|
A lot more unfortunately needs to be said.
"Accepting Jesus Christ as your savior is good."
Yes and necessary. You can work for you whole life and it will get you no where as far as God is concerned with out Jesus.
"For only I, the Son of Man, have come to earth and will return to heaven again. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so I, the Son of Man, must be lifted up on a pole, so that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it."
- Jesus - John 3:12-17
That was for those who believe in Jesus.
This is for those who don't:
"There is no judgment awaiting those who trust him. But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God. Their judgment is based on this fact: The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. They hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness. They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished. But those who do what is right come to the light gladly, so everyone can see that they are doing what God wants." -Jesus - John 3:18-21
See you can't say that those who only do Good works will get into heaven. One must believe in Jesus alone to get into heaven.
"It's very easy to lock yourself away in a room somewhere and praise the Lord 'til the cows come home, but what else have you accomplished?"
And you says I do that? Where have I said that You shouldn't do good works. I haven't so I don't know where you got this from. I'm very against not working. I just think that it will get you into heaven.
Here is what the Bible says about work:
"As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me." - Jesus - John 9:4
"Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well may be refreshed." Exodus 23:12
Now before I continue one must understand what Jesus does with the law. When Jesus came and died and rose again, thus every day became the Sabbath and that meant that the restrictions against working on the Sabbath were gone.
"Then Jesus said to them, "The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath."
The only reason we as Christians go to Church on Sunday is because it is tradition. At our church we also have services on Wednesday. God wants us to do Good works and we will as Christians be judged by our works, but those works our useless with out Jesus as our savior.
"You say good works won't get you into heaven, so why bother?"
Because it is the right thing to do, but just because something is the right thing to do doesn't mean that it will get you into heaven.
"You're much too busy sitting in your room praising the Lord."
Again you have no reason nor evidence to say that this is what I do. So I will tell you what I do. I do praise the Lord in my room sometimes, but what is wrong with that. Is the only way to praise the lord with a good work? No of course not. The bible tells us we must meditate on the word of God.
"You sitting in your room praising the Lord or the Muslim, the Hindu, and the Buddhist who actually went in to help her? Who will God favor? You or them?"
Umm... So I get don't get favor for being in my room once in a while. Well God Bless the people who are helping that Woman! Whose says I would even be around to help that women if I was out of my room? I might be at a store am I now out of favor? Would God suddenly be against me for not being around when that women needs help. Nope because God might have me somewhere else or he might be teaching me something about himself in my room so that when I leave that room I might be able to help even more people.
"The Jews considered the Samaritans unworthy of God's salvation. They believed only themselves candidates for eternal life (heaven) because the Samaritans worshiped differently then they did. Of them, James and John asked Jesus, ["Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" But Jesus turned and rebuked them] for their hypocrisy (Luke 9:54). It was then asked of Jesus by an attorney, ["Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 10:25)] Jesus took the occasion to make the point that *how* one worshiped was less important in God's eyes than were the *actions* one takes towards his fellow man. Jesus did so in the form of a story:"
The bible says:
"As the time drew near for his return to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. He sent messengers ahead to a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival. But they were turned away. The people of the village refused to have anything to do with Jesus because he had resolved to go to Jerusalem. When James and John heard about it, they said to Jesus, “Lord, should we order down fire from heaven to burn them up?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them. So they went on to another village.” Luke 9:51-56
It was not because their beliefs were different that they wanted to burn them, it was because the rejected Jesus. It is a lesson in be kind to others incase the reject the word. It had nothing to do with how to get to heaven. Also the events you give didn’t happen right after each other they were days if not weeks apart since he sent out the 72 a head of himself. To many villages and then they returned. This probably took 1-2 weeks.
You keep saying that their faith was different over and over when that isn’t the point of the story at all. It was a story about how hatred towards people just, because they were different, was wrong. It was only their faith that bothered them then wouldn’t they be doing the same thing to all people of different beliefs? What it was was racism and their belief system. The Jews considered them Half breeds in both the physical and spiritual. Also the Samaritans harassed the Jews when they went to Religious ceremonies so it wasn’t just the Jews that were doing wrong. So it was also a story about even if somebody is your enemy doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t help them. Just wanted to clarify that you were sort of right on the belief thing, but that it wasn’t the only reason that they hated the Samaritans.
“Instead it will be the Samaritan (despite his different faith) who, though his kindness, will be rewarded by God with eternal life”
No where in the Bible does it say this, why are you adding your own opinions into the Word. Jesus only asked if the Samaritan was a neighbor or not. He was not saying that he would get into heaven at all, just that the Samaritan was a neighbor. Point out the scripture so that I may be proved wrong.
“ALL the world are God's children. *How* they interpret God isn't important. It's *what* they do.”
Actually it is important how one interprets it since only one interpretation can be correct. It is also what they do with God’s message that’s important.
“And he said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” – Jesus – Mark 16:15
See even Jesus clearly states that you are wrong. Only he who believes and is baptized will be saved, those who aren’t will condemned, which is to go to hell. Now the baptism part is what confuses me: Is it a Water Baptism or Sprit Baptism (which happens the moment you accept Christ) or is it Baptism by living your life righteously? I don’t know any knowledge that you have on the subject would be helpful.
By the way I forgive you for calling me fake and for saying your against me just because I’m a fundimentalist. It’s okay I do the samething sometimes my self against other people, but of course that doesn't make it right.
God Bless,
-Aaron
|
