[jfrog]

Originally Posted by kclee4jc

It has been a relationship with God that has led me to the belief in the standards i hold. We are a very conservative church (much more than most upci churches). This is not soemthing i am boasting of but i am using this to to say that being conservative in standards does not mean that we believe our savation is based on such. My pastor is constantly exorting us to pray, fast and read the Word of God and make these things a part of our daily life. He teaches much more on relationship than he does standards. Matter of fact he very seldom teaches on standards, but when he does he has already taught on relationship with God to such a degree that our hearts are prepared and yearning to do what is right. I am convinced that if we will seek God and truly yearn after Him, He will lead us to the same or at least very similar convictions. Throughout my walk with God i have been on many different planes and held various view points..but I have sought God and continued to move forward. At one point I had no problem with television...now i can see how it influenced me. Previously I had no problem with wedding bands..God has showed me that they are not pleasing to Him. At one point in my walk i was perfectly fine with the thought of broadcasting on television..now i see very clearly the dangers of such. At one point i considered baptism non-essential..now i understand that it is the name of JEsus Christ applied in baptism that remmits sins (this of course is void without repentance) . I do not judge someone who does not hold exactly the same convictions i do, because i believe we all may be at different levels in our walk. But if we are not moving in the same direction, then we are not being led by the same Spirit. Perhaps someone loves God but does not at this time have a conviction against worldly sports. I believe that they may be very much saved and very much seeking God. If that is the case, I believe with the right teaching and a heart that is desiring God sincerely, God will bring them to a place of such a conviction. Paul told the Corinthian church to speak the same things..it is reasonable to expect this because we should be being led by the same Spirit. But i do not judge another brother or sister who is being led by the same Spirit as myself but is simply on higher or lower plane than myself. And there are certainly many wonderful saints in both places.

For some reason it seems that you are saying that moving in the same direction should be rather linear in that we should both visibly be getting closer to the same. This is not so. There are an infinite number of paths and some of those paths will take us further away from agreement before they bring us into closer agreement. So at any moment in time we can be moving further apart but that moving further apart will in a broader sense be something that will eventually bring us closer together

Also I want to point out that the implications of your statement is that anyone who is not getting closer to what you are is not being led by the Spirit of God like you are... Surely you don't mean that!