First of all, thank you for your replies....all of you :) It really means alot to me. I listen to, ponder and respect all opinions :)
Second, I don't believe that everything bad in my life is God punishing me. I have never been one of those people who believes that ever. I never blame God for anything bad that happens. I understand that He made us all free will agents and if He happens to allow something to happen to me because of the decisions I or someone else has made, than He has faith in me that I can get through that particular trial. And knowing that gives me more strength to get through it.
Third, everything in my life matches up with my Christianity and beliefs. I know that it isn't all gonna be roses and rainbows and I know that I'm not perfect and never will be.
Forth, I have never been told, by a fellow brother or sister in Christ, that I was unworthy or ever thought that any of them were any better than me. I know better than that and they have always been so humble, caring and awesome. We know that no one is perfect and that we all make mistakes. We also know that none of us is above another.....even the preacher is just a fellow brother in Christ, who happens to be good at bringing the message to us on Sundays, but he is no higher than anyone else.
I just have my ups and downs, as does every Christian. And I happen to have issues that I don't want to go into detail about in a public post.
I just moved and in my new congregation there are only 30-40 members and no one has HA. My old congregation had 350-400 members and still no one had HA. I just thought a good place to look would be an Anxiety forum.
And in response to our beliefs on salvation. I'm listing some scripture that will hopefully help shed some light on the subject.
-All of 1 John
-Galatians 5:4
- Hebrews 6:4-6
-Hebrews 10:26
- 2 Peter 2:20-22
Once again, thank you very much for your replies :)
Hello Christina. I'm not sure about what the Church of Christ teaches, but if it teaches that we can lose salvation or that our good works will get us saved or that our bad works will exclude us from salvation, then that teaching is in error. I would like to end your fear hear and now through scripture, which is what you said is the only thing you go by. Those passages you quoted at the end are not talking about a Christian losing his or her salvation. Most are talking about a Christian losing his or her fellowship with God. I would have to tackle those one at a time for you to explain why they mean fellowship and not salvation. But this post I would instead like to discuss why we cannot lose our salvation. Firstly, if salvation came by works do you think that God would have to send His Son down here to bear the cross for our sins? We would be able to save ourselves if that's the case. Jesus did for us what we cannot do for ourselves and that was to make us righteous, pure and holy before a holy God. Jesus imputed to us His righteousness. Please consider these scriptures that show that we cannot lose our salvation: (Later, I can tackle each of those scriptures that has you in fear of losing salvation.)
Philippians 3:9, "...and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ---the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."
Ephesians 1:13b, "Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are GOd's possession--to the praise of his glory." Please study this verse. Having believed you were marked with a seal, who is the Holy Spirit. Anything that God seals, man or woman, including yourself, cannot break. Only God can break His own seals. Nothing we can do or don't do will break this seal of the Holy Spirit that is in us. God gives us this seal as a deposit, guaranteeing our inheritance. God wants us to be secure, knowing that we are saved because He bought us at the cross by paying the blood of His Son as the price for our sins. And look at the last part. This seal is sealed until the day of redemption. So if you happened to sin tomorrow, let's say, that won't break this seal because then this verse would no longer be accurated if it did. You are sealed until the day of redemption. Need more convincing? Look at Ephesians 4:30, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." This verse said that it is possible to grieve the Holy Spirit, through sin of course, and you are still sealed for the day of redemption. Nothing you can do can break that seal. Once you believe, you have the Holy Spirit who is your seal of salvation for the day of redemption.
Ephesians 2:8, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God---not by works, so that no one can boast." The reason why God does not allow one to get saved through their works, which is impossible anyways, but is so that no one can boast. No one will be able to say, "I got to heaven because I did ________ and gave to ________ and stopped doing _______." God does it. THerefore there is nothing to boast about. It is a gift. All gifts are free. THe moment someone charges you for your birthday gift that they are giving you, it is no longer a gift. Gifts come without compensation.
Romans 11:6, "And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; If it were, grace would no longer be grace." Paul says that by adding any works to grace cancels the grace. Grace is completely devoid of works.
John 6:28-29, "Then they asked him [Jesus], "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of GOd is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
Faith in Christ is the only way to salvation. ANd once saved, He seals us until the day of Redemption. We must believe that Jesus paid the payment for sin for us. He is the true sacrificial Lamb of God. He covers all sins--past, present and future. 1 Peter 3:18, "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God." Jesus only had to die once for us, and that covers all sins.
Titus 3:5, "...he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
There are tons more scripture that shows that we cannot lose our salvation. I don't mind covering the verses you mentioned just so you can rest your mind on those, but I would like to hear your response from what I said here first. God bless.
Chat Now!
Member Gallery
AZ Connections
Games
AZ Member Blogs
Health
News
AZ Discussions
Topic: The church of Christ???? (Read 796 times)
April 11, 2009, 10:19:17 AM
