The salvation that God offers doesn't require any works on our part,
except an expression of our faith,
which, too,
is from Him,
as is the salvation.
You know AIMiel, this is the first HONEST statement I have seen you come up with. Very very good. Are you turning to Calvinism now?
We aren't any better than the lost, by virtue of being saved, merely chosen.
Again very good. I am sorry for not seeing this sooner. There is HOPE for AIMiel.
You know I can't imagine beanieboy, being what he is and all, being CHOSEN by God to HEAR and UNDERSTAND, yet he has the greater predicament having been called from THAT position (no pun intended)
I don't think too many of his worldly compatriots would understand his calling but he has it nonetheless.
Do you think this CALLING upon him is to DAMN HIS FELLOW SINNERS to BURN IN HELL or to REPRESENT God's Love even to THEM?
It is The Lord Who finds us 'guiltless,' by virtue of reception of His Son's Blood, as the payment for our sin. We have paid our debt to sin (death) because Jesus died in our place, if we have faith in Him. That faith is not our own, but The Lord has given it to us. There is no one who can lay anything to the charge of one of God's elect, because He has wiped our account of that sin, and we don't owe on it anymore. He looks at us as if we have never sinned. Our friends (as well as ourselves) often have a hard time forgetting that 'sin nature' that used to be our taskmaster, but our enemies make it their full-time job trying to accuse us of sin and cause us to doubt our salvation. We try to cause them to step out of their lifestyle that leads to death and hell, by loving them enough to tell them the truth, even though they hate us enough to tell us lies to try to cause us to fall back to what we used to walk in. Lord have mercy on us all.
You see AIMiel, I do not think that I am better than anyone else. Paul called himself the CHIEF of SINNERS. He NEVER called himself SINless. He KNEW that SIN INDWELT HIM and that EVIL was still PRESENT WITH HIM
EVEN after he came to KNOW CHRIST. Paul even had a MESSENGER of SATAN in his own flesh just to KEEP HIM WEAK.
You see it is WHEN WE ARE WEAK that we are STRONG.
Does SIN still occupy our flesh? Of course it does. Who are we kidding?
What does SIN have to do with THE LOVE OF GOD TO ALL PEOPLE???
Nothing. Absolutely NOTHING.
In FACT....
"where SIN ABOUNDS
grace does MUCH MORE abound." (from Rom.)
No SIN will make the BLOOD OF CHRIST of NO EFFECT. Never has, never will.
Not only that but
it is just PLAIN WRONG to use SIN as an excuse TO NOT LOVE another person as WHILE WE WERE YET ENEMIES, Christ died FOR US eh?
What makes us think Christ DID NOT DIE for His OTHER enemies??? Or
does Christ ONLY LOVE His friends???
No.
Christ LOVES even HIS enemies. He advises us to DO THAT as well.
Love is MORE than just saying to another person BELIEVE GOD and SAVE YOURSELF FROM HIM or BURN IN HELL forever. I simply REFUSE to believe that THIS IS LOVE. It is NOT! READ what LOVE IS in 1 Cor. 13 and you WILL NOT FIND THAT as a description.
It is ONLY THE LOVE OF GOD to us that LEADS US to LIVE a "better life." It is BETTER because of HIS LOVE to ALL
...and this GOD/AGAPE LOVE is not FICKLE changing JUDGMENTAL love like the love of Poly and Sibbie and NINevah...or yours or mine...
enjoy!
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