Resources on Legalism, Sin, and Salvation

Legalism is opposite to Jesus’ teaching on behavior. And it is quite a rewarding transition to go from the burden of legalistic rules to Jesus’ principle of loving the Father, ourselves, and others in the proper way. This is the essence of proper ethics for believers.

Books

• Mark R. McMinn Why Sin Matters (click to see the book on Amazon)

As an ECPA reviewer, I received the five books I was to review and was discouraged to find that one of them was about sin. I had read so many books and heard so many sermons against sin and sinners that I did not look forward to reading another one. I thought this negative approach was misguided and counter-productive, though at the time I had not clearly defined my own way to discuss sin.

Then I read the book. It was one of those incredible experiences that catches one completely by surprise; it was refreshing! (Click here to read the rest of my review).

Articles

From Jesus without Baggage

Legalism and Behavior

• How Legalism Stunts Our Spiritual Growth
• We are not to Follow Burdensome Religious Rules
• Does Abandoning Legalism and Belief in Hell Destroy the Foundations of Morality?
• Jesus Obliterates Legalism
• Swallowing the Camel—Legalism
• Jesus and Legalism
• The Bible is not a Rule Book: Overcoming Legalism
• 5 Reasons Why the Harmful Doctrine of Mandatory Tithing is Wrong
• The Bible Does not Teach Mandatory Tithing for Believers: Answering False Proof-texts
• Does Paul Tell Us to Bring Our Tithes to Church on Sundays? He Does Not
• Do You Still Feel Guilt and Fear because You Fall Short of what God Demands?
• Does Behavior Matter?
• Which is Easier: Loving People or Following Rules?
• Growing as a Follower of Jesus
• Jesus and the Principle of Love
• What are the Practical Implications of Loving Others as Ourselves?

Sin

• What is Sin?
• Are Sins Primarily Sins against God?
• The Story of Sin and Salvation—Common Baggage Version (CBV)
• What is Sin but Pain and Alienation?
• Addressing Sin in the Old Testament
• The Prophets Begin to Talk about Sin in a New Way
• What Does Jesus Say about Sin? Not Much!
• What Does Jesus Say to People about Their Sin?
• What Does Jesus Think of Sinners Today?
• The Misguided Concept of ‘Loving the Sinner and Hating the Sin’
• Why ‘Love the Sinner; Hate the Sin’ is Opposite to Jesus’ Teaching
• Does Jesus Tell Us to Judge People in Matthew 18?
• “If There’s No Hell then I Will Sin All I Want!”
• What does the Story of Eden Tell Us? Is it about Sin?
• We Do Not Inherit Original Sin from Adam
• Original Sin or Original Self-Centeredness?
• Evolution and Original Sin: How Calvin’s TULIP Falls Apart
• Are Our Sins Gone as though They Never Happened? In One Sense–No

Salvation

• I Will Give You Rest—Not More Burdens
• The Story of Sin and Salvation—Common Baggage Version (CBV)
• Who Does God Refuse to Forgive?
• What Does Jesus’ Death on the Cross Do for Us?
• How Penal Substitutionary Atonement Fails
• Did God Pour Out His Wrath on Jesus During His Violent Death on the Cross?: Angry God Part 3
• Why Did Jesus Die on the Cross?
• How So Many Believers Completely Misunderstand God’s Love in John 3:16
• Problems with the Sinner’s Prayer
• Has Some Believers’ Focus on ‘Getting Saved’ Replaced Jesus’ Message of the Good News?

From Other Writers

Legalism

• The Truth Is: God Is Not Interested in Our Obedience by Susa Cottrell
• The Truth Is: God IS Interested in Our Obedience! Wait, what!? by Susan Cottrell
• For All The People Who Say, “But Jesus Didn’t Abolish The Law” by Benjamin Corey
• For The People Who Say “The Moral Laws In The Old Testament Still Apply To Us” by Benjamin Corey
• Works vs Faith by Done with Religion

Sin

• Two very different ways of defining sin by Morgan Guyton
• The Most Oppressive Bible Verse that Never Was by Jonathan Merritt
• What is sin (and does it matter)? by Evangelical Liberal
• Was There a “Fall” or Did Augustine Really Screw Everything Up? by Pete Enns
• 5 Old Testament Reasons Why “Original Sin” Doesn’t Work by Pete Enns
• Sin by Rob Bell
• On being, doing, sin and salvation by Rob Grayson
• Sin and Salvation Reimagined by Rob Grayson
• Depravity: The Sickest Thing I Used to Believe by Josh Way
• Sin and Forgiveness by Josh Way
• Repent of Bad Religion! by Josh Way
• ‘Hate Sin, Love Sinner’ not about love by Clergy Spirit
• Why I Can’t Say ‘Love the Sinner/Hate the Sin’ Anymore by Micah J. Murray
• Rethinking the Unpardonable Sin by Nathan Jennings

Salvation

• Christianity Divided by the Cross by Marcus Borg
• Jesus Died for Us…Not for God by Brian Zahnd
• Who Killed Jesus? by Brian Zahnd
• Some Problems I Have With Penal Substitution Theology of Atonement by Benjamin Corey
• When God Became the Devil by Richard Beck
• Problems With Penal Substitution by James F. McGrath
• It’s time to end the hands-off attitude to substitutionary atonement by Chuck Queen
• Zacchaeus: A Story of How to Get Saved—Every Day by Pete Enns
• Should Christian Families Push their Children into a Conversion Experience? by Cindy Brandt
• God Did Not Kill Jesus on the Cross for Our Sins by Mark Sandlin
• Sacrifice in the Ancient World and the Hebrew Bible by Josh Way
• Isaiah’s Suffering Servant by Josh Way
• The Gospels and Why Jesus Died by Josh Way
• Paul and Atonement by Josh Way
• Hebrews and Sacrifice in the New Testament by Josh Way
• Atonement After the Bible by Josh Way
• Keep it Messy, Tragic, and Beautiful by Josh Way
• The Narrow Path by Josh Way

Jesus without Baggage exists to assist and support those questioning beliefs they have been taught in fundamentalist, traditional evangelical, and other groups. If you know someone who might find Jesus without Baggage helpful, feel free to send them the introductory page: About Jesus without Baggage.

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Pages in this series:
Resources on Angry, Violent, Vindictive God
Resources on Inerrancy and Reading the Bible
Resources on Hell and Conditional Immortality
Resources on Legalism, Sin, and Salvation
Resources on Gays and the Church
Resources on Christian Patriarchy, Abuse, and Extreme Fundamentalism
Resources on Young Earth Creationism and Evolution

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