"Jesus Plus Nothing Equals Salvation"

[ConvertHopeful]

As seen on a local Baptist Church today.

And its true… but it got me thinking…

Having been set straight in another thread that all salvation comes through God-given grace and works simply flow from this (thank you, everyone who replied!)…

Can one fall from grace? I think “yes.”

If one professes belief in Jesus and “nothing” (no trying to live in a Christian way, praying, growing in faith,etc) follows, then does one have everlasting salvation?

If one professes belief in Jesus and lives a life that appears to glorify God (“appears” is not to imply false living, but rather that only the person and God know for sure) and later the person changes and stops living a Godly life, then does this person still salvation or has it been pulled?

Or is the issue that one never truly believed?

 

[Glorthac]

As seen on a local Baptist Church today.

And its true… but it got me thinking…

Having been set straight in another thread that all salvation comes through God-given grace and works simply flow from this (thank you, everyone who replied!)…

Can one fall from grace? I think “yes.”

If one professes belief in Jesus and “nothing” (no trying to live in a Christian way, praying, growing in faith,etc) follows, then does one have everlasting salvation?

If one professes belief in Jesus and lives a life that appears to glorify God (“appears” is not to imply false living, but rather that only the person and God know for sure) and later the person changes and stops living a Godly life, then does this person still salvation or has it been pulled?

Or is the issue that one never truly believed?

A person can fall from grace by his free-will choice, even if he was or was not a genuine Christian with good works.

As for the person who has no good works, Christ spoke of that person in his parable about the good and bad trees. The tree that bears good fruit is kept, the tree that bears bad fruit is hewn down and thrown in the fire.

 

[steveb1]

The Christian’s “assurance of salvation”, of course, is not assured, as many people here have demonstrated from scripture alone.

I had a miserable experience with a local fundamentalist “Holiness” church. They were fond of shouting the “fact” that they were Saved from the rooftops, but then they acted as if their salvation was in immediate peril. They were as “works” oriented as they accused the Catholic Church of being: “godly” behavior excluded: no dancing, no smoking, no drinking, no gambling, no movies, no television, no “frivolous” talk, etc. The pastor put the screws to all and sundry and even particularized on individuals (by gazing at them without mentioning them by name).

Therefore I think that a lot of biblical “literalists” who in theory argue Assured Salvation, in **fact ** are in constant fear of losing it. Not just losing it for lack of faith, but actually through works done or not done.

I conceptualize salvation’s grace as a divine gift which the believer must sustain by both faith and works. If the believer loses faith or fails to do good works and/or does evil works, then the gift of salvation evaporates (until the subject repents, confesses, “gets straight with the Lord” again.

 

[pablope]

As seen on a local Baptist Church today.

And its true… but it got me thinking…

Having been set straight in another thread that all salvation comes through God-given grace and works simply flow from this (thank you, everyone who replied!)…

Can one fall from grace? I think “yes.”

Or is the issue that one never truly believed?

If one professes belief in Jesus and “nothing” (no trying to live in a Christian way, praying, growing in faith,etc) follows, then does one have everlasting salvation?

If one professes belief in Jesus and lives a life that appears to glorify God (“appears” is not to imply false living, but rather that only the person and God know for sure) and later the person changes and stops living a Godly life, then does this person still salvation or has it been pulled?

From Matthew 7:21 should answer your query:

21"(A)Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

Belief/Faith is not enough, doing the will of the Father is still needed-meaning do not sin and following God’s commandments, carrying your cross daily, doing good works.

Also from James 1: 27: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress** and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. **

Also read Romans 11 and Hebrew 10. I will only cite a portion of Heb 10:

Hebrews 10:26-27

26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.

 

[garysibio]

As seen on a local Baptist Church today.

And its true… but it got me thinking…

Having been set straight in another thread that all salvation comes through God-given grace and works simply flow from this (thank you, everyone who replied!)…

Can one fall from grace? I think “yes.”

If one professes belief in Jesus and “nothing” (no trying to live in a Christian way, praying, growing in faith,etc) follows, then does one have everlasting salvation?

If one professes belief in Jesus and lives a life that appears to glorify God (“appears” is not to imply false living, but rather that only the person and God know for sure) and later the person changes and stops living a Godly life, then does this person still salvation or has it been pulled?

Or is the issue that one never truly believed?

Although many Evangelicals will swear up and down that they believe that you don’t have to do anything, they would also say that a failure to pray of grow in the faith would be a sure indication that the person was not truly born again.

