This was posted late at night in response to those who believe they live such a righteous life that God owes eternal life to them. Please excuse the blunt attitude that came across, but some guys need that. All the same, it's true and backed up by God's Word. Glad you have a question "or" about that. Here's the following to study out.
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:". I Corinthians 15:1-4
This action by THE Savior interferes with the "good deeds/ works" of the self righteous who look in the mirror to say, "hey good lookin', I can save myself too!"
The law is a curse to those of you who want to be judged by the law. God WILL judge you according to that standard of perfection IF YOU wish. Yes, He will judge you according to those filthy rags you call keeping the law . You don't know how to keep the law. You will be judged and come out lacking in obedience by lots. How many times have you sinned?
"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10
"For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith." That FAITH BTW is in Jesus Christ alone, NOT Jesus + __________.
This is WHY YOU need FORGIVENESS. You already failed the test, just as all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. In your youth you failed and NOW you think that as an old man you get a retake until you get it right? You are not right or righteousness. Isaiah tells me about me, himself AND you...
" But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
Do you think that you are better than me? Maybe true. We might have such a pile of filthy rags that it would fill a land fill. What can you buy with THAT??? How does that stack up to the Jesus Who was lifted up high upon the cross? Now, He is worthy of thanks, NOT your trailer full of baby diapers. Those rags are your works. They have no place when it comes to salvation. God's forgiveness based solely upon His Son's sacrifice is grace.
It's either works OR grace. It can't be both.
"And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work." Romans 11:6
Grace = God's kindness to you based NOT on your behavior, but rather judgement upon His Son through His sacrifice.
Works = Anything that man tries to do to make himself "right with God." Ie. Baptism, golden rule, repentance from sins, virtues like honesty, trying to keep the laws of God. Those things have a place in the Word, but NOT for salvation.
That's why you need forgiveness through faith in the only Savior.
What do you believe guys?
If you believe that God requires your works instead of His only begotten Son's sacrifice, then read this post again. However, If you believe that Jesus was punished for all of your sins including those in the future, then tell God this,
"Dear God,
I already failed and am condemned to hell. I cannot work my way to heaven. You don't want my dirty rags of good deeds. According to Your promises, if I put my trust in Your Son, I will be saved. I want that Lord. Please save me from hell and take me to heaven when I die. Jesus died having paid for all sins and rose again. I believe this to be completely true. Thank you for saving me.
Amen
"And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."
If you mean being "saved" means you're going to heaven, and not being "saved" means you're going to hell, then the answer is no.
That's the hardest thing for most people to see BuckHaggard. Even Jesus talked about that. It's your "lucky" day. Just go to my previous post and read it a couple or more times after asking the Lord for understanding. That's what I did and never regretted it since. I'm quite grateful really and just passing it forward. I'll check later if you have any questions. PM if you want.
Peter had been a fully devoted, lifelong adherent of the Mosaic Law, and even he pointed out that he and all of the other Jews (who had also been fully devoted, lifelong adherents of the Mosaic Law) who were alive at that time, and all of their Jewish forefathers before them (who had also been fully devoted, lifelong adherents of the Mosaic Law), had FAILED to keep the Mosaic Law. He said it was a yoke on their necks that NONE of them had been able to bear. And then he (Peter) clearly said that Jews and non-Jews were saved through the GRACE of the Jesus. Period.
Do proponents of adherence to the Mosaic Law nowadays really think that they are better at, and more capable of, keeping the Law than ALL of those who came before them...including Jesus’ own Apostles themselves...?
Faith is a trivial reason for the penalty of eternal damnation.
I understand your reasoning. Unfortunately, it’s not by YOUR reasoning you are saved. For whatever reason, God decided to save men by a different way. You have to remember this is His creation, not ours. That means we have to play by His rules, not ours.
Proverbs 14:12 says “There is a way that seems right to a man, but it’s end leads to death”
Personally, I hate the word faith. But the Lord says that “the righteous will live by faith”, and “without faith, it’s impossible to please Him.”
So like you, I have to play by His rules.
Is it a matter of my reasoning? I would say it's a matter of justice. A lack of conviction or faith is hardly an example of evil.
Even in the secular world the lack of conviction is a horrible thing and has everything to do with evil. It's why some of the most awful crimes are committed.
Justified conviction requires evidence. Reasonable atheists are not convinced in the existence of the god of the bible for the same reasons they are not convinced in the existence of the gods of other religion, or the many different versions of what we call 'God' - insufficient evidence.
If a God of Love, by definition and nature of love, everyone is saved.
Character flaws, sociopaths, etc, are generally either genetic, shaped by an interaction of both, environment and genes.
Motivated by love, an omniscient/omnipotent God could easily repair the most broken of all individuals.
You're close but you leave out having a belief in both God and His Son, Jesus, Who gave Himself as the final sacrifice on the Cross for your sins. That is all God asks of you and if you can acknowledge that as the truth, you will be saved, regardless of your sins.
Faith is a trivial reason for the penalty of eternal damnation.
Faith is not trivial at all except to the obstinate who are not willing to get some. It's a very simple thing and the only one God demands.
