Jehovah's Witnesses Straight Talk - Forum/Blog

Rom.6:21 What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 6:22 But now, being made free from sin, and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification, and the result of eternal life. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Here is often the faulty thinking of many Christian's Paul speak to here. Once the person becomes a Christian's they become harsh towards the sins of others. It much like the person whom stop a bad habit, and spends the rest of their lives making themselves an nuance to anyone with the habit. They forget that if someone was to harass them while they had the habit they would have never quit in the first place! But now they have a real distaste for anyone not changing at their constant pounding.

James 4:11 Don't speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. 4:12 Only one is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge another?

Such self-righteousness has nothing to do with Christ or helping someone. These brothers and sisters at Paul time had become proud and self-righteous they wanted a little club where everyone conformed to their personality forgetting that they were never under the law in the first place, so why now after becoming a Christian's as a Gentile were they so zealous for the law, and its condemnation of sin which themselves could not washes themselves clean with by works of law?

1Tim.1:9 as knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 1:10 for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave-traders, for liars, for perjurers, and for any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine;

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.

Many Christian's accept Christ Jesus, not having a group, than join some group and become self-righteous towards others having bad habits. But they could not put away the filth of their own flesh, let alone by rules of their religion, so why had they become so self-righteous towards others? It is really simple, they have a fleshly mind, and fleshly minded people don't have to be in a religion, they can be anyone anywhere, because that is what all humand do. They are burden with problems causing them suffering and they finally get help from a program and they start becoming critical of others whom don't make the changes like them.

James 4:1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don't they come from your pleasures that war in your members?
4:2 You lust, and don't have. You kill, covet, and can't obtain. You fight and make war. You don't have, because you don't ask.
4:3 You ask, and don't receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it for your pleasures.
4:4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
4:5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously"?

The Roman congregation here were not Jews, some were, but many had converted from false god's of the nations into Christian's, now they were wanting the righteousness of the law, why? So they could condemned others, giving them power and position in leadership over others. In other words, a powerful tool to control their brothers and sisters lives, which the freedom in Christ did not allow for such control. Being in Christ one had no power to boast and control others for they had been striped of any works of law, or self-works, and/or goodness by God's undeserved kindness. They were all brothers freed from sin, by Christ merit and not their own. Hence, to seek righteousness under a law created from sinners which condemned all humans as unrighteous and sinners shows how unrighteous power of sin in each of us to justify ourselves by judging others; not a good thing!

Matt.7:1 "Don't judge, so that you won't be judged.
7:2 For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you. 7:3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but don't consider the beam that is in your own eye? 7:4 Or how will you tell your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye;' and behold, the beam is in your own eye?

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don't walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.{NU omits "who don't walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit"}

See also: www.nu-truth.com