Luke 13: 22 9 He passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, "Lord, will only a few people be saved?" He answered them, 24 "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.
Your salvation depends on your striving through the narrow gate.
Acts 17: 30 God has overlooked the times of ignorance, but now he demands that all people everywhere repent 31 because he has established a day on which he will 'judge the world with justice' through a man he has appointed, and he has provided confirmation for all by raising him from the dead."
If you do not repent you are condemned, but if you repent, you will be judged accordingly.
John 3: 14 And just as Moses lifted up 5 the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 6 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." 16 For God so loved the world that he gave 7 his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn 8 the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 9 And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. 21 But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
Believe and live out the truth of the Gospel of Jesus, not the Gospel of Calvin. Hear all you Calvinists what Paul says that you must do to be saved. You may be repulsed by the Gospel, but at least hear what Paul says. Remember that Paul says that Jesus wills that all men be saved...
Thank you for the passages from the 2 letters Luke wrote. It would serve you well to actually read the rest of the story. But, then the RCC is hermeneutically challenged and pays no attention to how the true Gospel comes out. I'll help.
Matt. 18:16ff
The young ruler asks how to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him it is simple...just do the commandments. The young man asks, "Which ones?" Oh, you know, the easy ones like "You shall not commit murder" and so on, Jesus tells him. "I've done these, what is left?" Oh, right, just go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor and follow Me, Jesus adds. (Curious, have you done this part, Mark?) But, I digress.
The man gets despondent and leaves. Jesus announces "Again I say, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." The disciples are "astonished", rocked, shocked and stunned. "Then who can be saved?" Answer, "With men this is impossible (to save themselves), but with God all things are possible." Jesus, game, set, match.
So, try all you want Mark. Your efforts are perceived by God to be inadequate. You, according to Paul's further explanation in Romans, are not actually seeking God, but some relief from your pain, escape from your guilt, life after death...who knows? But, according to Paul, you are not seeking God. Romans 3:10,11 "There is none righteous, not even one MarkBSnr or Dutchboy88. There is none who understands, not even MarkBSnr or Dutchboy88. There is none who seeks God, not even MarkBSnr, in spite of his own hand hewn theology or Dutchboy88's attempts following the admonitions of MarkBSnr."
And, further, Rom. 4:4 "Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor (the way grace is administered) but what is due. But to the one who does NOT WORK, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness." Now if this is a business transaction wherein you are exchanging your trust for grace, you my FRiend, are still looking at faith as work.
Of course God demands men repent. The question is, "Who gets to repent?" Anyone who exercises their "free will" and joins the Catholic Church and, and, and, but I digress.
Read John 6:44 (which incidentally comes after John 3), "No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day." Now either (a) you are a universalist and think everyone has been drawn and therefore will be saved, or (b) you are ignoring the important fact that all the general calling to the world to repent does not bring them unless God individually draws them to Jesus (again, even read Orange) and then they begin to understand the faith they have been given. The RCC is not mentioned, the will is not mentioned, the persuasion of MarkBSnr is not mentioned. Just God drawing them to Jesus to repent and believe and be rescued. Hmmmmm.
Then coupled again with Paul's claim that, "So then it does not depend on the man who wills (chooses) or the man who runs (acts), but upon God. And He will have mercy upon whom He will and He will harden whom He will." Rom. 9 But, this requires that the reader apprehend the entire counsel of the Scriptures (not stop 2/3 through the story), use the text properly (not as a stick on people's back), and be willing to flush the errors of Rome where they belong.
You see Mark, the Scriptures you quote fit our message of the Gospel perfectly, and yes they are true. But, the Scriptures I quote cannot fit into the Roman cult practices and must be ignored or rewritten to get them out of the picture. That was the great contribution Calvin made...he said, "Rome is wrong". We agree.
I must leave FR now for a busy day, but I leave you with a possible shaken faith in Rome...if God permits.