Featured How can we be truly saved?

>So a pharisee is one who capitalizes pronouns for God? Oh really? I know MANY who have done so and I continue to do it - honoring God's name. Even a pronoun referring to Him should be capitalized, IMO.

It is going beyond the requirements of the law (in this case standard English grammar) to demonstrate one's sanctity to others. The Pharisees called it "putting a fence around the Law." If the Law demands 30 stripes max" we say "29 stripes max." If grammar requires that proper nouns be capitalized then we capitalize proper pronouns.

 

Longhino,

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on my post #10...have I missed anything important?

-Andy

 

You use phrases like "you all" to seemingly separate yourself from us normal BB posters. Do you feel that you have the special gnostic knowledge that allows you to see our pharisaism? Are you not claiming to see things more clearly than the rest of us...namely you see that we cannot really see things clearly?

Also, 1 John was written so that we might "know" that we have eternal life. clearly there are things that God wants us to know, and he has given his word so that we may know them. There also things in his word that are not so clear, and on those we must hold our opinions humbly.

Also, is it not imitating a pharisee to demean a fellow believer for using a capitol letter when you believe he should use a lower-case? Does it really matter either way? From what I have read, either practice is correct and acceptable, but one should be consistent within their writing.

I realize many christians, Probalby me included, forcefully defend positions that are not quite so clear in scripture as we believe them to be...but taking the opposite extreme of not really stating any beliefs is not, I believe, the way to go.

 

What are you driving at? I have seen MANY sufficient answers, and yet you want more. We are saved by grace through faith. W/O faith, we can not be saved. W/O grace, we can not be saved. Faith, in and of itself, saves no one. Grace saves, but one must have faith in the One who gives us His Grace.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

 

For man to be saved in time, we first must be saved before the world began by the Eternal Purpose of God 2 Tim 1:9

9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

The Elect form the standpoint of God's Eternal Purpose are born already saved from their sins. They are saved by Grace given them in Christ before the world began !

 

One is not saved because they please God by Faith. That is works Salvation ! You believe that getting saved is a reward, a wage.

The word rewarder in Heb 11:6 is the greek word misthapodotēs and means:

one who pays wages, a rewarder

Salvation is not a wage God pays a persn for work or faith !

 

We are saved by God's grace, but we only have access to this grace by faith.

Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

It is like this, suppose I promised to send you $100 if you simply sent me your name and address (I am not making this promise!). You did not earn the $100, I did. I am not offering this money to you because of any merit on your part, just because I am a nice guy.

Now, if you don't believe me, you of course are not going to give me your name and address. But if you have even the slightest faith that I am telling the truth, you are going to send me your information. Now, writing me is a work, but the faith that compelled you to write is not a work. Do you understand that?

And you could not have had this confidence unless I first made the offer. So my offer enables you to have faith or not, but the faith is your own.

If you believe me and give me your information, then you receive the free gift.

It is the same with God's grace. It is there and has appeared to all men (Titus 2:11), but only those who believe God's promise and apply for it receive it. If you do not believe you will not apply for it, if you do believe you will.

Jhn 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

You have to ask to receive. But you will only ask if you believe God is telling you the truth. This is faith.

Once again, I am not offering anyone here money, this was just an analogy. :tongue3:

 

>You use phrases like "you all" to seemingly separate yourself from us normal BB posters

As a second class BB member to all genuine Baptist full priveledged BB members.



>Also, 1 John was written so that we might "know" that we have eternal life.

One of my favorite books. If we continue doing/trying to do good works we can know that we have eternal life.

>Also, is it not imitating a pharisee to demean a fellow believer for using a capitol letter when you believe he should use a lower-case? Does it really matter either way? From what I have read, either practice is correct and acceptable, but one should be consistent within their writing.

If you do it because you think it is more spiritual . . . isn't that what Jesus criticized the pharisees for doing? Jesus taught one should your "spiritualizing" in secret. So if one wants to be more spiritual than the writers of the KJV . . . It simply annoyed me in a book that was written to "save" the USA.

 

All those saved by God's Purpose before the world began, are then saved experimentally by New Birth or Regeneration Titus 3:5

5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us,HOW? by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

All those Christ died for, He rose again for, and they are saved by His Life, they by His Resurrection are begotten again 1 Pet 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

This begotten us again is Regeneration or New Birth, that saves the Elect Titus 3:5 !

 

So what exactly have I missed? I'm still not clear on that.

 

Then finally, all whom are saved by the Purpose of God, and then by the Spirit of God, as fruit of Christ's Redeeming Death, then they shall be saved at the return of Christ from this body of Death Rom 7:25

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

The word deliver there is another way of saying save !

Jesus second coming is foretold as a Deliverance for the Holy people Dan 12:1-3

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

 

-It may be helpful to note that "faith" is not a "thing" that we must "have", in the sense that it is not a mystical power that we need to get enough of the right kind. Faith is useless unless it is "Faith IN something". Faith simply means trust. Do I trust Jesus's sacrifice to atone for my sins, or do I not trust him and rely on my own works to atone for my sins? Faith is trust, reliance...and the OBJECT of the faith is much more important than the strength of the faith.

ILLustration: 2 men crossing a frozen river: One is very frightened, and steps cautiously, even getting down on all fours to spread out his weight. He has a weak faith in the ice. He is then shocked to see another man galloping past him on a horse. The second man knows the ice is plenty thick to hold him. He has a strong faith. Both men make it safely across the river because The ice was strong, and they had enough faith to trust the ice, even if it was weak faith.

We are not saved by our great faith, but by faith in a great savior.

 

So how do we come to Jesus?

...and what does "coming to Jesus in the reality of his own way of existence" even mean? It that in the Bible somewhere?