i went through and looked found nothingOnly two posts before yours. Hardly difficult backtracking. But if can't be bothered...
Join For His Glory for a discussion on how
https://christianforums.net/threads/a-vessel-of-honor.110278/
https://christianforums.net/threads/psalm-70-1-save-me-o-god-lord-help-me-now.108509/
Read through the following study by Tenchi for more on this topic
https://christianforums.net/threads/without-the-holy-spirit-we-can-do-nothing.109419/
Join Sola Scriptura for a discussion on the subject
https://christianforums.net/threads/anointed-preaching-teaching.109331/#post-1912042
Strengthening families through biblical principles.
Focus on the Family addresses the use of biblical principles in parenting and marriage to strengthen the family.
Read daily articles from Focus on the Family in the Marriage and Parenting Resources forum.
i went through and looked found nothingOnly two posts before yours. Hardly difficult backtracking. But if can't be bothered...
nothing interminable about it scripture does not support infant baptism . baptism follows salvation not precedes. so why does a infant need baptist ? a child is safe up untill they start understanding the need to be saved and that variesanother interminable baptism argument.
What do you believe is required for a person to be saved?
I'll qualify my statement by quoting a warning from God - Romans 14:22, "The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God, happy is he who doesn't condemn himself in what he approves
JLB my brother in Christ.
This for me is a very deep and "LOADED question because there has been such a devisive and hateful commentary of opinions for centuries over this topic.
I'll qualify my statement by quoting a warning from God - Romans 14:22, "The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God, happy is he who doesn't condemn himself in what he approves."
Over my more than 40 years of reading scripture, studying scripture, researching scripture, studying the history of the bible, studying the history of Christianity, and world history of different era's, and through all of that creating a personal library of over 550 volumns of commentaries by reputable scholars and my commentary conclusions of what i believed after studying their opinions, and studying every topic God brought to me through the Holy Spirit.
Mu biggest topic and focus, like a major when I was in college, is salvation, which I have created over 60 volums of study.
I am what is known as a soteriologist (Greek transliteration for a person who studies salvation in the Koine Greek language of Jesus time).
After I found the Lord (Because He had called me through caring, loving believers), and accepted Him as my savior, during the first year of walking with the Lord, I noticed in my church and other Christian functions, that what was preached and said didn't always seem to be in harmony with Gods word, and that greatly concerned me.
Was I really a Christian, and was I in the right church?
So I began a "Quest" to find the answers I needed to find peace and satisfaction that whatever I ended up believing would be the truth, that I would be lead to by the Holy Spirit, not by the falibility of man.
42+ years of study has takin' me through many changes in my beliefs about salvation, especially, - my favorite topic by a large margin. So much is connected to it.
At my advanced age now, I have been blessed with the answers I sought for decades, feeling blessed to have been allowed to have the time to study in my many years of retirement, and feeling blessed to have lived so long in amazingly good health to properly search out His word, and today, believe I have many good years left to continue to add to defining in my research the details of salvation that God continues to add as I study.
Now to answer your question, and to make sure everyone understands that my answer isn't meant to stand in judgement or criticism of anyone else's faith and personal beliefs
My personal opinion of what salvation is and how to practice it changed several times as God was patient with me until the "Knowledge of the truth" was REVEALED to me in total over many years by the Holy Spirit, and today I find great joy and peace in this BEAUTIFUL and GLORIOUS on-going growth in "my process and stages" of salvation.
At 77 years of age, I believe simply that..............................................................................................................
Acts 2:38, "Repent, and let each of you be BAPTIZED in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit," is the foundation of my faith.
He didn't say believe here, although I do think and know that believing is necessary, not as a way of being saved, but a precursor to salvation, by believing, we are lead to the next stage to being saved through immersion water baptism INTO CHRIST, Romans 6:3, and HIS DEATH, Romans 6: 3-11, and receiving the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:38, to lead us, and be a reminder to us, and guide us in our growth for a lifetime.
This is my foundation of faith that I will live by and die by at this stage of my life and my faith,!!!
God bless you for asking JLB.
May we all be blessed by our Lord as we LOVINGLY seek out His truth for our faith, and the true salvation we can all be confident in for the gift of our eternal glory.
My name is OLIGOS
:nod
Thank you for sharing.
Are you familiar with an Evangelist by the name of Rheinhard Bonnke?
I once heard.....to become as little children is to be dependent on your parent. Similarly, A Christian must become dependent on Christ and what He did.
Man baptizes us in water.
Jesus Baptizes us with the Spirit.
The Spirit baptizes us into Christ.
We are saved when the Spirit baptizes us in Christ.
Afterward we are baptized in water by man.
Then we are baptized by Jesus with the Holy Spirit.
And how does that work when practically all Bible-believing Christians disobey Christ to their hearts content, teach others to do likewise and condemn the few that do try to obey Christ?
