Jehovah's Witnesses Straight Talk - Forum/Blog

James 1:6 But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. 1:7 For let that man not think that he will receive anything from the Lord. 1:8 He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

What is a double minded person? Will, there is only two minds existing in competition with each others for Christian's, do you know what they are? 1.) one is a fleshly mind, and 2.) the mind of Christ. However, our understanding why a person doubts with a fleshly mind is important it puts the whole letter of James in its proper contexts.

Romans 14:23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn't of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.

The fleshly mind is a legal mind, which means, it is drawn to legal judgments about matters of the flesh. Those matters are sin when it comes to God's righteous laws. The fleshly mind cannot know God, nor can it be subjected to God's righteous laws or the law of Christ, why? Because it is a mind under sin meaning it cannot know God, or Christ by law, it can only be condemned into death by God's righteousness, which judges it evil.

Romans 8:7 because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God's law, neither indeed can it be.

Here than is the confusion for many fleshly minded Christian's in viewing God by laws given to mankind convicting them of sin. When a person is convicted of sin they are judged as unworthy of God's association. Subsequently, the person cannot know God, God must be known from love, they doubt, fearing God is every changing like a shadow under a tree depending upon how they act one day to the next. In other words, “this day is good and God likes me, while the next day is not so good in sinning, and God hates me!”

James 1:14 But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. 1:15 Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.
1:16 Don't be deceived, my beloved brothers. 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.

This is the erroneous flawed thinking of the fleshly mind. Moreover, because the fleshly mind cannot know God from its legal thinking it is double minded, which means it judges God both good and evil, just as men do to each other having sin. In other words, all human have good works and bad ones, believing if they are good most of the time it pays for the bad at other times. This fleshly minded thinking is projected into God making the person double minded.

1 Peter 3:21 This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you--not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Hence, this is the double mindedness James refers to in the letter of James, with such a mind God cannot bless because it lacks faith in God's love. The double mind is essentially saying, works of law, require us to undue our evil by our good works denying the Christ altogether!

Luke 9:23 He said to all, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross,{TR, NU add "daily"} and follow me.
Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ, let us press on to perfection--not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, of faith toward God.

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