Posted on 10/20/2013 11:29:26 AM PDT by CHRISTIAN DIARIST
Once upon a time, Groucho Marx hosted the popular game show, “You Bet Your Life.” At the start of the show, a “secret word” was revealed to the studio audience. If a contestant said the word during the course of the show, a reward would descend from the rafters (a one hundred dollar bill).
Whether we know it or not, we are all, Christians and non-Christians alike, contestants in the spiritual equivalent of “You Bet Your Life.” If we bet wisely, our reward is eternal life. But if we bet foolishly, we condemn ourselves to eternal damnation.
That brings to mind Pascal’s Wager, credited to the seventeenth-century French philosopher, mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal. He famously posited that every human being bets his or her life on whether or not God exists.
“Let us,” he wrote, “weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.”
To put this in terms to which most of us can relate, even if the odds of God’s existence are, say, 1 in 175 million – the odds of winning Powerball on a single ticket – it is worth the wager.
Because, if we have bet on God, and God does not exist, we lose nothing. That is, save for indulging in certain behavior proscribed by God, including sexual promiscuity, idol worship, adultery, homosexuality (and other sexual perversions), thievery, greed, substance abuse, slander and robbery.
But if we bet against the Almighty, and indeed He does exist, we shall be cast into the lake of fire, eternally separated from God. We shall be condemned to place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Where we will be burned with unquenchable fire. Where we will be tormented day and night forever and forever.
Most of us are rationale. So we heed Pascal’s advice.
Even if we are uncertain there is a God, we hedge our bet. We respond to an altar call at some point in our lives. We say we accept Jesus as our personal Savior. We get baptized.
In so doing, we believe we have ensured our eternal security. We believe that, because we went through the ritual of being “saved,” we have a lifetime “Get Out of Hell Free” card. And that we can live our lives as it pleases us – not God – with impunity.
But what if we are wrong? What if this doctrine of “Once Saved, Always Saved,” espoused by many Godly pastors, preached in many purpose-driven churches, is errant? What if it actually is possible for us to forfeit our eternal salvation, to condemn ourselves to hell, by living brazenly and unrepentantly in defiance of God’s law?
That presents a corollary to Pascal’s wager, one that has not been considered by those who profess themselves Christ followers, but who are not truly leading a Christian life.
Let us call this corollary the Salvation wager, in which we weigh the gain and loss in betting on “Once Saved, Always Saved.”
Those who reject the doctrine, who believe those of us whom the Son sets free, must go and sin no more, must faithfully strive to live in obedience to God, have everything to gain if the doctrine is wrong and nothing to lose if the doctrine is right.
But those who subscribe to the doctrine, who believe that, having been saved, they can commit any and all manner of sin and it doesn’t matter in the eternal scheme of things, have hell to pay if they are wrong.
So what might Pascal advise?
That even if it’s more likely that once a person is saved, there is absolutely nothing they can do to lose their salvation, and that even if the odds are, say, 175 million to 1 that the widely-accepted doctrine of “Once Saved, Always Saved” is right rather than wrong, it still is wise to bet against the doctrine.
Because there are many who claim themselves Christians, who think their names have been written in the book of life, who will appear before the great white throne of judgment, who will find themselves sinners in the hands of an angry God.
They will look to Jesus and say, “Lord, Lord,” hoping He will spare them from punishment. But He will declare to them, “I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice wickedness.”
That’s a warning to those abiding unabashedly and unrepentantly in sin. They have bet their lives on “Once Saved, Always Saved.” And if they are wrong, eternal torment awaits.
Do you consider yourself a good person?
No provable is not subjective. That’s the point.
There's no 'if' to it...And yes, being dead is permanent...
As Paul points out in the next chapter, there is a war that wages inside of him. When he is successful at putting to death self, then he is able to avoid sin. But when self rules, sin comes with it.
Absolutely...It's like those occasional goofy comedy spoofs where a guy sits with an angel on one shoulder and a little devil on the other...That's a pretty good picture of where we are at...
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
When we ask Christ to come into our lives, it does not spell the end of sin in our lives. Instead, it marks the beginning of a process where we can begin to root out the source of sin in our lives. And 100% of the time, the root to sin is fear.
