Many times you have written that anyone who "proclaims" their own salvation is wrong or, even, sinful. You say you base this upon what Scripture says regarding the way our lives are lived and upon our obedience or not to the commandments of Jesus. You say you reject someone else's "interpretation" of Scripture when they claim assurance of their salvation. But you still state you DO believe God and what Scripture has to say. I would ask, then, how do you "interpret" the verses that say we CAN know we have eternal life? Such as:
I John 5:13
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
John 3:16-18
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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
Acts 13:38-39
Acts 15:11
We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.
Psalm 103:10
He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
So these are just a few verses - and you should know there are many more throughout the entire Bible. What do you interpret these as saying? I read such as these and it is like God is almost screaming at us to trust him, take him at his word, trust that what he says he will do. Even David, with all his baggage of sinful acts, knew that God forgives and will not judge us according to our sins or give us what we really deserve. Grace is giving us what we do not deserve and not giving us what we do deserve. Metmom and I read these and believe the words God directed the writers to record and we KNOW we are not being tricked or deceived or bamboozled. If we cannot believe God, then NOTHING is believable, nothing is true, we are without hope, without help, without any certainty of anything. But I do not think God intends for his children to live like that and that is why he said repeatedly that we CAN know we HAVE eternal life.
One last question, how different would your life be if you accepted the assurance of your salvation? Would it change anything that you are doing? Would you lose anything that you currently have? What would you lose?
Many times you have written that anyone who "proclaims" their own salvation is wrong or, even, sinful. You say you base this upon what Scripture says regarding the way our lives are lived and upon our obedience or not to the commandments of Jesus. You say you reject someone else's "interpretation" of Scripture when they claim assurance of their salvation. But you still state you DO believe God and what Scripture has to say. I would ask, then, how do you "interpret" the verses that say we CAN know we have eternal life? Such as:
1 John 5:13 may know
John 3:16 believes - when? One time deal? Or the whole way?
John 3:36. Ditto
Acts 15:11 believe
One last question, how different would your life be if you accepted the assurance of your salvation? Would it change anything that you are doing? Would you lose anything that you currently have? What would you lose?
Well, aside from violating what I believe Scripture and the Church says (and jeopardizing my soul), why not ask me why I don't believe in the two gods of the LDS, or the one god of the JWs?