Yes, I agree with that stance. I am simply saying that in life, we all have the same opportunity from Birth to accept Jesus as Lord and be saved. Jesus died for our sins because with existing sin in the World, we would not be pure enough to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus' Parable warns the non-believers
- Thread starter bchai
- Start date
Yes, I agree with that stance. I am simply saying that in life, we all have the same opportunity from Birth to accept Jesus as Lord and be saved. Jesus died for our sins because with existing sin in the World, we would not be pure enough to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Amen And Thank God For Thee Blood
Thank you for explaining, and helping us to further understand your thoughts and position on all of this.
Amen! Thank You Jesus for the Blood!
Hey John,
I believe (and I'm sure some may disagree) that we are all created with the same Opportunity to inherit Eternal Life with God when we die. Everyone can. The way to earn that Eternal Life is to Follow God's Word Jesus' Word as laid out in the Bible. In other words, Jesus gave us the Way to Eternal Life in his Kingdom. He gave that to us Free of Charge. He died for our Sins. All we have to do is follow what he taught us.
Because he gave us all Free Will, those who reject Jesus' Word will not be able to inherit Eternal Life.
I do not believe one can get to Heaven unless they expressly follow Jesus' Teaching. I have heard some people take the Stance that all one must do to get to Heaven is get Baptized and Accept Jesus, but accepting Jesus ALSO Means following his Commandments. If you consider following Jesus' Teachings "intentional work qualifications", then I guess that's what they are. And if you consider Accepting God and Following his Word a Pre-Condition then I guess that's what it is.
That is a Fantastic viewpoint and I believe that that is another analogy to help people understand one of the messages that Jesus was trying to relay to us in his Parable about the 10 Virgins.
We do not nor can we ever earn eternal life.
Jesus is the only way to the Father and eternal life.
Blessings
FCJ
Hey Jim,
Thank you for taking the time to share your viewpoint. I completely understand what you are trying to say but yes, you are missing an essential piece of what I was saying.
The thief on the cross is a good view at explaining that Accepting Christ is the requirement for getting into Heaven, but let me ask you a question: How can one Accept Christ if they don't follow his word? How is that truly accepting Christ?
One may go their entire life sinning and rejecting the Lord's Teaching but once they receive God, they follow his Word. If you claim to Accept God but you do the opposite of what he teaches, then how are you accepting God? In fact, if you did that how would you be any different from the pharisees. Didn't Jesus say in Matthew 23:13 that they themselves will not get to Heaven when he said"You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to."
The thief on the Cross not only accepted Christ but also Followed his Word. This proves the point I was making earlier when I said that as long as you're alive, it's never too late to do the right thing and get to Heaven. God teaches us to Love, be Humble, etc. So I believe that when the thief on the Cross accepted Christ he also was following his Word.
Hi Brandon,
I will reply a little later. I just did not want you to think I was ignoring you and I won't be in such a hurry trying to do several things at once.
Blessings
FCJ
I will reply a little later. I just did not want you to think I was ignoring you and I won't be in such a hurry trying to do several things at once.
Blessings
FCJ
Yes, and the last part includes born-again Christians who "are not currently following God’s Word".
Hebrews 3, for example, tries hard to warn believers that ...
DISOBEDIENCE proves UNBELIEF.
I am wondering these days whether or not disobedient believers have the Hoy Spirit taken from them.
At least temporarily ... Perhaps it comes back when the fellowship of righteousness is regained.
The verse ... Jesus says in John 14:23 ...
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him,
and We will come to him and make Our home with him."
Is this loving before the believer initially receives the Holy Spirit?
IMO, no.
In 4 verses in John 14, Jesus says those who love Him will obey His commandments!
Because of many other NT warnings about OBEDIENCE,
I believe these 4 verses refer to obedience after initially receiving the Spirit.
I hope that I have laid this out simply and understandably.
Samuels, you bring up a very good point. It blows my mind how many so-called "Christians" miss that one simple concept.
I think that was the point I was trying to make in the entirety of my post and responses on this topic.
Although many "Christians" may disagree with me, I do not believe it is simply enough to get baptized, accept Jesus, and call oneself a Christian. You also MUST Follow and obey his teaching.
I have crossed paths with many people who call themselves Christian because they say they've done those two things and go to service every Sunday. One of those people was an ex-gf of mine. I met her on a Christian dating site. She told me she was involved with nude modeling and softporn in the past but that she was a "born-again" Christian. I believed her because she seemed to study God's word and go to service on Sunday and really worshiped. However, I quicky found out that she was still involved in the porn industry behind my back and didn't want to get out of it because the money she made from it.
My ex wife's attorney also claimed to be a diehard Christian and even tried lecturing me on how God is ok with divorce and that family isn't as important. I quickly found out this guy had a terrible reputation for being a shady scumbag attorney who made a living stealing from his clients and ripping families apart...yet, he believed he was a Christian and tried to lecture me on the subject. My ex wife in fact found him in the Christian yellow pages and that's how she ended up hiring him. Both my ex Wife and I specifically told him from the beginning that we wanted to SAVE our marriage, but he stepped in like a wedge and instigated rumors and told her and the judge lies that weren't true. I later found out the judge was one of his long-time buddies and allowed him to manipulate the law. It was the biggest systematic corruption I had seen in a local gov entity to date.
I've met many other false Christians too. These people truly believe that they are going to go to heaven and they can just disobey God's laws left and right with no repercussion. They will be in for a rude awakening.
Here's an analogy: If someone offered me a lot of money to learn how to be a fisherman, and I told that person yes just so I could inherit my reward, then I pretended to learn while he was teaching me to fish but in reality I ended up doing the exact opposite of everything he taught me and disrespected him, would I be a true fisherman? Do I deserve that reward?
That is what these so-called "Christians are doing.
Yes, and thanks for sharing your testimony with us!
The epistles (letters) are absolutely filled with dire warnings about sinning
(and these are written to believers, not to unbelievers),
but most are "somewhat hidden" and NOT in your face obvious.
They are somewhat hidden for the sake of the baby believers,
who God does not want to be discouraged during their first steps.
The deal is ...
the Holy Spirit is supposed to reveal all of these Truths to pastors,
but they must be open and willing to hear ...
and pass these warnings on to their sheep.
But, it ain't happening for various reasons, which should be obvious.
This should apply to all believers. It's not just a pastors responsibility to seek truth for his congregation. This responsibility falls on the individual as well. (Philippians 2:12-13)
All of Jesus' commands are for every believer. It's the believer who is commissioned to do the works of God....
John 14:12
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
The pastor is the Shepherd of the flock, and Yes he has some extra responsibilities, that come with being the Shepherd... but he is just a believer like anyone else. They have gifts (if one is actually called to pastor) but they are required to walk out the Word just like everyone else.
Blessings
One must be careful with this type of thinking. For each one of us has no idea what "light" someone else may have. Just because we know and understand something, does not mean that someone else has that same understanding. It's why Jesus said to not judge, lest we be judged. (Matthew 7:1)
Each believer is only held responsible to God for the light that they have. If they choose to not walk in the truth that they have then what they do have will be taken from them. Not by God, but by the enemy, or their ownself, because they are choosing darkness over light.
The enemy is out there trying to deceive or devour whom he may. He does not have the right or power to deceive anyone who resists his tricks, and deceptions.
However this is the reason why it's so important for every believer to constantly and consistently seek the Ways of the kingdom, to give up the world's ways, and to pray for everyone who confesses to be a believer that God would grant unto them the gift of repentance so that they may see the light and recover themselves out of the darkness and trap that the enemy has them in. (2 Timothy 2:24-26).
This is another reason why we should not be judgemental towards others. For if we judge others, then our heart will not desire to pray for those whom are being deceived.
Besides God will not judge them on what light we have, but we will open the door for us to be judged by what we have put forth as truth. If we choose to say...so and so, did this and that wrong.....that is truth or light that we have, and since we confess to have that light, it opens us up for our actions and attitudes to be judged by that truth. I for one have enough to keep my own life in line with the Word and His ways...I don't need to heap any kind of judgement upon myself to add to it.
