FAITH ALONE?

I continue to debate with my friend about Free Grace Theology - the extreme version of "once saved, always saved" which maintains that faith is mere mental assent to the proposition that Jesus died for your sins. And once that is established, you have a salvation that can never be taken away from you. Even if you spend the rest of your earthly life living like the devil, heaven is guaranteed by your single profession of faith. 

From what I can gather, one of the central tenets of Free Grace is a firm, clearcut distinction between justification and sanctification.

Justification, of course, comes first and is based on faith alone. It is your ticket to eternal life. "Just believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved."

Sanctification is a completely separate process where the believer now moves toward Christlikeness.

At least, preferably.

Not NECESSARILY, just preferably.

And if you think of it, if you believe in "once saved, always saved", sanctification can't be a requirement for a believer's salvation because sanctification in an ongoing process which obviously involves "works".

And works cannot be a part of salvation. 

Right? 

"We are saved by faith and not by works." Isn't this what we Protestants are taught?

But while Protestants are big on salvation by "faith alone", you know what is funny?

There is only ONE time in the entire Bible where you find the phrase "faith alone".

It is in James 2:24:

"You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone."

Hmmmm. 

That's a bit problematic, isn't it?

[To be clear, I'm not implying Catholics are necessarily on the right path with their doctrines. I think both sides tend to make a lot of assumptions about the core of Christian faith and those assumptions are based on the accumulation of centuries of reactionary theology which has been alternatively skewed and then recovered.]

5 DAYS ON SARDINES

It's Saturday, June 6, 2026.

I didn't write my sardine wrap up yesterday because I went to pick up Melissa at the airport at 11:30 pm instead. Can't do it all!

Here's the recap of my weight loss over 5 days of eating only sardines:

Beginning weight: 200

After 1 Day: 197

After 2 Days: 192.4

After 3 Days: 192

After 4 Days: 191.8

After 5 Days: 191.6

Obviously, my weight loss plateaued after a few days. And I'm honestly not sure what this means. 

I was definitely in a calorie deficit every day. A can of sardines has about 170 calories and I was eating 5 each day. That's only 850 calories. 

Day 5 was the roughest of the week. I got some weird hunger aches in the afternoon, but I just wasn't in the mood to crack open a tin. I guess my brain decided the hunger was more tolerable than another fish!

I was hoping to experience the rise in metabolism and clarity of thinking that some people report on a sardine fast. MAYBE I had a bit more energy and MAYBE my brain fog lifted a bit, but it's hard to tell because I just don't sleep all that well when Melissa is not here in the house. And when I don't sleep well, I lack energy and clarity. So, with one too many variables, it's hard to say anything definitive on that front.

All in all, I would do it again. In fact, I am tempted to do it again to see if my initial weight drops are comparable or if this week was a fluke.

But not anytime soon. 

END OF SARDINES DAY 4

Maybe I'm weird, but this week's sardine diet hasn't been all that tough. 

Here's what it's done to my weight so far:

Monday morning, before my first sardine: 200 lbs

Tuesday morning, after 1 full day: 197

Wednesday morning, after 2 days: 192.4

Thursday morning, after 3 days: 192

If this trajectory holds, that's a crazy amount of weight loss in a few days, even accounting for the fact that some portion of it is water - which will return when I go back to a normal diet on Saturday.

The truly amazing thing is that it's rapid weight loss that didn't come with the expense of hunger pains. Truly, this little experiment has not been physically uncomfortable in the least. 

And it's been economical! Most days I have consumed 5 cans of sardines - at a cost of $1.17 a can. 

And talk about quick and convenient! 

I find I don't linger over a can of sardines. 

No need for a lunch HOUR! 

END OF SARDINES DAY 3

 Nothing much to report after the third day of sardines, but for the sake of continuity, I will write something.

The most surprising thing was this morning's weigh-in. After beginning at 200, dropping to 197 after the first day, I dropped this morning to 192.4! But I was definitely dehydrated. 

But even if the more realistic number should have been, say, 194, that would still be pretty surprising. 

I should also note that I couldn't avoid briefly breaking my fast today. I had a lunch appointment already scheduled with a friend at a restaurant and I was not going to open a can of sardines in front of him and the customers seated around us.

I had a salad and two breadsticks instead. And it was all delicious. 

Otherwise, I think I had four cans of sardines total throughout the day. 

And hunger continues to be no problem. 

END OF SARDINES DAY 2

Nothing too profound to relate about the sardine fast. 

Today I had two cans for lunch and two for dinner. With hot sauce. 

Sunday morning, I weighed in at 201 pounds - after overeating at several graduation open houses. Recently I have been bouncing between 196 and 199 most mornings. 

After my first full day of nothing but sardines yesterday, this morning the scale said 197. 

Obviously, most of that has to be water weight. But that does indicate to me that the amount of sweets I put into my body is likely trapping a lot of water in inflammation. 

I will say this about the sardines - I didn't wake up hungry today. And that's saying something. For most of my adult years I have skipped breakfast. I'm just not interested. 

But on my last trip to Ghana, we were served a BIG breakfast every single morning. And in Ghanaian culture, it is rude to refuse food. By the time I returned home, I had established a breakfast habit. Now I was hungry every morning. 

This morning, though, no hunger at all. Maybe that's because sardines are high in protein. I think when your body gets enough protein, the cravings for junk food greatly diminish. 

And that's a good thing, because a sardine for breakfast doesn't sound all that appealing. 

FISHY

Yesterday afternoon, after worship and a couple of graduation parties, Melissa and Sarah started the long trip to Myrtle Beach. Melissa is helping drive Sarah's car there and then she will be flying back on Friday night.

Samuel, all of a sudden, has decided to move to go ahead and move to Bloomington. He leaves tomorrow.

It will just be me and the dog for the next few days.

And anytime I am alone, I take the opportunity to do some fasting. It cuts down on me fussing about what to cook for myself, and fasting tends to be easier when nobody else is around stocking the fridge with tempting food.

This time I thought I would try something a little different: a "sardine fast".

If the internet can be trusted - and when has it ever steered me wrong? - sardines are a type of "superfood".

Several folks on YouTube have experimented with 3 or more days of eating nothing but sardines and have found it beneficial in several ways. 

Because sardines have such low calories and high protein content, they provide a type of fast which doesn't result in excessive hunger.

That is, assuming you can stomach sardines - which I happen to thoroughly enjoy. 

Today I ate three cans for lunch and two for dinner. I also consumed a couple of mints, to battle my fish breath.

I will let you know the effects over this week, both positive and negative. Melissa doesn't come home until late Friday night, so I have five solid days to experiment. 

Should be interesting. 

NOT A BIG DEAL?

Pentecost doesn't get even the tiniest fraction of the attention which the incarnation gets.

Every year Christians spend an entire month (at least) in recognition of the moment in time when God took on human flesh and entered into human history. 

There are movies, songs, parties, food, decorations, and special traditions - all over the world!

But when it comes to recognizing the moment 33 years after that Babe was born, when the Holy Spirit entered into human history and ignited the ongoing Body of Christ, there's hardly a passing mention in most churches. 

Why is that?

How does the coming of the Holy Spirit rank against the coming of the Son? 

Was the Spirit's arrival in human history just not as important?