Your theology is not only unscriptural, it is rather complicated as well. Do you expect to see many others in heaven with you, or is salvation only for the smart guys that can figure it all out like you have done?
What did you find unkind about my post? That I am honest? That I disagree? That dare to I express my disagreement?Tradidi my brother.
Be a little kinder and loving in your responses. We are all brothers and sisters in the Lord here, and God says in
John 13:35" we are known by the love we have for one another."
God bless you my brother.
My name is OLIGOS
What is the "love" that John talks about? Is it a feeling? Is it wearing velvet gloves? Is it hiding the truth so as not to upset anyone? Something else maybe? Please explain.Be a little kinder and loving in your responses. We are all brothers and sisters in the Lord here, and God says in
John 13:35" we are known by the love we have for one another."
What is the "love" that John talks about? Is it a feeling? Is it wearing velvet gloves? Is it hiding the truth so as not to upset anyone? Something else maybe? Please explain.
Dear Oligos,Hi again Trdidi my brother.
Love is speaking in kindness and a tone that can be felt over the internet.
You can still share your concerns , questions or differences of opinion, but
speaking to others the same way you want to be spoken to with respect,
and have comments worded without the feeling of harshness.
Not to be critical or demeaning in any way, but your question here to me has a tone of that harshness I spoke of above.
The wording of your question to me about love has an unmistakable "edge'" to it that presents someone with a less than caring , unloving presentation, with a lack of kind feelings for others.
We enjoy a light hearted relationship here among the members, and a sense of humor here, and deeply care for each other with much love.
I see your fairly new here, and we are delighted to welcome you, and hope that you can find your way to be another loving, kind member that fits right in to our warm family.
If you have been on other forums that have a lot of devisiveness and harsh interactions, we're not like that here.
If you like the more unempathetic approach, you may not like it here and want to find a place where your kind of confrontational style of communication is more appealing to you.
God bless you my brother and friend, as you walk this path of glory with all of us seeking God's will for our lives.
My Name is OLIGOS
PS-I'm here to be privately messaged if you want to talk without an audience.
Your theology is not only unscriptural, it is rather complicated as well. Do you expect to see many others in heaven with you, or is salvation only for the smart guys that can figure it all out like you have done?
Tradidi my brotherDear Oligos,
Please allow me to briefly explain my definition of love.
When we love someone, it means that we want good to happen to this person. The highest good to a man is to be saved. Therefore, to love someone is to help him work out his salvation. And this can only be done in the truth, as the truth will set us free, not error or lies. (John 8:32)
So how does that work in practice? St. Paul gives us a clue: "I gave you milk to drink, not meat: for you were not able as yet. But neither indeed are you now able: for you are yet carnal." (1 Corinthians 3:2) And Jesus gives us some examples. He is gentle to those who are of good will, but harsh to those who have hardened their hearts.
Putting the two together now, I have tried to be very gentle on this forum in the hope of finding some that are of good will. At the start this gentle approach was returned with the kind of "love" you speak of. But this "love" only lasted as long as I didn't speak openly. But if and when we want to bring others to the truth, at some point we need to tell them they are in error. Those who see their brother run towards a ravine, do they love their brother by smiling at him and wishing him well? Or do they love their brother by trying to warn them, even trying to force them to look more carefully?
My short stay on this forum has been a big learning experience for me. At the start I thought Protestants knew the Bible and cared for the truth, and that they were simply defrauded of this truth by circumstances that are out of their control. I have since changed my opinion on this. I see very little concern for truth here, but I do see a lot of hardened hearts, the kind of people that do not love the Truth. All I see is the kind of love that you talk about. Not the kind of love that helps a man find the truth and work out his salvation, but the kind of love that tells a man to carry on walking towards his own destruction.
As you rightly observed, I am not into this kind of love, and hence this is not a good place for me to be. I am appalled at the amount of heresies that are spouted and tolerated on this forum, and if there is no good I can do here I would rather spend my time elsewhere. Thank you for helping me make this decision.
God bless,
Tradidi
But if and when we want to bring others to the truth, at some point we need to tell them they are in error. Those who see their brother run towards a ravine, do they love their brother by smiling at him and wishing him well? Or do they love their brother by trying to warn them, even trying to force them to look more carefully?
I totally agree JLB
And as you know, it's the way we present ourselves and present the truth in much kindness and love that will repel a person or draw them to Christ through God's calling on their heart.
My name is OLIGOS
I hope we can discuss the scriptures that pertain to this subject.
Maybe through honest dialog we can reach a consensus on what the Bible teaches about salvation.
I asked some questions.
Why don’t we take turns asking each other a question, then answering. Also using scripture in our answers.
If you would like to go first then please do so.
JLB
JLB,
I'm away from home using a little netbook which isn't up the job of complex posts. So I'm going to leave this, and your other posts, until I get home in a couple of days.
Blessings
Mungo