What Kills You Doesn't Make You Stronger

The false doctrine of "dying daily" is legalistic. Any idea that excludes the Spirit's interaction & guidance is legalistic. Thus any "daily" requirement, including reading your bible daily, is legalistic.

I HATE this "death to self" concept. It is biblically unfounded, based on a bunch of out of context scriptures. It boils down to "I'm so bad I need to die, not just die but die every single day!" That doesn't even make sense. What kills you doesn't make you stronger unless there is a resurrection afterwards. Where is the resurrection language in this doctrine? Where is life language in this doctrine?

The truth is you are good! You don't need to "die" you just need to realize God's goodness, your goodness, & the goodness of those around you. Follow the Spirit of love & you'll know how to prefer others without it "killing you" to do so.

I mean really, this doctrine teaches us that preferring others' wishes & making choices to deny certain desires we have IS DEATH. That is severely messed up! It makes doing those things insanely harder when you have that mindset. Who wants to kill themselves? It makes even tiny acts of love sound like suicide. That is not only counter productive but it is sick. It makes loving God & others seem brutal & joyless. Of course loving others can be hard but to equate it with "killing yourself," come on. I had suicidal thoughts & depression before coming to Jesus. I've seen loved ones pass on. If you think about what real death is.. to call things like not eating certain foods or helping someone when I don't feel like it "death" is not only stupid but it is childish & DEEPLY disrespectful.

Even if you mistakenly label the flesh as your self Romans 8:11 says, "God will give life to your mortal flesh through His Spirit, who lives in you." What's that? God wants to give life to your flesh instead of death? YES!

We "put to death the deeds of the flesh" (Romans 8:13), deeds. That means we stop them from happening. When those deeds have been stopped they are dead because they cease to actively exist. Your flesh needs to be renewed, your mind (brain) is part of your flesh. Romans 6:19 says, "Present your body (flesh) parts as servants to righteousness because that results in the purification of those parts."

What father says to his child who wants something, "Sorry, you can't have it. You need to die to yourself.." well? Understand that calling a child bad for doing bad things leaves the impression that you think they are bad instead of just what they've done is bad. That is a very damaging thing. Our behavior is not who we are. Our desires are not the whole of who we are. To think the way your Father views your "self" in such a way that He wants you to die repeatedly is a very damaging thing. As someone who Christ freed from self-hatred at salvation & has also freed from shame I know this garbage doctrine of "death to self" makes you devalue yourself. Jesus did not come to give us a requirement for daily death! Jesus  came to give us ABUNDANT LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Death is the opposite of life. CHOOSE LIFE!


Note:
If you feel like arguing that scriptures do teach "death to self" first please read some of the posts on my Life from Self page. It addresses those scriptures in context & show many that go against the doctrine as well (like the two quoted above).