@chaney3 saidYou are missing the point of the gospel, our efforts are not what cleans us from sins it is Jesus. We can be a poor example and be saved, because it is the Lord God who saves us not our works. If we are right with God, we are right with God, and that has to do with Him more than us. If we are not right with God I don't care how good our lives appear to be, not being right with God will end in us dying in our sins.
Tell this to Jesus.
@fmf saidBelieve me, this what you wrote here, is closer to the truth than the doctrine of Christianity. If a man lives his life keeping the commandments of Christ he is one of the sheep of Christ and he is guaranteed eternal life. He needs to profess nothing, he needs to know nothing about the death or resurrection of Christ, he needs to endure to the end and his place in the Kingdom of God is assured. This is the essence of the teachings of Christ and despite the teachings of the Church, it cannot fail.
As you know, and as I have always believed, Christianity is a code for living, a template for living one's life as an individual and as a member of communities - as laid out by Jesus - or it is nothing.
If it doesn't have a practical application and a tangible effect on how one lives one's life, then it is little more than convoluted self-centred technocratic meaningless [to ...[text shortened]... I think the Christian "code for living" is - for the most part - an excellent template for mankind.
Faith only teachings cannot defeat all the other more critical teachings of Christ and the Apostles.
- Love / Charity is greater than faith
- Good works [Charity] and righteousness are REQUIREMENTS for eternal life
- Love proves faith but faith does not prove love.
- Faith without words is dead / nothing / worthless
Church doctrines twist and dance around these basic truths, but to no avail.
-Removed-You have taken this from the teachings of Paul, and that is fine. Paul teaches the very same doctrine as Christ except Paul because he was teaching Gentiles needed to be more detailed on matters of faith and the death of Christ.
Your statements however ignores the teachings of Paul which speaks of saved, born-again Christian Saints in Christ who will not inherit the Kingdom of God unless they live righteously, or be destroyed if they defile themselves. So there is no reference to any permanent legal condition. That is unfortunately a false church doctrine.
The guarantee of eternal life, and the gift of eternal life is conditional on good conduct.
@kellyjay saidThank goodness God is not fair, ain't that right, KellyJay? If he were fair, he'd just torture all the humans he'd created, every single one of them, and prolong it for eternity, yes, KellyJay? That's one of your "absolute truths", isn't it?
You are missing the point of the gospel, our efforts are not what cleans us from sins it is Jesus. We can be a poor example and be saved, because it is the Lord God who saves us not our works. If we are right with God, we are right with God, and that has to do with Him more than us. If we are not right with God I don't care how good our lives appear to be, not being right with God will end in us dying in our sins.