Posted on 10/17/2018 9:04:45 AM PDT by oh8eleven
God is not dead — he or she never existed in the first place, Stephen Hawking declared in his final book.
“There is no God,” the late theoretical physicist wrote in “Brief Answers to the Big Questions,” CNN reported. “No one directs the universe.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
sorry- just onem ore quick point- Salvation is repentance, Repentance simply means having a ‘change of mind about Who Christ is, and whether or not He is the only way to salvation or not” that one finally declares in one’s heart “You are the Christ, I can not be saved by my own efforts, I must trust in You for salvation”. It means going from thinking that we earn our way to heaven by ‘being mostly good’ to —KNOWING— for a fact that nope- We don’t earn our way to heaven, we simply accept Christ’s finished work on the cross as our means of salvation- We humble ourselves Before God by finally admitting what we always knew all along, that it is Not our effort that saves us- it is Christ and Christ alone- We have a change of mind- in otherwords, we repent- and it is God who draws us to repentance- who reveals to us the only way of salvation- At that point, We have true faith in Christ to save us
..so you are saying that Christ did not need to die for Stephen Hawkins sins because he would be forgiven out of pity for his state while on this earth?
[[What happened to people of faith prior to Moses?]]
The path of salvation was always through belief in Christ- the one prophesied of in the old testament- They put their faith in the coming Savior- the as yet born Savior
What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness . . . . Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. . . . Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (Romans 4:1–5, 9–10, 16)
Salvation even before Abraham was the same, Faith in God, faith in the as yet born Savior
“
Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into. (1 Peter 1:10–12, emphasis added)
This text reveals some important ideas. The “prophets . . . who prophesied” longed for the arrival of an era of grace. The “Spirit of Christ” within them was filling them with this great desire, witnessing through them and to them in advance of the work of Christ.”
https://answersingenesis.org/gospel/salvation/how-were-people-saved-before-jesus-came-in-the-flesh/
Got it. So, it’s not just faith. It’s a special kind of faith in a special diety. And, this diety does not acknowledge a persons good deeds, etc. this diety needs a tribute in a form of acknowledgement that this diety, Jesus, is more special than any other diety. Is that it?
Bob, please no cut-n-paste from other sources. What is your opinion? How does your faith inform you on the question I asked?
[[Stephen was NOT an evil man...]]
Sorry- but yes he was- There are none righteous- no not one- according to the bible- All are desperately wicked, and all are called and CHOOSE to either accept Christ as Savior or not- Those who Reject Christ will continue doing so with all their heart in hell- Their only chance of Salvation was here on earth, where they had every chance to accept Him or not- In hell there is no longer any restrainer (The Holy Spirit’s influence on everyone)- Those in hell are completely evil without any influence for good on them- and their rejection of God is unbridled and fierce- because they are children of their chosen leader- Satan- When one rejects God, they choose Satan- They choose to believe the lies of Satan, they choose to follow the lies of Satan and reject God. Everyone who dies in unbelief has done so- This doesn’t mean they are Satanists while on earth ,but it does mean they have determined in their heart to reject Christ- and this is an eternal rejection-
God has been extremely merciful by offering up His Son as the final sacrifice for mankind- He had to watch His son be murdered, put to death on a brutal brutal cross- His pain was no less than yours or mine as parents-
God has laid out the plan of salvation to ALL who seek Him- He gives people a lifetime to accept Him- if they choose not- then it’ an eternal decision- an eternal FREE WILL decision
[[Bob, please no cut-n-paste from other sources. What is your opinion?]]
It’s not my opinion, it’s my belief- That site reflects what I know to be true, and has stated it better than I can- and besides, I posted several bible verses directly from God’s word explaining what faith is in that cut and paste-
It is something genius’ do. You are long in one suit, and folks believe you are long in all suits.
H.L. Mencken said something to this effect about PhD’s.
I don’t understand your cut-n-paste.
[[Got it. So, it’s not just faith.]]
It’s just faith- As stated, one can convince themselves that God is real, yet still not have saving faith- Even demons believe in God and Christ, but they have not put their faith in Him for salvation
[[Jesus, is more special than any other diety.]]
Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
what don’t you understand? It was just as necessary in the old testament to believe in the ‘as yet born Savior’ for salvation as it is in the new testament for people to believe in the ‘already born Savior for salvation’. People in the old testament knew that Christ was coming to earth some day to die for their sins- They had to put the same saving faith in Christ then as we do today for salvation
Poor dumb bastard was a jerk to the every end.
"And this is ternal life, that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent".
There is a meme out there somewhere showing him in his wheelchair at the base of staircase going to heaven with the word s*** in the conversation bubble. I initially took it is irony in that he was in a wheelchair in front of the staircase. Now I look at it also that he was an atheist and standing before God
[[And, this diety does not acknowledge a persons good deeds, etc]]
For by grace are ye saved, and that —NOT— (emphasis added) of yourselves, lest any man should boast
What that means is that man can not save himself by ‘being more good than bad’. If he could, Christ would not have had to die for our sins, and man wouldn’t need to submit himself at all to God- man could simply earn heaven by being ‘good enough’.
The reality of Heaven is that it’s perfectly Holy- sin and perfect sinless holiness can not coexist together. So even if all we have in our lives is a ‘few small sins’, and most of our acts are ‘good’ (in our minds), There would still be unforgiving sin in heaven if such folks were to go to heaven by their own efforts .
To solve this problem, Christ who was perfectly sinless, Died as a final sacrifice for our sins- complete forgiveness is available through HIS gracious selfless sacrifice for us- When we accept Christ as Saviour- ALL our sins, past present and future are forgiven (no this isn’t a license to sin after salvation- that’s another discussion). The slate is wiped completely clean- He paid the price —For Us— All we have to do is —Humbly— accept it through faith- that means repent- to change our minds about how we get saved ie: We no longer believe we can arrogantly save ourselves through ‘hard work and determination’, but now believe only Christ can save, and we humble ourselves by admitting we Need Him as Savior in order to spend eternity with God
There are many many ‘deities’ out there that will distract us from this truth if we allow these false religions to do so- All of them have one thing in common- they put the onus of salvation on the individual- The lie is that man can save himself- and man, being a doer- wants to believe this lie- Man being arrogant, wants to believe He can save himself through effort of his own- This is all the lie of the Evil One- Who convinced Adam and Eve that they would ‘not surely die’ if they disobeyed God, as God told them they would.
[[Jesus, is more special than any other diety.]]
Yes-
Now I understand. I get it. Does your faith acknowledge that your diety knows the future? In other words does Jesus know what tomorrow brings?
It was in fact, so beautifully designed it directs its self. G-D
not a chance...God, in my opinion, punishes those who DO bad things, not those who may err, in our opinions, who or what God does and is....God, THANKFULLY is all merciful.
[[There would still be unforgiving sin in heaven if such folks were to go to heaven by their own efforts .]]
Woops- meant to say
There would still be —UNFORGIVEN— sin in heaven if such folks were to go to heaven by their own efforts because man would not have been able to do away with all his sins- some woudl remain
Through Christ- —ALL— sins are forgiven- So Yes, Jesus is a ‘special deity’ in that sense- He is unique inthat those who trust Him have all their sins forgiven- and man does not have to, can not infact, save himself-
God is omniscient-
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