That's true but what it does is end the penalty for sin...
2Co_5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Rom_4:8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Rom_5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law
. Rom_6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Rom_6:20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
Rom_6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Rom_7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Now here are what appear to be 2 conflicting statements by the apostle John...
1Jn_1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1Jn_3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
We are born again Christians who sin all to much but yet we do not and can not commit sin...How is that???
Even tho we sin, it is not counted in the final tally...
Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
This and the rest of chapter six explains how we work this out...
Oh dear, Sunday School time. No I am not a good person, rather an unworthy toad.
Thank you for the compliment. God introduced me to His grace for the believer a full year before I found out what it was. I went around telling people “Here’s what God did for me and he’ll do it for you, too. I don’t know what it is, but it’s REAL.”
I was a dependent in Guantanamo from 1959-1966. There was a minor interruption for a year when Kennedy and Khruschev got into a squabble. I was in elementary school there. I didn’t know too many of you older kids. I could have “dated” your sister, though. :-)
What if I do believe? Am I sinning now?
??????????
Did God breath life into Adam?
Hey, you’re way behind...
I know. Thanks
If we present the gospel of Jesus Christ to others according to the Scriptures and they accept it, then we can assure them according to the Scriptures that God has forgiven them. On the other hand, when we present them with the gospel, and they reject it, we can assure and warn them that they are still in their sin and not forgiven by God. Recall the words of those who witnessed Jesus heal the man let down through the roof, of which Jesus said to him, “your sins are forgiven.” The reply to that statement was, “who can forgive sins but God?” They were right, Jesus was God, and only God can forgive sin committed against Him. You, I, nor anyone else has authority. God has given the Christian authority to show people the way and declare the truth. It’s God’s word that assures of forgiveness when we follow it’s dictates, not man’s.
well, except for: Judaism, the various branches of Christianity, the various branches of Islam, then Mandeanism, Alawites, Druze and Zoroastrians, except for these, the other religions are pretty much, yeah the other gods exist. No harm to Odin if you worship Zeus.
yes he was. he also wrote that his belief was we must persevere to the end. There is a subtle difference between what he wrote and the osas
Hus’ cases like others had a tinge of nationalism in it. The Czechs had gotten a Germanic king and were being absorbed into Germania, losing their identity.
Take this case, the Czechs: in the 8th and 9th centuries, the West Slavic peoples (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Kashubs, Sorbs, etc) split from the East Slavic people, but they didn't differentiate among themselves until well into the late middle ages.
The first to get a definition of nationhood were the Czechs, who were the westernmost who "got civlization" from the Germans (who in turn had got it from the Romans.
They Christianized first and sent missionaries to the Polans, Vistulans etc.
But, tying yourself to a higher culture (the Germanic one) is always difficult -- you can get swamped. And that's what happened to the Czechs. They saw the wealth and prestige of the Holy Roman (German) Empire and wanted to be part of it, ending in the 14th century when their King was made King of the Romans.
The Poles on the other hand kept their distance -- their king was crowned a king by the holy Roman Emperor and later, when the Piast (the first) dynasty died out, they didn't join with the Hapsburgs but with the erstwhile pagan Jagiellons (Lithuanians), but that is another story
When you tie yourself to a stronger, richer culture, you get swamped, even if you are the ones who "conquered" the other (see what happened to the Manchu/Jurchens after they conquered China in the 17th century
Hus was a reaction against the Germanizing influence. The religious angle came secondary imho
For Luther, I believe that the aim of the northern Germanic princelings to break away from the HRE also played a big role
Beautifully stated! Thank you.
If one doesn’t have a personal relationship with Christ Jesus they won’t know for sure. Otherwise, salvation would be like a roulette wheel. Depending on when and where you died, and if you had time to set everything right.
He is holding me in the palm of His hand and He said no one could take me out. I have no trouble believing that. Just make sure your trusting His blood to wash you clean from your sins. Ask Him to help you love and know Him. He will. Salvation is a love story it is a heart matter, having not much to do with the head. You can’t learn it with the head only and be saved.
One truly born again has no need for worry in this regard. There is no doubt.
You do know that the Rosary is mediating on the life of Christ through the scriptures?
1 Cor 11:27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
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