Faith is the tiny thing that obtains the largest and richest blessing to mankind. But it is true there is no other way to obtain that rich blessing. Quit fighting God, surrender to Him, and Love Him. He already Loves you.
Faith is a belief held without sufficient evidence. Muslim's, Hindus, Jews, Christian's,etc, all base their beliefs, their theology, on faith, yet cannot agree on the fundamentals. Which makes faith a poor means of sorting fact from fiction.
To have that Peace that passes understanding, we can’t stay stuck in our understanding.
To be limited by one’s understanding is to miss things Eternal.
The universe is bigger than our limited perspective. Eternal is infinitely bigger than temporal.
Scripture is not subject to what we think; it is the Word of God. It’s what He thinks and has said. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts
Fulfilled prophecy, eye witness accounts, miracles, lives transformed are all Biblical accounts of God at work.
“If I don’t understand it it can’t be” is short sighted and foolish. The world doesn’t revolve around our understanding or lack there of. Never has, never will.
saved ? we can all be saved but 1st you must believe in our dear LORD . God has and does do miracles every day ,but we could use a little help / miracle in the White House ?
If a God of Love, by definition and nature of love, everyone is saved.
Character flaws, sociopaths, etc, are generally either genetic, shaped by an interaction of both, environment and genes.
Motivated by love, an omniscient/omnipotent God could easily repair the most broken of all individuals.
You're close but you leave out having a belief in both God and His Son, Jesus, Who gave Himself as the final sacrifice on the Cross for your sins. That is all God asks of you and if you can acknowledge that as the truth, you will be saved, regardless of your sins.
Faith is a trivial reason for the penalty of eternal damnation.
Faith is not trivial at all except to the obstinate who are not willing to get some. It's a very simple thing and the only one God demands.
Faith is the tiny thing that obtains the largest and richest blessing to mankind. But it is true there is no other way to obtain that rich blessing. Quit fighting God, surrender to Him, and Love Him. He already Loves you.
Faith is a belief held without sufficient evidence. Muslim's, Hindus, Jews, Christian's,etc, all base their beliefs, their theology, on faith, yet cannot agree on the fundamentals. Which makes faith a poor means of sorting fact from fiction.
That’s not true. And Christians don’t rely on “blind” faith. There is non biblical evidence that a Jew named Jesus, lived when the Bible said he did. Was crucified by the Romans, as the Bible says he was. And there were many witnesses to his miracles and resurrection, as the Bible says.
Now you can choose not to believe he was God. You can choose to dismiss the claims about him. But most scholars admit (including atheists) , Jesus did exist.
I’ll go out on a limb and say most people have invested the same amount of effort to investigate Jesus, as they have to their own world view.
Decades of voting for the lesser of two evils has gotten us just that.....
DBT presents as being “blind” and seems to think that everybody is blind like him. This is limiting for him.
He cannot apprehend the idea that God, through the Holy Spirit, does indeed provide truth and evidence and hence, there really is no such thing as blind faith in a Christian’s life.
But…..he is blind and cannot see….. but the there us the possibility that he simply refuses to open his eyes.
IDK
The tax collector said: “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Jesus said he went home “justified.”
I personally have been thru enough and experienced enough and seen enough for my belief in my Father and His Son and His Spirit to be very grounded in what He and His word reads, say, and states. A personal experience of my own is that for myself to finally except His gift of grace I had to open both hands. I kept trying to accept it with one hand and not let go of the baggage in the other but it would never work. He works on/with me e v e r y d a y. It is a relationship which I try to reiterate to my boys, family and friends. I still stumble but I stumble less and less. With this relationship it makes you full and it gives you understanding. If you decide to let Christ in your house, you might not like it at first because he starts rearranging your furniture and stuff but I will tell you from first hand experience, it's Ok because He knows where your furniture and stuff belongs better than you do... One day, Christ will be opening His door and he wont be saying you Baptist over here, you Catholics over here, you Jews over there....he will be saying hey EVERYONE, glad you are here! All of yall who took a risk on Me, and accepted Me, come on in.
Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other the person to die ......
"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me."
That’s not true. And Christians don’t rely on “blind” faith. There is non biblical evidence that a Jew named Jesus, lived when the Bible said he did. Was crucified by the Romans, as the Bible says he was. And there were many witnesses to his miracles and resurrection, as the Bible says.
Now you can choose not to believe he was God. You can choose to dismiss the claims about him. But most scholars admit (including atheists) , Jesus did exist.
I’ll go out on a limb and say most people have invested the same amount of effort to investigate Jesus, as they have to their own world view.
Of course it's true. The very nature of faith is to believe without sufficient evidence, We have no first-hand witness accounts of the events described in the Gospels. We have anonymous authors writing long after the described events telling us that there were witnesses.
The ancients were not reliable witnesses when it comes to supposedly supernatural events, they saw signs, miracles and wonders in mundane events, embellishing and weaving stories to suit.
Jesus was not the only 'miracle worker' during that period, there were many.
DBT presents as being “blind” and seems to think that everybody is blind like him. This is limiting for him.
Not at all. That kind of remark is used as a means of defense and dismissal. A remark that aims at discrediting the poster in order to avoid dealing with the issues that are being pointed.
