Posted on 12/10/2013 5:23:53 AM PST by CynicalBear
I once heard a radio preacher make the statement, “You can be religious to your fingertips and still go to hell.”
This is absolutely true.
Religion and salvation are two vastly different things. Religion is man trying to reach God by his own efforts, through rituals and ceremonies and keeping of the laws and rules of the religion he is practicing. It may include doing good works, it may include trying to turn others to your religion and it may include other such things that may be well and good as far as this life is concerned, but it won’t get you to heaven.
Salvation on the other hand is simply recognizing what God has already done for you, that He through Jesus has already done everything necessary to secure your salvation, and all you have to do is accept it by inviting Jesus into your life, into your inner man. Once you do that you are saved for all of eternity, heaven will be your future home, and nobody and nothing on this earth can take it away from you.
The Greeks worshiped many gods. In Athens they had altars and statues to every god they could think of, and even an altar to “the unknown god” just in case they happened to miss one. The apostle Paul saw this when he visited Athens while making his rounds as a missionary and was greatly moved by what he saw. He preached Jesus to them, which seemed to them as some strange new god they had never heard of.
Standing in the Areopagus he told them, “Men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the subjects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘To an Unknown God.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.” And he preached to them about Jesus, the “unknown god,” as the only Way of salvation.
One thing that all religions have in common is you have to do something to work or earn your way to God (or whatever god that religion worships), or do something to merit that god’s attention. Even some who profess Christianity think we have to do something to earn our way to Heaven. I believe this is mainly based on misinterpretation of the Bible, trying to mix in Old Testament teachings with human reasoning. Whatever, it isn’t true.
But what does the Scripture say? In order to properly understand Scripture we have to apply some commonsense rules to the reading of it that could apply to any reading.
1. Take the writings in the Bible at face value, as literally true, unless the context indicates otherwise.
2. Don’t take Scripture out of context. Read what comes before and after the passage you're looking at to get a clear picture of what it is actually saying. Don’t do “proof” texts, which are usually isolated verses taken out of context. Much false doctrine comes from taking Scripture out of context and mixing it with human reasoning. You can “prove” just about anything you want to by taking Scripture out of context but that doesn't make it so and it really doesn’t prove anything.
3. Do cross-references. Look at other passages on the same subject or event, compare them and see what they say together. Compare Scripture with Scripture. This will give you a much clearer picture of what you are looking for.
4. Ask some questions about the passage you are reading: Who? What? When? Where? Why? Who is speaking? Who is he speaking to? What is he saying? What event or thing is he talking about? What is he doing, and why is he doing it? Where is this event, taking place? And why? What is the occasion? When is this happening, or being said? Finding the answers to these questions will help shed more light on what you are reading.
We’ve already seen that all religions are based on some sort of works, earning your way to heaven. What do Isaiah and others in the Bible say about that?
Isaiah 64:6 “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
Romans 3:19-20, Paul: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be shut, and that all the world may become accountable to God, because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God; for by the law comes the knowledge of sin.”
Romans 3:10-12, Paul: “For as many are of the works of the law are under a curse, for as it is written, ‘Cursed is every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.' Now that no one is justified before God is evident, for ‘the righteous man shall live by faith. However, the law is not of faith; on the contrary, 'He who practices them shall live by them.’”
In other words all the law does is tell us we are sinners, but it doesn’t do anything to fix the situation.
The fact of the matter is that we are all sinners, and as such have no capacity to save ourselves. Keeping the laws given through Moses will not save us. All the law does is show us that we are sinners. And as sinners we are all under the condemnation of God, because God cannot allow sin in heaven and there is only one other place to go to when we die—hell. Sin is a bit like an ounce of poison in a pot of stew. No amount of stirring or adding other ingredients will neutralize the poison. The poison has to be removed but you have nothing to remove it with.
Enter Jesus. There is only one way to remove the poison of sin from our lives, and that is for an innocent substitute to take the punishment for that sin upon Himself. In the Old Testament it was a lamb or a goat or other animal without spot or blemish, a type or shadow looking forward to Jesus’ execution on the cross. In our case, that innocent Substitute is none other than God Himself, in the person of Jesus the Christ, the anointed Son of God.
When Jesus was crucified God the Father laid every sin of every person on earth, past, present and future, on Jesus. When He died He took all our sins to the grave with Him, never to be held against us again. When He arose from the dead it was proof positive that God had accepted that payment for the sins that He had been charged with—our sins. He had no sin of His own. For thirty-three years He lived on this earth, being born as a little baby just like the rest of us once were, growing to manhood, being tempted and tried in every manner that we all are, and yet totally without sin. Only then was He qualified to be the Substitute for our sins. And we are saved by His righteousness not our own. If we could save ourselves by our own self -righteousness, then Jesus died for no purpose.
