05GTDRVR
12-19-2005, 09:30 PM
The thread I am reffering to had a poll of how many people believe in God. I'm not sure how many people on here are christians and how many Atheist or agnostics we have on the site. one thing I do know is what the Bible says. If you were to read the Bible you'd understand that unlike many other "religions" it doesn't state that the way to get to heaven is by doing good things.Ephesians 2:8-9 says " For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast"
It also says that "all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" And that "There are none good, no not one" "There is only one good and that is God" The reason is because of our sin we cannot be considered as "Good" when I say good I mean good enough to enter heaven without know Jesus as our savior. The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." A before and after picture of what sin does can be seen if you look at Adam and Eve. Before they had disobeyed God, they where walking with him in the garden. God said not to eat from the fruit of the forbidden tree lest they would surely die. Now when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the tree, they didn't die physically at that exact moment, but they did die. They died spiritually instantly. They were also cast out of the garden. But you may ask, what is sin? a perfect way to figure out what sin is, is to look at the 10 commandments, the Law that God has givin us. By looking at this law we realize that we have sinned and do fall short of the glory of God. The Bible says "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." The law shows us our impurities compared to God. God has never sinned and He is the light and in Him is no darkness. Some of the commandments are as follows. " Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour" In other words, Dont lie. Have you ever told a lie? " Thou shalt not steal" Ever stolen anything ?(Worth doesn't matter) " Thou shalt not commit adultery" Jesus said "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." So looking lustfully at a woman is adultery. Ever done that? "Thou shalt not kill" 1 John 3:15 says "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." Hatred is considered murder. You ever hated someone?
Romans 6:23 says " For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." When it speaks of death in this sense it is talking of eternal suffering in hell, which has been described as a lake of fire. Good news, the gift of God is eternal life through jesus Christ our Lord. God Loves us and doesn't want us to go to hell. Romans 5:8 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." He loves us so much that he sent His only Son to die on the cross for us. John 3:16 " For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." I love that word whosoever in that verse. That means EVERYONE !!
His son is Jesus Christ. Jesus unlike us, never committed or even thought of committing a sin. He is completely innocent, yet he died for us. He is the Lamb of God and the only acceptable sacrifice for our sins. Imagine if you commited a crime and you were sitting in the court room and the Judge set the fine at $2,000,000 or life in prison. Your sitting in the court room knowing that there is NOTHING you can do to free your self from going to jail. You can't pay the fine and you know for a fact where you are headed. Yet someone you don't even know steps up and pays the fine or takes your punishment for you. Would you be grateful? That is what Jesus did. We are the ones who have sinned against an Holy and upright God. Jesus never did anything wrong, yet because of His love for us he died for our sins. He took our place on the cross. He was crucified for our iniquities, but he rose again and proved that He is who he says he is and he is the Son of God. Jesus is God in the flesh. John 1:1,14 says " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.""And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
The Bible says "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Believing is more than just saying you believe. If you truly believe in the Lord Jesus you will repent and turn away from your sins. Matthew 3:17 says " From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." We are to have "repentance toward God and Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" repentance is more than just saying your sorry for your sin. It means to turn away from your sin and serve the Lord rather than serving sin. Faith is putting your trust in Jesus as your Lord and savior. If your on a plane, your not gonna jump out of the plane unless you have faith in the parachute. Much like someone isn't gonna let go of there sinfulness unless they truly love and have faith in Jesus Christ. " Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Now when we place our faith In Jesus Christ and turn away from the sinfulness of this world and our past life and ask for forgiveness of sins, we become Born again. This is something we must do. Jesus Christ said " Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." When we are born again we become a new creature 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." When we are that new creature we are dead to sin and we are born spiritually. Hence the term born again. Until we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ or until we are living in Christ, we are spiritually dead. When we are born again we come alive spiritually and are living in Christ, and Christ is living in us. Romans 6:5-6 "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."
Once born again and turned away from sin, we are to obey God. Romans 6:8 "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:"
Romans 6:13 "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." We can't serve sin and God. we must turn from our sinful desires and serve the Lord. "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"
God loves us all and made a way for us to avoid going to Hell. Because of our sin and transgression of the law, we don't deserve the chance to go to heaven. But because of God's grace and Love for us, He provided a way. I am thankful that we have a loving God that cares where we go. Don't stall to call upon the Lord. 2 Corinthians 6:2 "For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation." Don't be self righteous, look at the law. Noone is "good" enough to go to heaven without Jesus as their Lord and savior, you only have to sin one time to be a sinner and if you have sinned one time your guilty of commiting all sin. James 2:10 says " For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." The reason is because all sin is a disobediance against a Holy God and all sin is equal. Murder isn't worse than lying. Sin is Sin.
I Hope and wsh the best for whoever reads this and I pray that it touches your hearts like God has touched mine. I hope that you place your trust and Faith in Jesus. PM me if you have any qustions .
For those of you who claim to be christians yet think you can live a life of sin. There are verses that say that isn't true. 1 John 1:6 says "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:" 1 john 1:7 says "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Notice we are to walk in the light as He(God) is in the light. Jesus even said that "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." If we profess to be Christains we are basically saying we are that good tree. Ask your self what type of tree you are and what type of fruit you bear. Remember our life is a witness and colossians 3:1-17 says "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him."
