Originally posted by talisman
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I know where you are coming from. It sounds like the the problem here is....The Christians you are talking to don't know the true meaning of Christianity. They have been filled full of "Religion". Religion has perverted the Word of God. Religion and Christianity are two different things. Religion says you have to be good, wear your hair a certain length, dress a certain way, etc. basically placing salvation on your works. Christianity is placing your trust in Jesus' works. It is not about how we act or what we do, it is about how Jesus acted and what he did, Period. Religion makes things confusing and sad to say there is too much of it in the Christian church. One true I have found is the more you seek God the less you will sin on accident. But, many people go to these dead churches that try to place your Salvation on our own works, and the truth is we can never be good enough to earn our Salvation. Eric, the truth is, all you have to do to receive Salvation is to say these simple words, "Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart, forgive me for my sin, I receive you as my Lord and Savior." If you say that and believe it in your heart, you are saved. Your body(hear, taste, see, feel, smell) and soul(mind, will, emotion) will be the same or have little change, but your spirit will take on the same spirit of Christ and be perfected forever and you will be saved. PERIOD. You don't have to do anything else ever again and you will still be saved. Though I don't recommend that, because there is a true relationship you can have with God that is so great I can't put it in words. Going to Heaven is a good benifit don't get me wrong, but knowing God is personally awesome. There is a big difference between knowing of God and knowing him. Many religious churches will say you have to start acting good or doing something to "keep your Salvation" and that is false. The truth is, Jesus paid for everyones sin already. The only reason people go to Hell is for rejecting Jesus to become their Savior. There is no amount of sin that can send you to Hell that Jesus didn't pay for. Even Hitlers sin was paid for. But, was he truely a Christian...highly doubtful. That may sound like a crazy statement, but anyone that disagrees doesn't fully understand the sacrifice Jesus made for us. Jesus paid for our sin from yesterday, today, and forever. He paid for the sins we haven't even committed yet. Also, there is no amount of goodness that can get you into Heaven. I know some people that think they will make it because they are a kind person but refuse to take on a Savior. I think people are going to be amazed when they see nice people going to Hell that rejected Christ and bad people going to Heaven because they repented and became born again while on death row.
Col 2: 6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.
This means, just as you received your Salvation by Gods grace through your faith, you don't have to try and earn God's love, Salvation, etc by your goodness or works even after you get saved.
8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9Not of works, lest any man should boast
Again, by God's gift of grace we are saved through our faith in Jesus as our Savior, and not by our goodness or works, so nobody can say I earned my spot in heaven by being a Holy guy.
I think that Jesus only rebuked the scribes and pharisees because not only because they were trusting in themselves but because they turn more people away from God than bring people to Him. It is no different today. Now days the scribes and pharisees are still aroun they just go by a different title. You might know them as the people that turn you off when it comes to Christianity, I know them as hypocrites.lol
For anyone that wants to hear the true Gospel(good news) I recommend going to Andrew Wommacks website http://www.awmi.net/extra/audio
Hands down the best Minister I have ever heard. Everything he has is free and he talks normal.
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