See the link below to an interesting discussion on another thread:
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3713919/posts?page=23
So, what's your definition of scripture?
#NotAGotcha
It seems to me to contradict John 3:16 and impose legalism in the place of grace...
It's not contradictory at all.
An actual contradiction is the claim one believes in Christ, but doesn't follow his commandments. Not directing this at you, but it is what's being preached in many churches today.
Right inline with the prophecy from 2 Timothy:
3For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.
Yeshua's words recorded in John 14:
15If you love Me [i.e, believe in me], you will keep My commandments.
Now for the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say:
John 3:16:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
shall not perish
Think back to what Paul said, as recorded in 1 Cor. 15:
51Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed
What is Paul saying here? He's telling us that those in Christ, present at the time of his second coming, will receive their heavenly bodies without the need to die/perish.
Only two people have ever been taken up to heaven, not having to die first: Enoch and Elijah. But even they will return someday, according to scripture, to die and then be resurrected.
This will indeed be a world shaking event, as will those living in Christ who are taken up.
Affirmation of this is in the words of Yeshua as recorded in John 14:
I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am.
So in layman's terms, Christ/Jesus, who's spoken Hebrew name is Yeshua, has made a new arrangement for those who are in him (i.e., believe in him).
Not taking this into consideration has caused much consternation between the different religions, which I may get into later.
For now, back to John 3:16, read it again, taking into consideration what we have now reviewed:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.