Sometimes I Think Too Much.....

I was reading my CLNT (Concordant Literal New Testament) the other day and I came to a verse in I John (I John 3:9). It reads: "Everyone who is begotten of God is not doing sin, for His seed is remaining in him and he can not be sinning, for he is begotten of God". This verse hit me between the eyes. "Can not be sinning", because he is begotten of God. Man this really bothered me. I still sin and I do it quite well, thank you. It went against everything I had come to believe in the last two years, namely that the death of Christ on the cross had redeemed me of every sin that I had ever done, every sin that I would ever do, but didn't promise that I would NOT sin; just that every sin that I commit or had committed had been removed from my account in the eyes of God, because of Christ and His work on the cross. I was puzzled. More than that, I was troubled. I immediately thought, I have a close brotherhood of friends that I trust that I'll turn to with this perplexing verse. After seeking their wise counsel and receiving answers which certainly helped , I began to think. God, why would you lead me this far from my old evangelical, conservative roots, to freedom in Christ to have me run into an obstacle such as this verse? That's a paraphrase of what I was thinking, but my thoughts were something like that. I pondered what my friends in Christ had said. Then I thought to myself, one opinion was definitely missing. That was the opinion of "Free Thinking Faith's blogger extraordinare, Steve Jones. Now Steve has been in the process of a move, so I couldn't reach him. But, I could reach his words. I can't tell how many times they have been a comfort to me. In his wisdom, Steve has reached thru the internet world to comfort and strengthen my spirit. I found Steve thru his "Dogma Free Theology" page. I read one of the articles and was so impressed by it, I printed off the entire site and put it in a notebook. I was equally impressed by the other titles. I must say at that point in my journey, that I didn't fully agree with all that I read. However, I kept them all and found that the more I studied and opened myself to the Spirit of Truth's guidance and leadership, the more Steve's articles became clear and real to me. So, since the author wasn't around, I consulted the author's words and I found the comfort and clarity I so desparately needed. It was in two of Steve's articles, "The Limits of Biblical Authority" and "Sola Scriptura". I will not attempt to reproduce those articles here, especially without Steve's permission, but I will give you a link to them at "Dogma Free Theology". If you are bothered, troubled, or perplexed by the apparent inconsistencies of scripture, I strongly recommend these articles and the entire site is well-worth your time and effort to read. Thank you Steve for restoring my spirit. Here is the link. http://theology.wordsmithjones.com/