whole humanity – objective salvation) while we were still helpless, godless, sinners and enemies of Him. It depends on whether we believe that we have already received salvation as the right acquired by birth (birthright), instead of doing things to earn or deserve it (Holy Scriptures, Rom. chapter 5).

– Salvation is an inherited gift everybody obtains by birth, but it is later rejected for various reasons (deceitfulness of sin and love of it, pride, godlessness, disloyalty to God...). It is upon us to stop rejecting our inherited right to salvation by cherishing faith which is also a gift from God.

– Repentance is a gift and we should not wait to approach God till we repent (as we will then never approach Him), but we should come to Him such as we are in order to receive that gift and thus be able to repent. We do not repent so that God would love and accept us, He unconditionally loves and accepts us as to enable us to repent. It is the very love of God that leads us to repentance, and not the other way round. It is not us who take the first step and seek God, but just the opposite: He takes the first step and seeks us (described in Holy Scriptures, Luke, chapter 15).

Tax collectors and sinners mentioned in the above chapter did not wait to sincerely repent before approaching Christ, but came to Him such as they really were, with all their sins and flaws. This proves the fact that Christ with immense joy accepts His lost children who are coming back to Him such as they really are, with all their sins and weaknesses, although He knows that there are many among them who still haven't truly repented. Why? Not because love is sentimental and blind, and justify unrecognized sins and overlooks unrepented sins, but because true love is unconditional (asking nothing for itself) and because true love knows that only unconditional acceptance can lead a sinner to sincere repentance, and not vice versa. There is no other way.

Should they truly appreciate and stop to reject it, His love will lead them to repentance and it will change them. If not, their persistent rejection of His love and His principles based on love will gradually make them ever more corrupt and less willing to readily accept and choose God's will instead of sin which they have come to love and with which they have become so familiar. In that case they will once (and maybe after several departures and returns) finally go away forever.

– By Christ`s substitutionary sacrifice, our sins, guilt and condemnation were ascribed (and transferred) to Him; and His merits – His righteousness, perfect life and obedience – were ascribed to us. It means that although we are aware of our present sinfulness and human weaknesses, God always sees us as fully righteous, just like Christ was, as if we have never sinned and fallen. It also means that God sees us as completely obedient, like Christ has been, although it is not how we see ourselves.

By doing all this, the eternal (unchanging, self-sacrificing, unselfish, compassionate, caring, patient, faithful...) Love not only covered our sins to make us officially (in the face of law) righteous, while we continue to sin; no, all this was done that we might be made righteous, that in real life we could be free from sins and the desire to continue doing them. And all this is possible through gradual transformation of character that God will do in a life-long process (consecration), provided we come to Him daily and allow Him to do it; to persist in knowing Him better every day; to stop trying to free ourselves from His hands and permit Him to abide in our mind. Only this part is what belong to us and what God asks of us and expects from us. And for all time, our mistakes and falls are covered by Christ's merits which the unmeasurable love had attributed to us.

Truly, no one has ever start walking without falling. Every human parent, who really loves his or her child and wants him or her to start walking, does not count his or her falls, nor love him or her less every time him or her falls down, let alone God who considers us all His children. God's love has full understanding and immeasurable patience for our failures and falls on the way of growing up. For it is impossible to have a sincere relationship with somebody who loves and accepts us only as long as we do things of which he or she approves. It is not love, but interest, selfishness, sort of blackmail relationship. The relationship of love cannot exist where mutual love is constantly examined and has to be proven again and again; if all the time we have to ask ourselves whether what we are and what we do is good enough to be loved and accepted. In such a relationship there can be no real acceptance, intimacy, sincerity, openness, gratitude, progress, joy, peace, happiness, safety, stability... but only a lasting anxiety, sense of guilt, remorse, lies, alienation, feeling of being not accepted and rejected, lack of gratitude, uncertainty, uneasiness, suffering, sadness, lack of confidence and self respect... Simply, we will be discouraged in our efforts and live in constant fear that we will be rejected and abandoned because of our failures and mistakes, and because of what we are and what we do. This can hardly be called life, but it isn't death either. This is a terrible torture and gradual deterioration, life of utter distress and misery. God knows it well and does not wishes it even to His worst enemies. To those who distorted His unconditional love and acceptance to such an image of a tyrant, to millions who live in bitter agony, waiting for Him to end it mercifully, the present news is in fact God's effort to end that agony by showing Himself in real light.

