A MUST Read Article By Carl Trueman

I am giving you this link today and I am PLEADING with any who read my blog to click the link and read this article by Dr. Carl Trueman. This is the BEST biblical reasoning I have ever read about forgiveness (what it is and what is is not) and the restoration to ministry of Pastors who have had moral failure while in ministry. Pastor John MacArthur has also written and taught on this subject in a very clear way. However this article by Dr.Trueman is-in my opinion-the best and clearest single article treatment on the subject I have ever read. He ties the false ideas and false teaching on this subject back to the culture that has given rise to it.




Let me give you the opening 2 paragraphs from the article -to whet your appetite:

Article by Carl Trueman  February 2011

"Why I Believe in the One Great Heresy"

"In the evangelical churches of today, there are numerous great heresies which one holds at one's social and cultural peril.  If you do not agree with the ordination of women, you are likely to find yourself somewhat marginalized.   Increasingly, if you hold the line on the illegitimacy of gay sex, you will find yourself looking more and more like some right wing nutter.  And, indeed, if you suggest that some people just do not belong in the church, you are likely to be regarded as a Pharisee or a self-righteous prig.

Above all, however, there is the Great Heresy.  This is the belief that some actions have permanent consequences and that gospel forgiveness does not necessarily wipe the slate clean in every sense of the word.   This orthodoxy of total, slate-cleaning forgiveness has a vice-like grip on much of the American psyche such that those who question it are liable to seem to be heretics of almost Servetus-like proportions.  It is, after all, a major part of the story that America likes to tell about itself: it is the land of second chances and, with increasing regularity, the land of third, fourth, fifth chances.  The artifacts of pop culture reinforce this myth, this orthodoxy, again and again: from soap opera plotlines, where characters endlessly rebound unharmed from the most ghastly personal actions, to the fascination with celebrity rehab, through to the parade of adulterous, corrupt, and venal politicians who sleep with a prostitute on Monday, resign on Tuesday, and make an amazing comeback on Thursday, just in time for the weekend, with no real harm done."

Here again is the link-please do yourself a favor and read-study and meditate on this article! God has given us gifted men such as Dr. Carl Trueman, for such a time as this.