format_quote Originally Posted by
glo
^
I am not so pessimistic, Watcher.
I am greatly encouraged by young people wanting to stand up and speak out against knife crime. I hope and pray that they will be able to make a better future.
Giving up, because we think the End Times might be upon us simply doesn't seem good enough.
We are to do the best we can and keep God's commandments until the last moments. Nobody knows the day or the hour.
Not being pessimistic, just a realist!
And I quoted scripture, to show that as time goes by, the world is destined to get worse!
I'm all for positive thinking and hope, but it has to be realistic and in light of scripture foretelling otherwise.
Do not see that humans of their
own freewill and power overcoming the fallen nature, which is so so powerful!
Hence the need for Christ's sacrifice!
Yes, the unsaved can change a bit, but being good alone does not get you to heaven!
2 Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified Bible)
17Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!
Galatians 6:15 (Amplified Bible)
15For neither is circumcision [now] of any importance, nor uncircumcision, but [only] a new creation [the result of a new birth and a new nature in Christ Jesus, the Messiah].
This is not achieved by following any religion, or law!
Romans 10:4 (Amplified Bible)
4For Christ is the end of the Law [the limit at which it ceases to be, for the Law leads up to Him Who is the fulfillment of its types, and in Him the purpose which it was designed to accomplish is fulfilled. That is, the purpose of the Law is fulfilled in Him] as the means of righteousness (right relationship to God) for everyone who trusts in and adheres to and relies on Him.
Galatians 2:19-21 (Amplified Bible)
19For I through the Law [under the operation of the curse of the Law] have [in Christ's death for me] myself died to the Law and all the Law's demands upon me, so that I may [henceforth] live to and for God.
20I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
21[Therefore, I do not treat God's gracious gift as something of minor importance and defeat its very purpose]; I do not set aside and invalidate and frustrate and nullify the grace (unmerited favor) of God. For if justification (righteousness, acquittal from guilt) comes through [observing the ritual of] the Law, then Christ (the Messiah) died groundlessly and to no purpose and in vain. [His death was then wholly superfluous.]