Results 1 - 7 of 7
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Results from: Notes Author: happy soul Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Ridding myself of guilt and fear | James 5:16 | happy soul | 235391 | ||
Hello BradK: It is nice to have someone to "talk" to about God's word, so please don't think that I am on the "defense" of what you are saying, but I will try to 'defend' my thoughts on various biblical topics based on my many years of bible studies (45 plus)and yet still 'little' and ever-learning knowledge of His word. So, you replied that because of the scriptures that I chose in trying to explain my understanding of salvation that I take more of a "works-based" approach to salvation - I indeed do NOT. However, I do believe there are scriptures in God's word that are clearly opposite to those who believe that the only thing necessary for anyone to be "saved" is for them to acknowledge and accept Christ, and in so doing, their faith in this act (which is still "doing" something - i.e. a 'work'?) will indeed be considered by God through His grace unto their righteousness? What about all of the examples listed in Hebrews of the 'faith unto works' that God considered righteousness unto Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph? According to Hebrews 11:17-22 and other scriptures I have read daily and studied, they indeed teach something other than a 'saved by grace through faith only' approach to salvation. Otherwise, why would anyone bother to teach others the truth, for in so doing, you are "doing something" that is taught by Christ to do, am I correct? I am not saying that it will "earn" your salvation, because it will not - only God's grace can do that, but how else are we to live as Christ, if we do not "do" anything at all, or change our lives to be in accordance with His will? It is absurd! I also did not intend to mean that 'you' had the ability to limit God in my previous comments (as I too, duly know that God is Sovereign and no one can limit his sovereignty), but I was merely suggesting that your 'thinking' that I was a member of the Church of Christ sounded like you were not viewing God as capable of revealing His truth to whomever he deems wanting (except maybe outside of some man or university or denomination teaching it to me). Excuse me if I am not as educated a theologian as yourself, I am merely a bible student who is sincerely seeking God's truth and I am a Christian who was baptized into Christ back in 1972. I also have not gone to some bible university to be enlightened on all of the various viewpoints and slants that tend to be placed on God's word by certain 'men' and 'scholars', but try to ask God's guidance to reveal His truth to me in my daily walk and study of His Holy word. In Christ, happy soul |
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2 | Ridding myself of guilt and fear | James 5:16 | happy soul | 235316 | ||
Hello Steve: What you are missing, or maybe what I'm not conveying clearly enough is that I know and understand that we as humans cannot "save ourselves" by anything that we "do". However, God does expect us to have faith unto obedience in order to live in accordance with His will (not our own). We certainly cannot expect that Christ died for sinners, and yet would allow them to continue living in their sinful state, can we? If this were the case, then why did Paul write letters to the churches explaining to them to change and turn from their sinful behavior? How do we explain that? Should we continue in sin that Grace may abound, as Paul wrote in Romans 6:1? and Paul further answers his own question with, "God Forbid!" I was not trying to convey that we have to work our very hardest to become and remain saved (only God's grace can save us). But we cannot expect God to overlook someone continuing to live in sin and not abide in HIS will, when everything that is written in God's word points to the contrary. And I was also trying to convey that we have to deny 'self', take up our cross and follow Christ in order to be His disciple. See John 6:51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” And John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” From these two verses, we learn that Jesus came as the suffering Messiah, the suffering Christ, who gave His life, who died for the sins of the world. However, Peter did not want to hear that about Jesus. Peter pulled Jesus aside and started to rebuke Him, but then Jesus had an interesting come back. For He told Peter, Mark. 8:33 “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” What did Jesus mean by that? The Apostle Paul defines it in this way from Rom. 8:6-7 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. We are a lot like Peter. We allow our sinful mind to be worldly and hostile toward God. We don’t like God’s plan and purpose for us. We want our road in life to be smooth, easy, with as few hassles as possible. We want to live our lives based on our own desires and feelings. It’s like when some people say, “Oh, yeah. I believe Jesus suffered, He died and rose for me, but I don’t want Jesus to be my LORD. For Jesus to be my LORD –that means that I have to make some changes and this is too heavy of a commitment for me. What counts to me is what I can get right now. I have things to do and things to take care of. What is important to me is ME, MYSELF, AND I.” Our way of life is to think of ourselves and our own happiness – which is selfish and self-centered. Yet, Jesus said, “Deny yourself.” [Mark 8:34] We tend to lead our lives of self satisfaction. We want to control our own life’s destiny. However, Jesus is teaching you and me that by denying yourself — is to know that there is more to life than things, possessions, and the like. To deny oneself is to stop worrying or being anxious about things. When you worry, you are focusing on yourself. But when we focus on Christ, we are centered in God’s will and purpose in our lives. When you deny yourself, you are looking up to God for guidance, even if that guidance goes contrary to our own thoughts. For God said, in Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.” I hope that this helps clarify my thoughts? In Christ, happy soul |
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3 | Ridding myself of guilt and fear | James 5:16 | happy soul | 235302 | ||
Hello BradK: What makes you assume that I am a member of the Church of Christ? Is it because I believe in the "entirety" of the scriptures? Or is it because I believe in baptism? Or something else? Do you not believe that there are those in this world who are truly seeking the truth and finding His word revealed to them through the holy scriptures without being aided by an affiliation with a denomination or religious organization? Do you limit God in His capacity to enlighten individuals without being affiliated with any one group or denomination? Please see 2 Timothy 2:15 "15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." I am not ashamed to speak what the scriptures are telling me, because I know in my heart they are the inspired words of God! And what if I 'were' a member of the Church of Christ or some other affiliation? Does that in any way discredit the words of God and what the holy scriptures say? I am only hoping to help others come to the same conclusions that I myself have found through my continual study of God's word. I firmly believe that many who 'believe' they are following the truth, instead are being misled and deceived by Satan, who is the master of lies and deception! In Christ, happy soul |