When I was an Evangelical there was a girl in the church who fell back into smoking marijuana. Everyone said what a shame it was that she had never truly been saved. My wife asked some of the women in the women’s Bible study how, in light of this, they could be assured of their salvation. After all, the girl they were talking about was just as convinced that she had been saved as the other women were. The others could not see the problem.

 

[po18guy]

That readerboard reveals only how utterly shallow (and potentially dangerous) their theology is. It also ignores the bible, of all things! Of course, Jesus is our salvation, but there is more to it than simple catch phrases.

Jesus taught that “he who perseveres to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13, Mark 13:13) That sounds like more than “plus nothing.”

Both Luke (Acts 2:47) and Saint Paul (1 Corinthians 1:18, 2 Corinthians 2:15) spoke of those “who are being saved” - a process. That also sounds like more than “plus nothing.”

Jesus taught (John 15:4-9) that we must remain in Him and He will remain in us. If we do not remain in Him, we are like branches that are thrown away and cast into the fire. That certainly sounds like more than “plus nothing” Hmmmmm…

OK, here I go again: You can benefit greatly from a copy of Catholicism for Dummies. Really. It will explain this and so much more. Every Christian should have a copy of it.

 

[Luke65]

“Jesus Plus Nothing Equals Salvation”

Well, it sure tickles the ears! They say this, of course, to fulfill the Scriptures:

“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Timothy 4:3)

God bless.

 

[Crumpy]

I don’t know why I sin; it is as if it is built in to me, like I was made to sin.

Sin, though, is my biggest distraction, not worrying about what scripture says about it. That I know, that I love the LORD with my whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. I don’t trust in doing good things, because I know that I will never do enough good things to earn a salvation. When I do good things, it’s just because they are good things, not because I am measuring them and storing them up in my “spiritual” income retirement account, or something. I merely look at anything “good” that I do as simply giving back to God what is His.

I try to do good things, to live in a “good” way (God’s will) but not because it makes any sense to me. One in a hundred people will tell me that I’m doing the right thing. I don’t even wait for that praise, it means nothing except to do God’s will as best as I can tell in every moment.

I live only in the moment, that I’m either giving back to God or as happens, stealing it from Him. I shudder at all the wrong things I have done. I am amazed at how gracious God has been to me, in spite of myself.

 

[seagal]

If one professes belief in Jesus and lives a life that appears to glorify God (“appears” is not to imply false living, but rather that only the person and God know for sure) and later the person changes and stops living a Godly life, then does this person still salvation or has it been pulled?

Or is the issue that one never truly believed?

If someone stops living a godly life, it is not that salvation has been “pulled” from them. Rather it is that they returned the gift of salvation. In other words, it is their choice, not God’s. God offers us the gift and we choose to accept it or not.

I don’t know why I sin; it is as if it is built in to me, like I was made to sin.

So said St. Paul.

Sin, though, is my biggest distraction, not worrying about what scripture says about it. That I know, that I love the LORD with my whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. I don’t trust in doing good things, because I know that I will never do enough good things to earn a salvation. When I do good things, it’s just because they are good things, not because I am measuring them and storing them up in my “spiritual” income retirement account, or something. I merely look at anything “good” that I do as simply giving back to God what is His.

And that is the whole point. We do good things not because we must or because of what others might think of us, but because we want to out of love for God.

 

[JimG]

The Christian’s “assurance of salvation”, of course, is not assured, as many people here have demonstrated from scripture alone.

I had a miserable experience with a local fundamentalist “Holiness” church. They were fond of shouting the “fact” that they were Saved from the rooftops, but then they acted as if their salvation was in immediate peril. They were as “works” oriented as they accused the Catholic Church of being: “godly” behavior excluded: no dancing, no smoking, no drinking, no gambling, no movies, no television, no “frivolous” talk, etc. The pastor put the screws to all and sundry and even particularized on individuals (by gazing at them without mentioning them by name).

Therefore I think that a lot of biblical “literalists” who in theory argue Assured Salvation, in **fact ** are in constant fear of losing it. Not just losing it for lack of faith, but actually through works done or not done.

I conceptualize salvation’s grace as a divine gift which the believer must sustain by both faith and works. If the believer loses faith or fails to do good works and/or does evil works, then the gift of salvation evaporates (until the subject repents, confesses, “gets straight with the Lord” again.

I never thought about it that way, but I think you are right.

“You have an absolute assurance of salvation. And if you take one sip of liquor, you are going straight to hell.”

 

[jmjiloveu]

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand
that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10

I believe that this verse means that we are save through our Faith and trust in Jesus Christ., which means if we are saved we are going to obey God. we are going to do good works.

As I understand, some people are saved but they backslide- meaning- not living like the ought to. I would assume that these people will repent

:tiphat: