How To Be Sure You are a Real Christian Book

Hi Dick,

I just finished reading your article "How to Be Sure You're a Real

Christian"

I thought it was great, right up until the end where you said:

"Second: Repent. That is, we need to turn from sinful and selfish ways to

follow God and his ways. Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and

believe.” That is, we need to turn from sinful and selfish ways to follow

God and his ways. "

If it is within our power to repent, then I would think that the law could

have been met? I am confused about how to reconile that with the earlier

statement "Neither is it God's goal to make us good. It's to make us whole,

for only to the degree that we are made whole will our actions, lifestyle,

and relationships be wholesome! Religion tends to want to fix us from the

outside in. God wants to fix us from the inside out. ".

It has always been my experience that true repentance was impossible to do

by ourselves. Abstinance was possible, and turning to God, honestly

acknowledging and confessing our bondage to sin was possible. But true

repentance was only achieved when God reached in and spoke truth, and

removed the sinful behaviour. David captured it best (of course):

Psalm 51:

Surely I was sinful at birth,

sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ;

you teach me wisdom in the inmost place

It has always been my experience that the Church gets so caught up in the

issue of "unresolved sin" that God is never able to really build a

relationship.

If you had a minute to clarify, that would be great, I appreciate your time,

thanks a lot