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4 | Ridding myself of guilt and fear | James 5:16 | happy soul | 235301 | ||
Hello Steve: wow, that is the first time I have ever heard anyone explain obedient faith like you did when you said that 'I must think' "...that one will obey completely all that the Lord commands. And if that one is disobedient in anything, he or she is not a Christian!" As if this is my idea of what it means to have an obedient faith. How absurd! We are Christ's when we clothe ourselves with Christ by being buried with Him in baptism and putting to death our old self by no longer "allowing" sin to rule over us; sacrificing 'self' to Live for Christ; and we continue to be Christ's when we choose to live in the spirit by not continuing wilfully to commit acts that are ungodly as is stated in Galations 5:16-26 16This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would. 18But if you be led of the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, jealousies, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21Contentions, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Of course we are still Christians, but just because we have become Christians does not mean that the devil is no longer walking about seeking whom he may devour. And, if someone believes that we are totally absolved of ALL of our actions (including sinfulness) through the blood of Christ then why would Paul instruct the Galations in this passage to continue to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh?? Those who believe that once saved always saved are being deceived by Satan, and I am praying that their eyes be opened to the truth. In Christ, happy soul |
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5 | Ridding myself of guilt and fear | James 5:16 | happy soul | 235287 | ||
Hello BradK: If we read ALL of what the holy bible teaches us as the inspired words of God and ask God to enlighten our understanding, then we can clearly see that Christ purchased our salvation as an act of obedience and thereby, "...being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him," HEB 5:9. It does not say to those who believe on Him or those who want a pardon or those who want to escape hell. Those who do obey Him have repented of their sins; they have come into His kingdom and service. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned, MK 16:16. Now let’s take some of these words that we think we understand so well into the original to find out what they really mean in the original. It is very important. The word believeth is used twice in our text, but the meanings are just 180 degrees apart. "He that believeth, and...he that believeth not." The meanings are direct opposites in the original Greek. In the first instance the word believeth" is taken from the Greek word, "Pisteuo" which means "To have faith in, i.e., to entrust one’s spiritual well being to Christ, to believe, to trust in Christ." In the second instance, the word believeth is taken from the Greek word, Apisteo which means, "To be unbelieving, to disobey, a person unworthy of trust or obedience, unbelief, unfaithfulness, disobedience, incredible thing, an unbeliever." That is saying that the person who "believeth not" does not believe the Lord Jesus Christ is worthy of their obedience. It means that one would count Christ as incredible; it means one does not believe Him. What does it mean to repent? To have saving faith? It means to trust and obey Him as being worthy of all obedience. If we believe Him, we will keep His commandments. See John 14:15 "If you love me, keep my commandments." Can a person claim saving faith and still walk in disobedience? That is a contradiction of the meaning of the word. Do you see how Satan perverts the gospel? He has men believing that they are saved by grace and that baptism and obedient faith is irrelevant. It is confusion; you cannot disassociate obedience of faith with saving faith. When one talks of unbelief, you are talking of being disobedient because you do not believe He is worthy of your trust or obedience. Can you say you are placing all your spiritual trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and disobey Him? That is speaking with a forked tongue. Now you see the satanic deceit of teaching that you can walk contrary to the Word of God and still have saving faith. The gospel has as clearly identified faith with obedience as it has identified unbelief with disobedience. ROM 16:25-26 says, "Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith." And yes, Christ's sacrifice on the cross IS sufficient to cover all of our sins, but only when we believe through our obedient faith. |
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6 | Ridding myself of guilt and fear | James 5:16 | happy soul | 235279 | ||
BradK, The baptism is both water and spiritual. The act of water immersion is to comply with God's command that all be baptized for the forgiveness of sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (salvation) as is stated in Acts 2:38. You can only be included in the Kingdom of God through baptism (being born again) see John 3:1-8 This same water and spiritual baptism cleanses us from our past sins and guilt. Any future sins committed and the guilt that we might suffer after committing such sins can be alleviated through prayers and supplications to the Father and from prayers offered on our behalf by confessing our sins to others of like faith. It is true that we have redemption through Christ's blood for the forgiveness of our sins, but only through obedient faith by our baptism is this process completed in Him. In Christ, HappySoul |
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7 | Ridding myself of guilt and fear | James 5:16 | happy soul | 235257 | ||
I am assuming that you have not been baptized, hence the reason for your guilt? The only true way to rid ourselves of our guilt is to be penitent (turn from the life of sin) confess that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah) and son of God and know that He died for our sins and rose on the 3rd day and was taken up to heaven and is now reigning at the right hand of God. We must also be buried with Christ in baptism for the forgiveness of our sins and receive the gift of the holy spirit which will also help us in avoiding future temptations. In additon, when we sincerely accept Christ as our Saviour and Lord and act accordingly by being buried with Him in baptism, God says he will remember our sins no more. However, we must also remember that this does not mean that we can then continue in the same lifestyle that we lived previously as it requires dying to "self" and living for Christ. As much as we have died to self, we must now "put on Christ". As Paul stated, it is no longer "I" who lives, but "Christ" liveth in me. |
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