The fear that God's unconditional love and acceptance can lead the person who sincerely accepts them to misuse the freedom and betray His mercy and confidence is unfounded. It is simply impossible for anyone who really accepts and appreciates somebody's unconditional love and acceptance to remain unchanged, especially if we talk of God's unconditional love and acceptance. If the person persists in its unity with Christ, sooner or later his or her sin will cease (be defeated). As long as the unity with God exists, that relationship of love has its inherent protection from the abuse of freedom. The deeper our community with Christ, the farther we are from the misusing of freedom. We should all be grateful to God for the way Christ treated those who had deliberately sinned. This gives hope and consolation to each believer who is fighting and growing.

This point leads to all that follows:

– Our justification before God does not depend on our consecration, i.e. our life (our correct acts and good works) but only on Christ's merits (substitutionary life). Our good works are only the consequence, the fruit of our justification and salvation, and not their cause.

– Our position before God and peace with Him are not based on our present circumstances, nor on our spiritual progress (sanctification), nor on our works (the fact that we no more do some things we had done before or they happen to us again). Our position before God and peace with Him are based exclusively on the already established fact, and that fact is accomplished by the substitutionary death itself of Jesus Christ for all of us.

– To be under God's grace does not mean that we must not commit sin again. We may sin without losing God's grace because His undeserved mercy and favor have never depended on our ability to do the right thing. Grace is poured upon us regardless the fact that we still are, or have been the sinners.

– We are justified only and exclusively by faith, but not only intellectually (consciously accepting – approving God's reconciliation, which is an inherited gift), but also by faith which works through love. In this case faith is a verb, and not a noun.

– Our struggle is not fighting with sin, character flaws, inherited or acquired inclinations... Our struggle is the struggle of faith, struggle of believing Him, of surrendering Him constantly, and giving Him permission to abide in us, to let Him enter our minds. Our struggle is to believe that fighting with our sins and flaws, as well as the responsibility for its outcome, are upon Christ, and not upon us, and that consequently we constantly surrender to Him our right to fight with our sins and flaws. The point is that God in us resists sin, and not we alone with His help.

More precisely said, our struggle to constantly surrender our sins to Him, believing that they have already been conquered; and to reach for His righteousness expressed in God's moral law, believing that this righteousness has already been gifted to us in abundance. Because the ten God's commandments have originally been given as God's promises to His people which He would realize through them if they believe Him, and not as a set of prohibitions which they should obey by their own power. Then God will abide in us and the justice of the law will be fulfilled in us, because God will by his presence in us, resist the sin, and not we alone with His help only.

In other words, our struggle is to surrender Him our will and yield to His will all the time.

We should believe (Our struggle is to believe (keep belief)) that Christ has overcome it all instead of us, that in Him we have victory over that all, that the victory is already ours and that He will, abiding in us, manifest it through Holy Spirit.

– It takes time for developing character and producing lasting fruits of faith? – love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance... What does it really mean?

Although these fruits of faith are there every time we permit God to abide in our mind, it takes time to make these instantaneous fruits permanent and lasting, for we need time to learn to constantly allow God to abide in us.

This process of spiritual growth is the process of changing habits, i.e. of developing and transforming of character. Character consists of thoughts and habits, so that a momentary change of thoughts or one act that differs from usual habits, do not signify both temporary and permanent change of habits or character, for in that case our habits and character would change several times during the day. A continuous and persistent process of repeating an action is necessary for it to become a new habit, and consequently a part of character. Also, it is necessary a continuous and persistent process of not repeating some action in order that it will cease to be a habit or a part of character. In order to make some action a habit it is necessary that it becomes constant, i.e. that it is repeated several times – and again, that takes time. More on that subject and on serious mistakes which are made in this connection can be found in the book „Victory through Jesus“ by Bill Liversidge (in e-form on the Site), especially in the chapter „New spiritual habits“.

– The soul is not immortal by birth but conditionally. So, those who reject God's grace (undeserved mercy and favor) should not expect eternal torture in the flames of hell, but merciful destruction and end of their life after paying for their sins, the penalty that Christ has already paid for all, but they have willfully and actively rejected that inherent gift of pardon and salvation.

– Those who have been saved are aware of the fact that they had been saved exclusively by God's undeserved mercy and favor shown in Christ's sacrifice of reconciliation, and not by any of someone’s works, merits or personal achievements, so that all gratitude and glory belong to God only!

The concepts discussed so far are not final and they will grows with better understanding of God's unconditional love and acceptance, so, the contents of this Site will be dynamic – subject to constant additions.