Posted on 11/06/2010 3:55:37 PM PDT by Benchim
There are millions of church going believers who really are confused and conflicted on central issues of the faith. Issue 1: Are you really saved? You may say "Yes" but you may not be sure because of the legal requirements of the group you joined. Issue 2: When do I receive my salvation? When I believe or when I die after a trial to determine if I did all the right things like baptism, repentance ,lived in obedience, confession , "born again", absolution from the priesthood,tithed,lived sinless and on and on. Did you observe the sabath? was your "church" attendance acceptable to God? By the way, you did not do this guilt trip on your own. You were constantly "coached" into these ambiguities by the institutional "Church" to better control their flock and to extract attendance and money.
(Excerpt) Read more at antinomianism-salvation.blogspot.com ...
James 2:24
"But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." - Matthew 24:13
"And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." - Mark 13:13
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." - Matthew 7:21
"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed." - John 8:31
I agree totally. James was the jealous brother of Jesus and was extremely envious of his deity and retaliated with his paper and pen. Just throw it out. They compiled the Bible in 362 and made many errors in the assembly of material.
Professional Christians want you to be left in the dark for personal gain.
...and for personal self-satisfaction.
A mormonism apologist asserted just today that having the Holy Spirit in you is not enough, that it is not salvation until your works finish the job! (FR search the posts of ‘Stourme’, perhaps you can help him awaken to salvation and not continue to blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
When asked by Jews what is the work God requires for salvation, do you know what Jesus replied?
Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved-and your house. Nothing more. Jesus spent much of His time explaining that anything a man could do would never be good enough. His was a complete and final sacrifice for our salvation. We don’t even make that decision on our own without His first calling us. Just as He did with Abraham.
What are you going to endure??? And to the end of what???
Even my faith in the vicarious atonement accomplished by Jesus, if its efficacy depends on the resolve of my will, is not reliable. I can only resort to confidence in the faith instilled in me by the grace of God, as revealed in Ephesians 2:8-9 (and other like passages).
http://www.faithfacts.org/bible-101/christian-cram-course
The church of Christ is the bastion of legalism. See this:
http://www.faithfacts.org/world-religions-and-theology/church-of-christ
Are you saying CC believes the thief on the cross was not baptized, therefore Jesus must have been a liar?
Great links! Thanks for posting them here.
>>I can only resort to confidence in the faith instilled in me by the grace of God, as revealed in Ephesians 2:8-9 (and other like passages).<<
Thus my comment about the covenant with Abraham. If you read that account you will remember that God put Abraham in a deep sleep and God handled both sides of the covenant. God does the same with us. We have been chosen and God draws us to Him lest we should boast.
Matthew 25 spells it out for you.
“Look here sir! There are hundreds of religions in this country, and the followers of some think theirs is the only right one. How can poor, plain men like us find out what really is the truth?”
We generally reply something like this. “Hundreds of religions you say? That is strange; I’ve heard of only two.”
“Oh, but surely you know there are more than that?”
“Not at all, sir, I find, I admit, many shades of differences in the opinions of those compromising the two great schools; but after all there are but two. The one covers all who expect salvation by DOING; the other, all who have been saved BY SOMETHING DONE. So you see the question is very simple. Can you save yourself, or must you be saved by another? If you can be your own saviour, you do not need to listen. If you cannot, you may well want to learn about Jesus Christ and the message of the cross.
-Modified from H.A. Ironside
If you look at Lds.org like I did -- every single entry they have for carrying out their various add-on "Laws" -- guess what two add-on "laws" get the most mentions by Lds, Inc?
It's near a tie:
(1) The Law of Tithing
(2) The Law of Chastity
That's interesting, too...'cause you would think that based upon what Joseph Smith said, the Law of Baptizing dead people would be #1. But it's not stressed more than the above (& doesn't rank above many other Mormon "laws").
Joseph Smith: “The GREATEST RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS WORLD that God has placed upon us is to seek after our dead.” (Joseph Smith, Jr., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 356)
Mormons are you obeying this? Are you doing three-year missions to the dead to outdo your two- year missions to the living?
If I was a gambler, I could probably wage a million $ that not a single Mormon could name EVERY law mentioned by Lds general authorities on Lds.org. [What a crying shame, 'cause even Joseph Smith said: “We cannot keep all the commandments without first knowing them, and we cannot expect to know all, or more than we now know unless we comply with or keep those we have already received.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 256.)]