Now am I saying that christains don't sin? No, but I am saying that if we are truly living in Christ and Love God, that we don't want to and try not to. If we do we feel conviction about it and want to confess our sin and repent of it. The reason being because we have sinned against the very God that has shown us the greatest love that can be shown by the sacrifice he made on the cross. We love Him so we don't want to disobey Him.
It also says that "all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" And that "There are none good, no not one" "There is only one good and that is God" The reason is because of our sin we cannot be considered as "Good" when I say good I mean good enough to enter heaven without know Jesus as our savior. The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." A before and after picture of what sin does can be seen if you look at Adam and Eve. Before they had disobeyed God, they where walking with him in the garden. God said not to eat from the fruit of the forbidden tree lest they would surely die. Now when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the tree, they didn't die physically at that exact moment, but they did die. They died spiritually instantly. They were also cast out of the garden. But you may ask, what is sin? a perfect way to figure out what sin is, is to look at the 10 commandments, the Law that God has givin us. By looking at this law we realize that we have sinned and do fall short of the glory of God. The Bible says "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." The law shows us our impurities compared to God. God has never sinned and He is the light and in Him is no darkness. Some of the commandments are as follows. " Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour" In other words, Dont lie. Have you ever told a lie? " Thou shalt not steal" Ever stolen anything ?(Worth doesn't matter) " Thou shalt not commit adultery" Jesus said "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." So looking lustfully at a woman is adultery. Ever done that? "Thou shalt not kill" 1 John 3:15 says "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." Hatred is considered murder. You ever hated someone?
Romans 6:23 says " For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." When it speaks of death in this sense it is talking of eternal suffering in hell, which has been described as a lake of fire. Good news, the gift of God is eternal life through jesus Christ our Lord. God Loves us and doesn't want us to go to hell. Romans 5:8 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." He loves us so much that he sent His only Son to die on the cross for us. John 3:16 " For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." I love that word whosoever in that verse. That means EVERYONE !!
His son is Jesus Christ. Jesus unlike us, never committed or even thought of committing a sin. He is completely innocent, yet he died for us. He is the Lamb of God and the only acceptable sacrifice for our sins. Imagine if you commited a crime and you were sitting in the court room and the Judge set the fine at $2,000,000 or life in prison. Your sitting in the court room knowing that there is NOTHING you can do to free your self from going to jail. You can't pay the fine and you know for a fact where you are headed. Yet someone you don't even know steps up and pays the fine or takes your punishment for you. Would you be grateful? That is what Jesus did. We are the ones who have sinned against an Holy and upright God. Jesus never did anything wrong, yet because of His love for us he died for our sins. He took our place on the cross. He was crucified for our iniquities, but he rose again and proved that He is who he says he is and he is the Son of God. Jesus is God in the flesh. John 1:1,14 says " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.""And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
The Bible says "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Believing is more than just saying you believe. If you truly believe in the Lord Jesus you will repent and turn away from your sins. Matthew 3:17 says " From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." We are to have "repentance toward God and Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" repentance is more than just saying your sorry for your sin. It means to turn away from your sin and serve the Lord rather than serving sin. Faith is putting your trust in Jesus as your Lord and savior. If your on a plane, your not gonna jump out of the plane unless you have faith in the parachute. Much like someone isn't gonna let go of there sinfulness unless they truly love and have faith in Jesus Christ. " Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Now when we place our faith In Jesus Christ and turn away from the sinfulness of this world and our past life and ask for forgiveness of sins, we become Born again. This is something we must do. Jesus Christ said " Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." When we are born again we become a new creature 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." When we are that new creature we are dead to sin and we are born spiritually. Hence the term born again. Until we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ or until we are living in Christ, we are spiritually dead. When we are born again we come alive spiritually and are living in Christ, and Christ is living in us. Romans 6:5-6 "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."
Once born again and turned away from sin, we are to obey God. Romans 6:8 "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:"
Romans 6:13 "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." We can't serve sin and God. we must turn from our sinful desires and serve the Lord. "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"
God loves us all and made a way for us to avoid going to Hell. Because of our sin and transgression of the law, we don't deserve the chance to go to heaven. But because of God's grace and Love for us, He provided a way. I am thankful that we have a loving God that cares where we go. Don't stall to call upon the Lord. 2 Corinthians 6:2 "For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation." Don't be self righteous, look at the law. Noone is "good" enough to go to heaven without Jesus as their Lord and savior, you only have to sin one time to be a sinner and if you have sinned one time your guilty of commiting all sin. James 2:10 says " For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." The reason is because all sin is a disobediance against a Holy God and all sin is equal. Murder isn't worse than lying. Sin is Sin.
I Hope and wsh the best for whoever reads this and I pray that it touches your hearts like God has touched mine. I hope that you place your trust and Faith in Jesus. PM me if you have any qustions .
For those of you who claim to be christians yet think you can live a life of sin. There are verses that say that isn't true. 1 John 1:6 says "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:" 1 john 1:7 says "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Notice we are to walk in the light as He(God) is in the light. Jesus even said that "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." If we profess to be Christains we are basically saying we are that good tree. Ask your self what type of tree you are and what type of fruit you bear. Remember our life is a witness and colossians 3:1-17 says "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him."
Now am I saying that christains don't sin? No, but I am saying that if we are truly living in Christ and Love God, that we don't want to and try not to. If we do we feel conviction about it and want to confess our sin and repent of it. The reason being because we have sinned against the very God that has shown us the greatest love that can be shown by the sacrifice he made on the cross. We love Him so we don't want to disobey Him.