"Jesus Saves' really means it makes the ride easier?

Hi all.

The other day I had the pleasure to meet some very nice and very religous folks. Well, at one point something comes up and this prompts a “let me tell you about Jesus” story. I was sweating it for a bit, fearing the neverending lecture, the hard sell, the tough questions an on an on. Fortunately, it was just a nice short story and the conversation moved on.

But, it got me thinking about this whole “Jesus saves” business. One camp seems to contend that belief alone saves your soul. Another camp seems to be more of the believing in Jesus also helps you to be a better person in your life and the actual belief itself may or may not be a critical aspect of your salvation. And I am sure there are plenty of variations of these two and other stuff as well.

However, it occurred to me that I don’t think I’ve heard something along the following lines. You live your life. You may or may not be judged by you actions in this world for your salvation in the next (that part isnt critical to my question). Believing in Jesus doesnt inherently get you into the afterlife. Nor does believing in Jesus inherently make you a better person who does better things (or easier for you to do so).

Okay, so what does believing in Jesus do for you? It just makes this life easier to bear. You know God/Jesus loves/cares for you and thats the only real benefit/saving aspect of the belief. Now, plenty of Jesus folks certaintly throw that part in the mix as well but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that as the only selling point. Then again, I do very little Jesus talking in real life or on the net for that matter, so I may be missing something rather common.
I guess an analogy would be you have to take critical college class (life). You hear the prof is hard, the homework and tests are difficult, and he’s a hard ass that doesnt care if you pass or fail. Or you have a prof for the same class thats easy going, likes students, and wants everyone to pass.

The first ones gonna have you sweating bullets. The second one is going to generate much less anxiety (of course you could still be slacker and bomb out), but at least the ride wouldnt be terrifying. Believing in Jesus and being saved just means you know you’ve got the hippy professor, not Cranky Dr FlunksEmAll. And of course in a more general sense, you could have believing in God “saves” in the same limited way as well.

Just a random thought/question.

If the mods need to move this, please do.

Moved to IMHO.

samclem Moderator

Belief in Jesus and acceptance of Jesus as Lord means that you are God’s Son (or Daughter), with the same rights and privileges as Jesus Himself as you are Him. It means that you will be taught right from wrong by the Father, by whatever means needed. Till you learn His ways you are not held accountable as you don’t know enough, once you do know enought and you stray and turn from His ways you will see the result of your action and be pressured, sometimes very strongly to try His way instead.

It also gets you the Spirit of God, called by Christians and quoted by Jesus as the Holy Spirit, the one (whole) spirit that runs through all that have chosen the way of Love and life. This makes things happen for you, as you are now part of a coordinated and perfect effort of God.

Belief in Jesus, nor baptism, does not guarantee you will not spend time in Hell, it does guarantee you will not spend eternity there. Jesus Himself is the prime example, descending into hell and death for 3 days, though He was baptized both by water and by the Holy Spirit and certainly believed.

I think it’s been pretty well established that religious faith (of whatever sort) tends to reduce stress and improve satisfaction with life. Is that what you mean? Because if that’s literally all that you’re thinking of someone getting from their faith, then there are probably a number of atheists/agnostics who would agree.

I am a graft, and I humbly thank the chosen people of the world for this.
TBS, the only way for any of us to be saved is to proclaim Jesus as our savior and LORD and to do that publicly!
We do that with baptism and this is something that has to be done in full submition to God!
I was baptized as an infant, however I do not believe that is what the Bible teaches. I have been baptized just a few years ago and I am Born Again (John 3-3).
There is no human being walking the earth that can save you but YOU, a minister can help you but it has to be YOU! unless Jesus has returned which some believe is going to be very soon.

We all have access to a Bible and that is where we get our information.
We must be free of sin and Pray for the Holy Spirit to be with use when we study the Bible.

For wonderful sermons by a sound Bible teaching pastor I love to listen to Charles Price http://livingtruth.ca/
I have this recorded every Sunday morning just in case I am not home.

So YES, When we are saved by the sacrifice Jesus made on the Cross our ride is so so much easier. We then know that true freedom is in our Love for God with all our heart, soul and mind and loving our neighbors and even our enemy’s!

I remember the handlettered sign I saw along the road once in, of all places, North Carolina: Jesus Saves. Moses Invests.

At least according to evangelical sections of the protestant church, which are arguably the majority of practicing Christians in the US, the actual belief IS critical to your salvation.

This is the BIG THING. Back to John 3:16, the most popular verse in the Bible:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus is his son. If you believe in him, you will have eternal life, you will not go to Hell.

Does it make this life easier? Yes and no. Some describe it as the difference between joy and happiness. Happiness if fleeting and situational. You go up and you go down because of the things that happen in this life.

But joy, that is something that is more deep down. it is always there because you know who you are, a child of God. You know what lies for you at the end of this rocky road, no matter what happens in the meantime.