Gnosticsm & the Proclamation of Christianity with special reference to John's Gospel (Cont)
Sin
John 8: 34 (NIV); John 1: 29 (AV)
'Why are things we experience so out of joint? Is it because God or the devil has designed this? It is of neither. It is of man's decision to be his own god.' [56]. 'There is an intuitive certainty in all of us that there are some things that we ought not to do.' [57]. These are sins.
God created man in His Own Image, so that he should : "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul and all thy mind and all thy strength." (Mark 12: 30). Satan tempted man to do his own thing and to act as his own god. "And ye shall be as gods." (Genesis 3: 5). Man succumbed and liked the idea and soon became adroit at forgetting God and going his own way. So the first of these commands was put into the trash bin and the second soon followed it. This is when things went out of joint in a big way, and this is where we are today, and THIS IS SIN.
It is as if man said to God: 'Get out of my way. I claim the right to myself. I shall do my thing in my own way.
The one principle of Hell is, 'I AM MY OWN' [58].
Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness to take the 'short cut', and all the 'temptations centre round this point: 'You are the Son of God, then do God's work in your own way'; and our Lord answered: 'I came to do My Father's work in His way, not My own way, though I am the Son of God.' [57]
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