Howard:<br><br>Your statement about "Basically - Thinking lustful or murderous thoughts is tantamount to actually doing" is accurate and I think can be expanded to a whole list of other sins, like covetousness, bitterness, malice, etc. <br><br>As a result, I think many Christians are actually practicing and living in unconfessed sin daily which 1 Jn makes quite and issue of as a sign of true vs false profession. Thus, this is not just a doctrinal but a very practical issue of christian living.<br><br>One key question is recognizing when one is doing this and thus facilitating repenting/avoiding it. Owen's work on Sin, Temptation and Mortification of Sin is really priceless here in my view. His treatment of the Lord's teaching on "that you may not ENTER INTO TEMPTATION" was simply wonderful and most needed teaching in this regard. There is a condensation of this work called "What Every Christian Needs to Know" that is faithful to Owen's original, I believe, but which is easier to read and most helpful in the application of these issues.<br><br>Gerry
