postlaestadianrevival

F.R. wrote:

"I tend to see this differently. Sin is like illness. If I am sick, I confess this to a doctor to get help. Of course, some folks reject doctors and I see no scriptural warrant for this. Same with sins on the conscience. If I am troubled by temptation or the devil's doubts, I can get counsel from fellow believers. And like with the doctors, there is no scriptural warrant to reject fellow believers for such counsel. On the contrary "Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that ye may be healed," and "Your sins are forgiven for His name sake."

I am still convinced that only God can forgive sins. In Jesus Christ we are shown that God HAS forgiven our sins. It is this that we can rely on and tell others about. We must not stand in the place of God, only relay his message.

If I may borrow your illustration, confessing your sin and seeking counsel from one another is like sitting in the waiting room at your doctor's office and discussing your ailments with all the other patients. You may get a lot of sympathy but they don't have the authority to write the prescription.

The scriptural way to battle temptation is the way Jesus did. With scripture. For 'God's word is living and powerful and sharper than a two edged sword..."

Thank you Bookworm. Of course God forgives. I agree we are only to relay the message. This is how I believe. I can only tell people the Gospel. The Gospel is the power of God. It is not my power. It has power to set people free. I am powerless to do that.

Hello Faithful

It is okay to tell others their sins are forgiven. How is that lived out in the Christian life?

Soapbox, the testimony of a saved person is in their actions. I don't know what your understanding of faith alone is, but to me good works flow from faith not the other way around(which is another gospel then). Does this help?

In the OALC we were dependent on others to tell us our sins were forgiven.
I think that is wrong. We do not NEED someone to tell us that to believe it because God said it and God's word is more reliable than man's word. Also a person can be deceived by another. Only God knows the heart. If they do not believe in Jesus, their sins aren't forgiven.

I do not know how this is taught at your church and how important you see it to be. Relying on a person or a group in place of God seems to be dangerous and that is where my concern is... How important is this to your faith?

Soapbox, I agree wholeheartedly

Soapbox wrote: If they do not believe in Jesus, their sins aren't forgiven.

How important is this to your faith?

I can see where your concern would be. One could get into a bad habit of sinning then confessing, sinning/confessing, without true repentance in the heart. This is dangerous without a doubt and I went through this when I believed I could enjoy sin and then pray a prayer to ask God for forgiveness. Without true faith(which is evident with repentance), there is no forgiveness. Acts 2:38 shows this clearly. Peter says repent and you shall recieve. No receiving without repentance. I agree!

That wasn't my concern so much as the importance of confessing/and assuring sins forgiven in your personal theology. Is it more important than prayer or reading the bible?

Repentance, confession, prayer and reading the Bible are all important ingredients in the Christian life. The Bible is of prime importance because from it we can get understanding of how the Christian is to live. Also the basic Gospel message is in there. The testimony from its pages has changed me. I tell people I was "born again of the word of God which liveth and abideth forever." From the Bible it is evident that repentance and confession along with prayer are all important. Without one, the whole spirit of the person will suffer in some aspect.

Repentance is turning from sin. The way it was taught to me it is a U-turn, you are going your own way, then turn around and follow the LORD. Confession is naming Jesus as your LORD. (Romans 10:9-10) Prayer is how you talk to God and reading the bible is how He answers you. I agree that all are important to a Christian's life.

Hi Sydney. A U-Turn. I like that way of explaining it. I think too many just give lip service "Dear Lord, I repent" thinking it just means being sorry(the way I thought of it for too long). Yep, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus you will be saved and whosoever calls upon him will be saved.

Bookworm & Soapbox: Thanks for those clarifications on the doctrine
of forgiving sins; they are angles I have not thought of before...ailing
patients in the waiting room complaining to one another can't write a
prescription for a cure--I loved it! And that is so true, Soapbox, that
receiving someone's testimony of one's sins forgiven will avail nothing if
one doesn't believe in Jesus!

I remember an OALC member with a college education saying that her
psychology professor told them that everyone has a need to confess their
wrongdoing. In light of that, I believe that the ritual of forgiving sins that is practiced in the Laestadian churches does have some therapeutic value, especially as it is accompanied by embracing, since we know that
human touch is vital to healing. The surge of relief and love that people
feel from that ritual convinces them that God is real in their lives. I believe that that emotional high is similar to what some Pentecostals feel when they are slain in the spirit or experience something unusual like
suddenly 'speaking in tongues'. It is so much easier to rely on
those kinds of emotional experiences than to read & study God's word, pray, and daily live in obedience to God as we seek to know Him and
draw close to Him.

The danger is that the emotional experience SEEMS to satisfy the heart's inner longing for reconciliation with God, but it actually becomes a SUBSTITUTE for a personal, one-on-one relationship with Jesus Christ, which is the ONLY way the heart will really be satisfied. (God can only be reconciled to sinners through the atoning sacrifice of His Son.) That reminds me of something I heard: most people get just enough religion to innoculate themselves from getting the real thing (becoming an on-fire disciple of Jesus Christ)!

That is why I left the Pentecostal movement of my upbringing. So much emphasis on the signs, especially tongues and individual behavior, seems like the fruit of the Spirit and a whole lot else in the Scriptures went by the wayside. I don't deny the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the gifts and manifestations, but the Pentecostal doctrines built around them are erroneous. Similar things have happened in the Laestadian movement, with so much emphasis on having to hear the word of forgiveness from another person. Confessing and hearing forgiveness among Laestadians seems like the tongues and other signs among pentecostals, that much of the rest of the counsel of the Scriptures has become hidden by these experiences and rituals, to the point that unless you have done this, you really aren't saved. Admitting our faults before God and one another is fine and scriptural, but we must remember that by faith alone in Jesus Christ we are saved, that confession and hearing forgiveness must not replace the author and Finisher of our faith.