And Mormons are shooting for the highest degree by way of perfect obedience??????
For the Christian, do we follow a "law" of tithing?
No. Giving is an inside-out thing, done from the heart, encouraged by God as part of being godly.
Mormons? They make it an outside-in lock-up, imposed upon from without -- or you're out (of the temple, that is). No chance for special "callings" in the church; don't get to see your son or daughter married in the temple. No "forever family." No living with Heavenly Father forever. You could pay 9.99% of your income, and still be disqualified from all the above...because you broke their man-made "law."
BTW...the Mormon "law of chastity" does the same thing as the Mormon "law of tithing": It attempts to impose a man-made law from the outside-in. Now am I saying singles should not be chaste and marrieds should not remain faithful to their spouse? Not at all; of course we exercise self-control. But Jesus said no matter whether you engage in physical adultery, God looks at the heart...and if you lust, you have already broken any boundary of heart purity/chasteness.
Mormons (and many Christian church members, too) consistently want to measure things by external appearances. God already knows our hearts perfectly. We can't change His omniscience and omnipresence. That's why Jesus complimented the Pharisees on their outward righteousness and condemned them on their inward tombstone-like lives.
Too many Mormons and even members of Christian churches compare out their outward religious lives to the rest of the world, and think they are way out front of the race to heaven.
But God doesn't judge us that way.
It's pass or fail. (James says if we stumble at only one part of the Law, we have broken ALL of it -- James 2:10).
It's inside and outside.
It's internal and external.
All: Stay away from such religious legalism as mentioned above; and, if you're already entrapped in it, run away. Jesus condemned it for a very good reason!
"So you see the question is very simple. Can you save yourself, or must you be saved by another? If you can be your own saviour, you do not need to listen. If you cannot, you may well want to learn about Jesus Christ and the message of the cross."
According to Mormon writings, what makes you "worthy?" Your perfection (3 Nephi 12:48; Mt. 5:48)
[Whereas, in contrast, a good definition of a "Christian" is someone already perfect in the Father's eyes thru Jesus sacrificial death (Heb. 10:14) -- where His perfect righteousness is substituted for our imperfect righteousness. (1 Cor. 1:30). Heb. 10:14 ...because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.]
Just to be sure, I looked up "worthiness" (a key Lds concept) in the 1977 "Topical Guide to the Scriptures of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" published by church-owned Deseret Publishers.
I found verses like Doctrine & Covenants 59:4: "And they shall also be crowned with blessings from above, yea, and with commandments not a few, and with revelations in their time--they that are faithful and diligent before me."
"Commandments not a few"? -- sounds like a long checklist to me.
I then looked at the 1979 "Topical Guide" in the Lds version of its KJV -- and turned to the "worthiness" entry there: It tells me right up top its related to the concept of "qualifying for" & then proceeds to verses like D&C 31:5: "Therefore, thrust in your sickle with all your soul, and your sins are forgiven you, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your back, for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Wherefore, your family shall live."
Ah. There it is: The Mormon "strategy." Don't "trust" for your salvation, "thrust in your sickle"
So it sounds like the Mormon god wants plenty of soul labor -- paid labor -- spiritual hirelings -- earned labor for salvation. No free gifts here. No grace here. Just follow the rules, ma'am.
Indeed, the LDS are the "rules oriented" ones: The purity and perfection we seek is unattainable without this subjection of unworthy, ungodlike urges and the corresponding encouragement of their opposites. We certainly cannot expect the rules to be easier for us than for the Son of God... (Lds "prophet" Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 28)
Just look @ all the "rule extensions" Lds have imposed upon their followers in order to make it to the highest degree of afterlife:
(1) You have to be obedient to all the commandments & ordinances of the Mormon god
(2) You have to tithe -- what Lds reference as the "Law of consecration"
(3) You have to obey the "Word of Wisdom" -- not drink coffee, etc.
(4) You have to get married -- sorry, no never-married single people allowed
(5) You have to have as many children as possible
(6) You have to perform temple work for the dead
(7) You have to perform endowments essential for this highest degree of salvation
(8) You have to be a member of the right church (Lds)
(9) You have to receive & perform the rites and ordinances established by that church
(10)You have to have Joseph Smith's consent to enter into your highest afterlife
That is 19th-20th-21st century legalism!
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