Quote from: 1aguar on September 22, 2015, 03:22:44 AM

Quote from: MakingMoneyHoney on September 22, 2015, 02:24:14 AM

That's BADecker's point. Christianity teaches salvation by grace, not by works and it's not a minor difference, it's the main message.

It is wishful thinking to "sit around" and be saved just by your "belief", which is really nothing at all; it is not like you are actually using that belief to "meditate upon God's law day and night" in order to be blessed (Psalms 1).

Plus, it is not Biblical. "It is never mere lack of belief in Jesus (as that is usually understood today) that he said would cause a person to go to hell. Merely believing, or not believing, in Jesus is not sufficient to save or damn a person, as many passages show."

In Matthew and Luke, "Jesus does not say that these cities would be brought down to Hades because they didn't believe in him. Instead, he says that this would happen because they didn't repent."

Now, even BADecker has told me that I must turn my life around according to what Jesus tells me; however, this sounds to me like another way of saying that one does have to obey God's Law and make effort towards that end after all! Is it not said "All have fallen short of God's glory"?

God is all-forgiving mercy, and he resides within YOU; thus, you will EARN your spiritual unity by standing responsible for obeying the laws of God, not by some "belief" that tricks you into thinking that someone else has taken responsibility for YOU.

I have asked and asked and asked, and neither MMH nor BADecker have anything to say in response to the intelligent Christians who have posted their answers to this question on SE, nor do these two care to answer my questions about how a "savior" is magical thinking, or to contradict my notion that it is not the BEING of Jesus that has any merit, but rather his Oneness with God:

http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/15353/did-jesus-actually-ever-say-if-you-dont-believe-in-me-you-go-to-hell

You MUST turn your life around to be saved. The more you try, the more you find that you can't do it 100% as is required. Meditating on the law shows you that you can't keep the law. Even if you could, you won't. Since you don't keep the law, you are damned. The next step is to find the way to be saved, the gift of God through faith in Jesus Christ His son.