I believe there is far more harm done by unholy and inconsistent Christians than we are at all aware of. Such men are among Satan’s best allies. They pull down by their lives what ministers build up with their lips. . . . I fear that Christ’s name is too often blasphemed because of the lives of Christians.
– J. C. Ryle
1816 – 1900
Christ Alone Wyoming 
I think that might be true for those with an unrealistic vision of what Christians are supossed to be.
We are ‘the sick’, and we know it. Christ came for the sick. The healthy do not need Him.
I believe St. Paul would agree with that, being that is what he wrote in Romans 7.
Should we do our best to resist temptation and not sin? YES!
But our best is not good enough. But Christ’s best was (and is) good enough.
Thank you.
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This is a sad truth to too large a degree. Some of the implications are disturbing, even though they are spurious. A dear friend and brother in Christ belongs to an Arminian church. His pastor told him that “eternal security” (by whatever name) was proven as a false doctrine by the behavior of young men who claimed salvation and that doctrine – yet lived like hellions. The name of Christ has profaned and an obviously weak brother was caused to stumble and embrace heresy.
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It is not just the misbehavior of individual Christians but institutional misbehavior. The trial of Galileo tied Catholicism to having Christ’s name to geocentric science. Calvin’s exile of Anne Le Fert is what killed off the experiment in Geneva.
Christians should be highly critical and aware of their own and institutional misbehavior.
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I have read this quote a few times now and each time it brings with it an underlying rebuke.
Praise Jehovah for men like Ryle & words like these.
And at the same time, may the LORD have mercy on those who profess to know Him yet drink down sin like it is water!
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