Salvation free Gift?

[dattaswami]

A Christian devotee, Anil Antony, asked Me some questions just now. He asked whether the salvation is a free gift of God and not based on the work. This is the climax of foolishness. Even in the worldly affairs, a selection board sits and filters the deserving candidate to give the gift. If anybody in this world gives a free gift without seeing the deserving qualifications, people will call him as a full mad person. Do you treat God as mad person, who is wiser than the wisest in this world? Jesus asked His devotees to go to villages and propagate His knowledge. Even today the Christian fathers wander all over the earth and they are propagating the divine knowledge by constant lecturers. Is this not work? If salvation is a free gift why should they work?

How much divine work Jesus carried on? In Hinduism you can support free gift by saying that a soul might have done lot of good work in the previous birth and the gift may appear as free gift because the soul did not perform any good work in this birth. But Christianity does not believe the re-birth and therefore such possibility of explanation is also ruled out here. His another question is that Christianity encourages the praise and prayer of the Lord for certain materialistic benefits. He asks whether such prayer is correct. The answer is that such a stage is not incorrect but it is a lower stage. The LKG class is the beginning of school education. You cannot say that LKG is class is not correct. It is correct but it is lowest.

The first step is true but does the lowest step exist on the ground. If you take the case of Jesus, He is in the highest step. He also praised and prayed the Lord but never asked anything for himself. He asked anything only for the propagation of the fame of the Lord. The lowest step is certainly better than the pit, which is lower than the ground. Thus the beginner is certainly better than the atheist, who does not believe God at all. Even though the beginner is selfish, atleast he believes the existence of God.

 

[st.jerome]

You seem to have a healthy appreciation of Christianity, based on your respective religious teachings. Thanks for sharing.

 

[st.jerome]

I would only add that “the free gift” is indeed free, because it was given without being deserved. As for work or personal merit, its best to say that this is increased through cooperation with the Holy Spirit. Without God’s help, we are not capable of spiritual growth.

 

[BryPGuy89]

dattaswami:

A Christian devotee, Anil Antony, asked Me some questions just now. He asked whether the salvation is a free gift of God and not based on the work. This is the climax of foolishness. Even in the worldly affairs, a selection board sits and filters the deserving candidate to give the gift. If anybody in this world gives a free gift without seeing the deserving qualifications, people will call him as a full mad person. Do you treat God as mad person, who is wiser than the wisest in this world? Jesus asked His devotees to go to villages and propagate His knowledge. Even today the Christian fathers wander all over the earth and they are propagating the divine knowledge by constant lecturers. Is this not work? If salvation is a free gift why should they work?

How much divine work Jesus carried on? In Hinduism you can support free gift by saying that a soul might have done lot of good work in the previous birth and the gift may appear as free gift because the soul did not perform any good work in this birth. But Christianity does not believe the re-birth and therefore such possibility of explanation is also ruled out here. His another question is that Christianity encourages the praise and prayer of the Lord for certain materialistic benefits. He asks whether such prayer is correct. The answer is that such a stage is not incorrect but it is a lower stage. The LKG class is the beginning of school education. You cannot say that LKG is class is not correct. It is correct but it is lowest.

The first step is true but does the lowest step exist on the ground. If you take the case of Jesus, He is in the highest step. He also praised and prayed the Lord but never asked anything for himself. He asked anything only for the propagation of the fame of the Lord. The lowest step is certainly better than the pit, which is lower than the ground. Thus the beginner is certainly better than the atheist, who does not believe God at all. Even though the beginner is selfish, atleast he believes the existence of God.

I understand that the church teaches that the gift of salvation is givin freely but few are willing to the gift. I don’t like the use of worldly positions being compared to the grace of God. I don’t beleive that the desciples or Jesus prpogated any thing. They shared the truth with people openly, not trying to convince people of something, but letting them come to their own decisions. The grace of God is a gift that is freely given, one does not earn their way to heaven, in faith and works one accepts his free gift. Jesus needed nothing to ask for, he was God the flesh, he trusted in his father and God provided. All one needs do is live their life as the Lord would have them and in faith.

 

[katewithak]

Ummm, Christ’s sacrifice, yes, was a free gift with no strings attached. We cannot earn our salvation. When we are baptized all sin is washed away, not just veiled or covered over. A free gift it was and it is always hoped that one will respond in kind.