Re: Faith without works is *WHAT*?

'By all accounts, "free-ride" Christians share a common belief that when
they die, if they but blindly believed in Jesus and this by however
lukewarm their faith (works? works be damned!)'

REPLY: The 'freeride' you speak of cost the Son of God plenty ; it took
the Creator entering time and space in order to be a substitionary
sacrifice for our many many sins including distancing ourselves from God
by pretending he doesnt even exist. There are no personal meritorious
works needed to be saved from ones sins, for, the entire credit
should/and must go to the one who died to set us free . It is ONLY
after one accepts Christ and what he did on ones behalf, that it should
be evidenced by a changed life involving many works done out of
thankfulness and love for God. Works is the result of having been
saved, and, not a requirement TO BE saved.

'whereas all unbelievers, when they die, they all burn in "hell" for all
eternity. I always enjoyed that "for all eternity" part, '

REPLY: You wont enjoy that 'all of eternity' part ; ALL of us deserve
to be eternally distanced from God for the blatant rebellious way we
have acted toward the Creator and for what we have done to others. Our
hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked when you examine the human
heart with its motives, actions, and thoughts. God gave us ONE way to
recieve complete forgiveness, and that is thru the shed blood of Christ
alone. If you refuse that (willful unbelievers), then you get what you
always wanted while here on earth : Distance from God ...except forever.
It is WE who determine our eternal destiny.

'The worst part is, these "free-riders" believe they can attain personal
freedom without personal responsibility. '

REPLY: Wrong. It takes great personal responsibility to admit you are a
Sinner who needs a divine Saviour for forgiveness ; it is the pride of
unbelievers that keep them from getting to this place because , as the
Bible says , "their deeds were evil" and they wanted to keep doing
them.

-snip-

'In conclusion, the Atheists believe they're "off the hook" for all
their bad karma, because they don't believe in a hereafter. They don't
believe in sin, karma, or indebtedness to the great Spirit. Similarly,
the "free-riders" believe they're "off the hook" for their sins, or bad
karma, because they believe that "Jesus died for my sins" means
something other than literally.'

REPLY: First, there is no such thing as 'an atheist' ; everyone knows
intrinsically and thru the evidence of Creation that there must be a
personal Theistic Creator who is above and beyond the Universe and who
is personal and very powerful. An 'atheist' is simply someone who
doesnt wish to admit it to himself or publicly, so he/she can have full
autonomy to live their life as they deem fit in accordance to the
dictates of thier Will -- apart from God or his moral mandates. All
Atheists if they were honest with themselves, can see a dark side to
thier personality ... a side of self centeredness , egotism, narcissism
, and rebellion at the root of their Being. It is the same situation
for ALL of Mankind. The difference is : Some people come to terms with
it and take Gods free gift in Christ which bridges them to God and
Heaven -- not that Believers deserve it anymore than atheists do. Its a
Life Preserver thrown to all of mankind...and its our choice whether we
want to reach out and grasp it or not.

'Then compare your beliefs with the beliefs of Atheists. Get the
picture? Do you really believe you're going to get a free ride? If I
were you, I'd be reevaluating your priorities about now...'

REPLY: 'Atheists' and Myself both have the same belief : That there
has to be a personal Designer/Creator of this splendid fine tuned
Universe made for our life sustenance , and, that in each one of us
sits a dark side to our personality known as Sin which is self evident.
That is the true picture. There is no 'free ride' to Heaven because no
one deserves it, but , God made a provision for us to get there and he
didnt use human wisdom to achieve it. It came with a tremendous cost to
him. I have re-evaluated my priorities , as, i once labeled myself 'an
atheist' for many years --- but i had to come to terms with the
pretending that I was pretty special and without Sin ... and that I had
to stop justifying my less than desirable lifestyle by making up excuses
like ' there is no God ' .

Take Gods free undeserved offer and youll never regret you did. Its
there for you and everyone else ; to deny God all of your life is THE
worse thing imaginable and is an eternal offense. The ball is in OUR
court ... what are we going to do with Jesus ?

Regards.

.

Relevant Pages

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