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To: MarkBsnr; kosta50; stfassisi; irishtenor; Dr. Eckleburg; Gamecock; wmfights
FK: I take it then, that you believe your eternal reward will BE deserved based on your free will actions?

In order to even get onto the Way, we must receive the Spirit. What happens after that? Let’s look at the words of Jesus: [Matt. 25:31-46]

OK, if this passage is your answer to my question then I can only conclude that indeed you do think you will be deserving of Heaven if you have done enough good works by the time of Judgment. One is deserving of something if he has earned it. You do enough good works and then God owes you. It's like a contract.

6,526 posted on 07/16/2008 3:08:29 PM PDT by Forest Keeper (It is a joy to me to know that God had my number, before He created numbers.)
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To: Forest Keeper

***OK, if this passage is your answer to my question then I can only conclude that indeed you do think you will be deserving of Heaven if you have done enough good works by the time of Judgment. One is deserving of something if he has earned it. You do enough good works and then God owes you. It’s like a contract.***

I suppose that that is how one influenced by Calvin might read it. I see no contract; I see that we have responsibility to act in certain ways.

Matt 25:

He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34
Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me,
36
naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’
37
Then the righteous 16 will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
38
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
39
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
40
And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Does this sound like a contract?

41
17 Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42
For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
43
a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’
44
18 Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’
45
He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’
46
And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

How about this?

I am afraid that you are sadly mistaken, my friend. There is the love of the Creator to the created; there is the unconditional love that He gives us.

But He will Judge us based upon our actions. This is not a piece of verse taken from here and grafted onto verse taken from there and sprinkled with a partial verse from somewhere else.

These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and they are plain and direct. This is no parable; there is no possibility of unintentionally misunderstanding these words.

Either you accept this chapter or you do not. It is plain and it is spoken to the entire world.

Matt 24:

45
26 27 “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time?
46
Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so.
47
Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.
48
28 But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’
49
and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards,
50
the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour
51
and will punish him severely 29 and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Punishment is for misconduct. How can one be punished for something that one is not responsible for? Jesus says that one is given what one deserves.


6,527 posted on 07/16/2008 3:17:55 PM PDT by MarkBsnr ( I would not believe in the Gospel if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so.)
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