malcolm
July 5th 2005, 02:05 AM
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?
After the end of the Michael Jackson trial, I thought about the old cliched question: "If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"
Usually, what that question does is make Christians take a look at their lives, come up with a mental list of all the good things they do and how much they really love God or come up with a bunch of theological reasons why their salvation is completely secure, and so convince themselves that they're fine and they would be "convicted" for sure.
Hardly very constructive.
So, after the MJ trial, I thought of a different question: "If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would Thomas Mesereau Jr. (Michael Jackson's million dollar attorney) be able to get you cleared of all charges?"
What this should do is make ourselves look at our lives a little differently. Not looking for all the good things and the great reasons why we're okay - but looking for all the areas that could be improved or "fixed" so that Mr. Mesereau would have nothing to build his defense case on.
How would you answer, and why?
After the end of the Michael Jackson trial, I thought about the old cliched question: "If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"
Usually, what that question does is make Christians take a look at their lives, come up with a mental list of all the good things they do and how much they really love God or come up with a bunch of theological reasons why their salvation is completely secure, and so convince themselves that they're fine and they would be "convicted" for sure.
Hardly very constructive.
So, after the MJ trial, I thought of a different question: "If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would Thomas Mesereau Jr. (Michael Jackson's million dollar attorney) be able to get you cleared of all charges?"
What this should do is make ourselves look at our lives a little differently. Not looking for all the good things and the great reasons why we're okay - but looking for all the areas that could be improved or "fixed" so that Mr. Mesereau would have nothing to build his defense case on.
How would you answer, and why?