Now what do we have to do to receive this righteousness?
John 1: 9-11: “He [Jesus] was in the world, the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. He came to His own and and His own received Him not. But to as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become the sons of God, even to those who believe on His name.”
John 3:16-18: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved. Whoever believes on Him is not condemned, but he who believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
John 14:6: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.’”
Romans 10:9-10: “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes to righteousness and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.”
2 Corinthians 5:21: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are you saved through faith, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.”
So you see, it all works by faith. Everything necessary for your salvation has already been done, all you have to do is receive it by receiving Jesus into your life as your Lord and Savior. How do you get him to come into your life and be your Lord and Savior? Just ask Him to, and believe He will. It’s that simple. No rocket science needed, just sincere faith that He will do what you ask Him to do.
Religion: Do and do and do—all your life and get nowhere, and maybe end-up in hell.
Salvation: It’s already done, all taken care of by Jesus. Just receive Him by faith, like a child would ask his daddy to give him something he wants, believing he’ll get it for him. It’s that simple.
Believe me, it works!
I view it as the thing that is lacking is the individual. A person has the choice to respond to Christ's suffering or not. Are all men and women going to be saved? No it is up to us to make that choice.
well the Bible says so:
Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church
Compared to:
Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:
And clearly, one has to change the scripture to come to that conclusion that Jesus lacked in afflictions, and the Apostle Paul (and we) have to make up for those afflictions that Jesus did not receive...
That gives us a faith+works salvation...
I view it as the thing that is lacking is the individual.
With zero scripture reference...
A person has the choice to respond to Christ's suffering or not. Are all men and women going to be saved? No it is up to us to make that choice.
We do not have to suffer to get saved...
The bible interprets itself...
I will continue to pray that you come to know Christ.
Who are you going to pray to this time, St. Fonzi???
And your determination that he doesn’t know Christ is based on what exactly?
Agreed.
Agreed.
Water baptism? Who advocates not baptizing believers? The NT is clear that those who responded to the Gospel went down in the water and not splashed a bit on the head.
Thank you for letting me know that you were not asking a serious inquiry. I will pray for you.
Who would advocate not directly or indirectly help those in need? Isn’t this the fruits of the Holy Spirit?
Actually it is a serious inquiry. This is one of a few verses I have tried to understand, and ended up putting them on the shelf.
I think I gained insights through this thread. I plan to check the interpretations from you and Cynical Bear out. But in no way do I believe in grace plus something else for salvation. In fact, I’m finding my day to day walk with God is grace plus nothing
Another verse I wonder about is Ezekials description of the Idol of Jealousy in the temple. There seems to be no surprise or explanation of what that thing’s doing there.
Pentalcostals teach water baptismal is not required. Only to be “born again, and accept Jesus as your personal savior”.
Just forget what the scriptures say....
“Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?”
The Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit
…For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered, “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” 48And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.
There is “one baptism” Ephesians 4:5. This baptism is spirit/water baptism and is necessary for salvation. (John 3:3-5, 1Peter 3:21, Acts 22:16, etc.
I see your point but where is someone advocating not obeying and loving God and coming to those in need? An interesting part of that passage is “I never knew you.” I think that is a telling statement given the world is full of Christ deniers who do the very works Christ addresses in the passage quoted.
Do those who deny Jesus of Nazareth as Lord and Savior but do these works enter the Kingdom? Is that the context you are suggesting?
Are you implying the verses leading to verse 24 suggests the finished work of Jesus Christ is “lacking?” Or the afflictions that Christ suffers when His Body, His church is persecuted?
John 5:22-24 NASB
For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
Who is advocating Christians don’t love Jesus Christ and don’t obey Him?
If you hate your brother then you have some issues to resolve. Hating is bad so don’t do it. Jesus told us to forgive as He forgives us. Please settle the matter.
Or did you post that verse and others because you get the impression those that don’t kiss the bishops ring party on at club hedonism, kick the blind beggar, and steal social security checks from grandma?
would you assume for a moment that God would create an angel that did not know that He was God????????????
"I and the Father are one".....when you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.....would you suggest that the angels couldn't figure that out??????
their problem was they knew it and revolted anyway....dare I compare them with those who knew better and left the true church.......
I agree. We see some of the earliest Christians in Acts exercising that faith in word and deed. Guess that is why the book is called Acts:)
No doubt there is such an element, but you would be hard pressed to find it here in this thread. I see no one here promoting a mental ascent type “faith” where it’s party on with Miley Cyrus. Not seeing it here. It is however a common straw man promoted often by our FRomans.
It is akin to the straw man attacks against Roman Catholics saying they worship statues. Most of us know better than to promote such a straw man.
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