Why be a good Christian?

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WBerry

Guest
#1
#1
I been taught all throughout my life, and recently had to reassure myself of the specifics on, everything I needed to know about how to get into heaven. I feared that I may not get into heaven because of some things that I've done in my life that I refuse to apologize for, and I have been told that if I don't repent for these sins that I will not gain entrance into heaven. The only problem with all of this is that I recently had what you might call an epiphany. It is widely agreed upon that the bare minimum one has to accomplish to be allowed through the gates of heaven is accept Jesus into your heart as your lord and savior, and he will always forgive you of your sins so long as you ask. That being said, what exactly is the point in being a good Christian? If I can accept Jesus and be forgiven of my sins why would I try as hard as most people do to not sin? I may as well live my life the way I want to, free of any and all inhibitions, free from the rules and restrictions set in place by the bible and do whatever I feel like doing. In the end I can always come back to Jesus and ask for forgiveness and my slate is wiped clean. To all of those who "rebel" against God by living their lives the way they see fit, they can always just come back when they're finished having their fun and be forgiven.

Here's an analogy if it helps anyone who may not understand: A football player who comes to every practice and plays in every game to his full extent will receive an award of some kind when the team has won in the end, and the player who is hardly ever seen at a practice and sits on the bench for every game will still receive the same reward as the player who played his hardest. Is the player on the bench any less a part of the team than the one on the field?
 
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Ugly

Guest
#2
#2
You're missing something. When you truly, sincerely accept Christ into your heart, you become changed and your spirit is made new. You will then have a DESIRE to live right and please God. This 'good Christian' philosophy you're spouting has nothing to do with a true conversion experience, but is about paying lip service to your parents religion, without a true understanding. Your philosophy is that salvation is just a generic prayer and belief and that the rest of it is about forcing yourself to do good works.
The 'good Christian' idea is one that blossoms out of us as we entertain a true, heartfelt belief and acceptance of Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and a true understanding of our sinful nature and need to be forgiven. Then our renewed spirit desires to please God, to live to His word and to be obedient. Not because we 'have to', but because we choose to. I don't want to be one to question your salvation, but the bible does say to judge a tree by its fruit. Going by the little bit of information here, you seem to not show any fruit of salvation. You refuse to repent and seek forgiveness and you have no desire to do whats right. Rather than a heart that seeks after God, you have a heart that seeks after doing what YOU want, and finding loopholes in the faith that excuses and allows your wrong doing. This is not the fruit of the Holy Spirit and of salvation.
Lets let the bible speak on this matter for us in Romans:

20 God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. 21 So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Sin’s Power Is Broken

6 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
12 Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.
 
F

flight316

Guest
#3
#3
........because God says so. Why be a disobediant christian? Because satan says so.
 
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Trax

Guest
#4
#4
WBerry said:
It is widely agreed upon that the bare minimum one has to accomplish to be allowed through the gates of heaven is accept Jesus into your heart as your lord and savior, and he will always forgive you of your sins so long as you ask.
Click to expand...
That isn't a minimum way into heaven. There is an ONLY way into heaven, and that is accepting
Jesus.

Now, why be good? Jesus is your King and you are His ambassador. What you do and how you
conduct yourself, reflects back to your country and your King. It also reflects your relationship
with your King. It isn't about earning your way into heaven, because if you are saved, that's
established and locked in. Its about reflecting your King to others.
 
W

WBerry

Guest
#5
#5
Trax said:
That isn't a minimum way into heaven. There is an ONLY way into heaven, and that is accepting
Jesus.

Now, why be good? Jesus is your King and you are His ambassador. What you do and how you
conduct yourself, reflects back to your country and your King. It also reflects your relationship
with your King. It isn't about earning your way into heaven, because if you are saved, that's
established and locked in. Its about reflecting your King to others.
Click to expand...
But wouldn't others be persuaded to accept and follow a God that enables behavior contrary to what is being taught and will always forgive you of your sins? Would that not reflect a truly merciful and benevolent God? One that would be followed without question?
 
