A Small Response to a Comment given on the Blog Entry Immediately Prior to this one...

So, Hello to 'anonymous.' I am genuinely sorry if I've offended you in some way. If you want to take issue with me or something I've said, please email me. It will be just between you and I, and only for the sake of restoring anything thats broken, straightening whats crooked between us, or just plain apologizing for what I've done. I hope to hear from you soon. As for your comment proper, I think its a bit of mis-characterization. Indeed, I am a bastard, any of my friends will tell you this if pressed on the issue. 'Pharisee' however is not my particular flavor of bastard though, because, you see, a Pharisee trusted (foolishly and self-deceptively) in his own righteousness before a very particular and impossible-to-satisfy Law or Code. He then held that legalistic 'righteousness' over others. Why am I not a Pharisee? Because I know, and will admit openly that my righteousness is a tattered rag, insufficient in every way. I've nothing to be proud of. Only by the grace (grace means UNDESERVED FAVOR by the way) of God go I. So what does that mean in relation to my blog? Simply this: Any confidence or boldness I have in proclaiming the Truth (or even merely a single aspect of it) comes not from my own righteousness (though certainly, a Christ-like life on my part wouldn't hurt the credibility of the Gospel!) but because of the reality and righteouness of Christ. The reality of Christ is reliably presented in the New Testament documents and is only doubted by those with ideological axes to grind, not by anyone with an even vaguely even-handed assesment of them. But I digress: The reality of Christ confronts us with the very Person of God. He loves us dearly, enough to die for us...but He will not be toyed with or ignored, and He will certainly give no quarter to any pretense of rightesouness that is claimed outside of the work of his Son. Much more importantly is the fact that Christ's righteouness has been applied to my life and its complete lack of righteousness, to cover up my ugliness, to pay for what I've done, and what I will continue to do, unfortunately. I am a new person in Him, and by God's grace, I will live more and more in such a way as to reflect the new Life that has been given to me: that of Christ. I am a Sinner saved by Grace, and I only want to tell the story of my sorry ass being saved from itself. Feel free to be in touch, whoever you are. At the very least, please repost an accusation that sticks. None of us fully sees themselves, we need friends to tell us the truth about ourselves. Cheers!