God desires that we leave the judging up to Him. And to walk in love (for the person) and be an ambassador of His forgiveness. Just because a person is held captive by the enemy in sin, does not mean that we have any right to look for that beam to cast it out, or to gossip about that beam to others. It's better for us to judge our own selves and pray for the others that God would open their eyes to the truth.
Blessings
Something else God has been teaching us, is that we as believers can actually hinder what the pastor receives and gives out to his congregation, by either not desiring more revealed truth from The Holy Spirit or by grumbling against a pastor instead of praying for God to fill him full of revelation knowledge and Godly wisdom.
There is more on our shoulders than what we actually have ever realized. Have you ever been trying to get a message to someone, but had trouble getting it out? I have experienced this and also have learned that it can be due to the person who was listening to what I was trying to say.
Thanks for listening
Blessings
I totally agree with your entire post.
Yes, all true shepherds are called by God to be such.
In addition, I would like to point out ... in the NT church, IMO ...
all church leaders (before being chosen) had received the baptism
with the Holy Spirit (with the initial evidence of some tongues).
With this comes one or more of the 9 spiritual power gifts (1 Cor 12).
CTurtle, True words of wisdom. Thank you.
Yes, casting judgment on others is definitely not something God wants us to do. I admit, it is hard sometimes not to cast judgement especially when someone else's sins are inflicting damage into your life, but I agree, that is all the more reason why we should be praying for them rather than thinking about how they could have the audacity to do what they are doing.
I'm not sure if it's as hard for other people as it can be for me to continue to love and pray for the people that hurt you through their sins. However, this is definitely something I always pray for continued strength on.
Something else God has been teaching us, is that we as believers can actually hinder what the pastor receives and gives out to his congregation, by either not desiring more revealed truth from The Holy Spirit or by grumbling against a pastor instead of prying for God to full him full of revelation knowledge and Godly wisdom.
There is more on our shoulders than what we actually have ever realized. Have you ever been trying to get a message to someone, but had trouble getting it out? I have experienced this and also have learned that it can be due to the person who was listening to what I was trying to say.
Thanks for listening
Blessings
I agree, I think the main problem here is that many people fail to realize that their pastors are human beings and capable of falling victim to human fallicies.
On the other end of the note, I think people depend too much on pastors for their own salvation. People are the controllers of their own salvation, not necessarily the pastor.
If a pastor teaches through the Holy Spirit and relays the message back to the flock as God intends, then each one of us are in control of how we receive that message and whether or not we follow it. On the other hand, if the pastor is misinterpreting God's word himself and unintentionally spreading false teaching down to his flock (which does happen since pastors are human beings), then each one of us are responsible for finding the truths for ourselves and following those truths.
This can be true, However far too much of the time, the Pastor gets the short end of the stick.
1. Members Do Not want to hear something......so they proclaim false teaching or try to pressure the pastor to teach what they want to hear.
Then the Pastor who will walk in Faith and Obedience will speak what God gives him no matter how many members it cost or how many mouths begin to speak out against him.
Far to many times God is trying to bring the members up to a higher and deeper understanding of His word and Ways But the members refuse to think out side their predetermined box or mindset and the pastor gets blasted.
It only hurts the members who blast away and join in with them.
God is more then able to take care of His own and He will do just that to the Faithful and Obedient.
Blessings
FCJ
I agree. It definitely does work both ways.
I agree with Fish Catcher Jim, salvation only comes through Jesus Christ. Now if the original post is saying
that the oil equates to obedience/works after salvation then that is adding to the Perfect Sacrifice Jesus
gave. Scripture says 'without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins". It does not say 'without
shedding of blood plus works or plus obedience 24x7 365 days a year. This does not exempt us from obedience
but works & obedience are evidence of true faith.
Parables can be very difficult at times to interpret but I think this one is very clear in that for us to be ready
for the bridegroom we must have Salvation only. Now if one wants to equate works with Eternal rewards there
is another discussion to be had and I think someone should start a discussion thread about Rewards.
Blessings to all.