J

Jordache

Guest
#6
#6
It's isn't about being good. Your entire outlook on life changes bit by bit. You desire to do God's will because He is worthy of our obedience, honor, sacrifice. You realize that there is so much more than what you have been living for.
 
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Ugly

Guest
#7
#7
WBerry said:
But wouldn't others be persuaded to accept and follow a God that enables behavior contrary to what is being taught and will always forgive you of your sins? Would that not reflect a truly merciful and benevolent God? One that would be followed without question?
Click to expand...
Permitting hypocrisy is neither merciful nor benevolent.

Our goal as Christians is not to make Christianity sound so appealing to their sinful side that they just say 'oh gee sure i'll join'. Christianity is about preaching the truth and reality of sin.. and forgiveness of that sin. But that forgiveness doesn't come because someone uttered a fake, insincere prayer. If you think that 'getting saved' is simple as 'just say the words, live how you want and apologize in the end' proves you have no understanding of the power and nature of sin.. or the power and nature of forgiveness. If you think the Almighty, All seeing, All powerful creator of everything can't tell the difference between you fake prayer in a vain attempt to find a loop hole in the rules and get into heaven on a technicality without ever having to live a righteous life, vs a person who is sincere and whose heart and life reflect a genuine change from a genuine prayer, then you are not believing in the same God i do.
God is not some idiot that you can find a loophole into heaven without repentance and fruit of the Spirit. He knows if you're genuine or just faking it. And if you're just faking it, and saying the prayer just so you can say 'well technically....' He's not going to take it. Its not a simple matter of uttering a prayer, its a matter of believing entirely and truly in the prayer and that it is true and genuine. You're trying to trick God and it won't work. As my previous post pointed out, He has already covered this idea. You're not the first to think it. And God has already said that it does not work the way you're trying to make it happen.
 
C

chesser

Guest
#8
#8
Well, Jesus said that only those who feed, clothe, quench, and visit the needy, hungry, naked, jailed will go into eternal life, so if one decides to accept Jesus, but then not follow him, then that is false faith that is as useless as a carcass, as James puts it. Paul says that to be saved, one must belive Jesus is risen AND confess he is lord, now how can Jesus be your lord if you do not obey him? He cannot. This is not to say that works are needed for salvation, look at the man on the cross, however, having no works shows that you have no true faith, but false, which does you no good, if the man on the cross had lived longer, he surely would have reflected it in his life through his good works, and he would have ceased stealing. Someone saying " I'll live my life in sin, but accept Jesus so it's ok" is leading a false faith, which does not save. See, that's like saying "I trust Jesus, but he doesn't know what's best for my life, I do." Your faith is reflected by your works, and having no works reflects dead faith and dead faith does not save.
 
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Relena7

Guest
#9
#9
Get to know the real Jesus, and you won't have to ask yourself this question.

Seriously.

I don't know the real Jesus yet (I thought I did once, but it turned out that was based on what I heard all my life without truly understanding, and I'm still cautiously searching)...but I know people who do, and their lives had changed in amazing ways.

There is no text-book way to get into heaven. This isn't like passing a grade in school. It's a spiritual thing too.
 
T

Trax

Guest
#10
#10
WBerry said:
But wouldn't others be persuaded to accept and follow a God that enables behavior contrary to what is being taught and will always forgive you of your sins? Would that not reflect a truly merciful and benevolent God? One that would be followed without question?
Click to expand...
For anyone who is saved, God is their Father. God the Father does nor condone bad behavior.
The saved person is His child. God is patient, with His children, but there comes a time when the
child doesn't stop miss behaving on his own, that God the Father, takes the child to the woodshed
and straightens the child out. He puts a stop to it Himself. Where's the PTL Club at these days?
God put a stop to it.

Now, if a saved person gets off the straight and narrow way, God has a way of getting them back on
it. Its a lot easier to stay on the straight and narrow way. God is eager to forgive, but He isn't going
to let His children just keep sinning.
 
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