He’s a good deal more moderate and reasonable than Chick and doesn’t hold to his conspiracy theories.
Presbyterian but I agree with Rev. MacArthur a good deal.
You misspelt that… it’s irreverent.
fair enough, and… good comeback 
Over the last day I’ve convinced myself that I may not have really understood the fact that Jesus died for my sins and thus I’m now frightened that if I haven’t stood that fact I am unsaved and thus I’ve been basically been praying for salvation. Am I deluded or have I come to reality?
You worry too much, kid. It’ll all be fine. Try and have some youthful fun while you have the chance.
You’re trying to hard and 2nd guessing yourself. Relax. Read the words of JC in the NT and try to live them. Care for others and take good care of yourself. You don’t need to understand everything today. Put the question in your mind and be patient about discovering the answer.
…
I’ll put it this way: even if God existed, do you think He’d be the sort of guy that would hold this sort of grudge against you for having (perfectly reasonable, given the balance of evidence) doubts?
Curtis, I don’t know that this is the best board for you to seek reassurance about your faith on. This board isn’t really the friendliest to evangelical Christianity. But it seems to me, from my reading of the bible and my understanding of it, you shouldn’t worry so much. You believe Jesus died for your sins and try to live your life in accordance with Jesus’s teachings, right? Maybe you don’t understand fully what it means that Jesus died for your sins, but that’s ok, because what you do understand of it, you believe.
In the first letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul said:
Life is about growing, and changing, and coming to a more deep understanding of the world around you and of God. And someday, when you die, which hopefully will be many years away, you’ll be with God in heaven and understand fully. But until that day happens, you’re ignorant, I’m ignorant, we’re all ignorant. But God doesn’t require full understanding to have faith, because if He did, how could anyone have faith? We’re all ignorant. But have faith to the limit of your understanding. Have hope in heaven, and faith that God loves you and wants the best for you, and do your best to love the people around you.
One of the things that Jesus says a lot in the Gospels…it’s maybe one of the things he says most, even, is “Don’t be afraid.” In John 14, he speaks to his disciples and reminds them “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Be at peace, Curtis, and don’t be afraid.
So you think salvation is an intellectual excersize? That is you don’t exactly understand what Jesus and God are all about, you’re doomed?
Because I can guarantee you that there are no human beings on Earth who understand God.
Pay no attention to what I wrote last, and read Captain Amazing’s post instead.
What I’m saying is what if I had thought the Gospel was that Jesus Christ was Son of God but did not believe that He died for our sins which is Gospel 101? Is that what believed a few months, a year ago, two years ago? Or is it something I’m realizing to-day? This isn’t some arcane part of the Gospel but a simple, basic principle of it.
Curtis, I just got off the phone with Jesus. He told me to tell you not to worry about it. He’ll take care of whether you’re saved or not, you take care of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and suchlike. Deal?
I obviously don’t know what you believed a few months ago or a year ago. I guess the question is, what do you believe now? It seems to me that you’re worried worried that you thought you were saved last year, but now aren’t sure that you were, so now you don’t trust yourself…you’re worried that, what if you think you’re saved now but you’re really not. And you’re worried that you never had some great conversion experience; that you didn’t have a Paul in Damascus moment, where you suddenly had some ecstatic knowledge of God’s presence. Am I right that that’s what’s worrying you?
Every Christian comes by faith differently. For some people it is a sudden conversion experience like that, and for other people it’s just plugging along and doing your best.
Basically yes my friend. But wouldn’t you be damned one moment before and saved the next? So I can’t help but think when that moment was. I hope you understand.
Curtis Jesus only said you had to do two things to be saved, and neither one of them involved theological doctrine. You’re worrying too much. Do you really think God bases his criteria for salavtion not on people’s hearts, but on parsing whether or not they have some precisely correct set of theological understanding and beliefs?
Don’t let some self-appointed blowhard tell you exactly what you’re supposed to think and feel to be a Christian. Jesus already gave really simple instructions. I also know (even though I might be a non-believer myself) that the heart of Christian salvation theology is repentance. You don’t have to think to repent. Not that you’re likely to have anything to repent about at your age, but it’s really about humility and compassion, and compassion is more important than humility.
Remember the two things Jesus said you have to do to gain eternal life, and also remember the parable of the sheep and the goats. Those are the words of Jesus himself, not some flatulent, self-appointed blowhard.
Basically yes my friend. But wouldn’t you be damned one moment before and saved the next? So I can’t help but think when that moment was. I hope you understand.
[/QUOTE]
You’re saved by how you respond to whatever God shows you. If God’s given you the understanding about Jesus as His Son but not yet about His dying for you, then you’re saved by how you respond to that.
You’re overthinking, Dude! Let God’s Grace do its stuff & stop trying to force it! It’s not by your works, your smarts- it’s by the Compassion of God thru Jesus.
It would seem cruel and unjust to me if our salvation hinged on what we believed from one moment to the next.
When I was a Christian I never quite understood how Jesus death could pay for our sins but I just accepted it because that’s what all the good people around me, my extended family in Christianity, believed without question. After a lot of study and reflection concerning the NT I have come to believe that what Jesus points to in the NT is an inner spiritual transformation that is reflected in our choices and actions. It’s not an instant process hanging on a particular belief, but a life long journey of discovery and transformation by seeking communion with god within yourself.
It doesn’t do you any good to worry over whether you believe exactly the right thing. You can be fairly sure you don’t, and neither does anyone else.
Just keep on going loving your neighbor as yourself and being honest with yourself and others.
And let us not forget Matthew 8:8; “And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed.” And how does Christ respond? Matthew 8:10: “And when Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, ‘Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.’”
The point of this passage is that healing (or salvation, which is the metaphorical point here) is not any human being’s to determine. It is God’s, and God’s alone.
Curtis, what you’re missing here is that you cannot determine God’s assessment of your salvation, nor can any human being - not your pastor, not your parents, nor any pastor or other human who has ever lived, except, arguably, Jesus Himself. Only God can do so, and God’s determination is inherently based upon your status as an imperfect human being. He knows you’re imperfect, and loves you anyway. What matters is your honest intent, not whether you’ve unlocked a secret cheat code in the game of life.
Indeed, also in Matthew, Jesus seems to be warning against even being concerned about what church you’re in. Matthew 8:11-13 -
“And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And the servant was healed in that hour.”
Note that what Christ teaches here boils down to “People who think they’re in the club won’t necessarily be saved, and people outside the club will be.” What Jesus is clearly concerned about in Matthew 8 is not abiding by theological lines of demarcation, but that honest faith in God’s love and grace is what will end up mattering. This was a* profoundly* radical thing to say in His time, believe me.
Do you really believe Jesus died for us, effectively buying our way into heaven with his own life?
Well then, he obtained your salvation already, and all you have to do is accept it and follow his very simple rules (and HE said there are ONLY TWO of them). So what is there to be scared of? NOTHING.
You don’t have to understand it. Some things are just not to be understood. God works in mysterious ways and all that. Some things can be accepted or rejected by logic. Some things can be accepted or rejected by faith. And some things just will never “compute”.
nm