I knew that I was working too hard to get to Heaven, all I have to do is abandon the true Christian church, Catholicism, and give up a few chapters of the Bible, raise my hands on Sunday (don't have to be at a service of any kind, it's not required) claim a belief in Jesus as my savior....and I've got it made.
I could do that on a golf course, no sense wasting time at Mass any longer. I can live whatever lifestyle that I choose...WOO-HOO, I'm for that. I have no idea what the Bible meant when it said many are called, few are chosen, or the mention of a narrow gate, or any of the other seeming hardships to enter paradise....Just express a belief that Jesus is the Lord and Savior (Satan does that) and all your obligations are superceded by salvation through grace alone.......O.K.
What lifestyle you go after will be permanently reflected in the quality and extent of your eternal life... goofing off here will NOT gain you... nobody is saying God is mocked here. The bible explicitly calls it shortsighted. What kind of WOO-HOO is this? This is to vastly misunderstand. It is not human efforts that keep your salvation going. But God gives you a range of choice in the quality of the results.
Nope. It actually says “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved”. Believing on denotes a dependence. Believing in cans simply mean that He is your savior but doesn’t denote dependence.
>>I could do that on a golf course,<<
It has happened. If it’s a conviction and putting trust in Jesus alone it doesn’t matter where the conversion takes place.
>>no sense wasting time at Mass any longer<<
Those who truly depend on Jesus as their savior don’t consider it a waste of time to gather with other believers. Do you somehow feel it an obligation?
It's not the church that saves anyway. It's JESUS. The church can't save because that's not its job.
The church did not die for you.
I could do that on a golf course, no sense wasting time at Mass any longer. I can live whatever lifestyle that I choose...WOO-HOO, I'm for that. I have no idea what the Bible meant when it said many are called, few are chosen, or the mention of a narrow gate, or any of the other seeming hardships to enter paradise....Just express a belief that Jesus is the Lord and Savior (Satan does that) and all your obligations are superceded by salvation through grace alone.......O.K.
Mock away.
OK, To start with, show me the chapter and verse where it says that Satan expresses belief that Jesus is Lord and Savior.
And you know what? Accept Christ as your Lord and Savior and there are no obligations to keep. Salvation IS by grace through faith in Christ alone. It's free. Without cost. It's a gift. It's not earned or merited or deserved, or anything. Free means without cost or obligation.
Do you think that God doesn't know we're still going to sin after we're saved?
Of course He knows it and He saves us anyway. He knows we can't keep the Law. He never intended that anyone keep the Law to gain salvation. That's not what it was given for.
The Law was given to lead us to Christ that we would be justified by faith.
Galatians 2:15-21 15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Galatians 3:1-29 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
No, nobody has to go to mass, or church services on Sundays. Missing them is not a sin. That is not taught ANYWHERE in the Bible.
That's what true freedom is all about.
1 Corinthians 6:12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.
1 Corinthians 10:23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.
Romans 14:5-8 5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.
Church attendance is useful and helpful but not mandatory. That's what freedom is all about. Being free in Christ, free from the bondage of the Law and rules and regulations.
I did it at work.
I have a friend who did it at home, alone in his living room.