Why do people speak of making it to heaven by a thin thread, whats wrong with getting it right, right now today. Lets go to the promise land whats in our way, ourselves and the lie that we can't. We look at these obstacles and say we can't do it, there giants there to big. I say with Christ we can over come and we can walk in heaven everyday on this earth. And it starts with love one another as I have loved you.
Heck yeah
"But if you knew what life is worth
You would look for yours on Earth" -Bob Marley
I've got a question, if nobody minds going a tiny bit off topic-
What I fail to understand is how good works have anything to do with salvation in the first place. Maybe someone can explain to me where this comes from ? Admittedly, I dont come from a Christian background, I wasn't raised in the church, or any of that, so that may be why it seems confusing to me.
I mean, it seems like a perenniel topic of discussion, works vs grace, but I've never actually heard any church teach that good works ARE the way to get into heaven. Admittedly, I'm no expert, haven't been to Bible college, but I HAVE always enjoyed going to other people's churches, and never actually heard a sermon in any church or synagogue that good works get us into heaven. Can anybody give me examples of denominations that teach this?
But like, for example, as being a Messianic, that believes in following the Torah lifestyle which Jesus Himself led, I hear a fair amount of silly accusations, like we're trying to "earn" our way into heaven, rather than the reality, that we submit to the way of life G-d put forward out of gratitude, trust, and obedience.
No, good works aren't our ticket to heaven. And despite what Christians seem to think of Judaism, as far as I can see, that never was the way they looked at things.
And yet, James says "faith without works is dead" which to me, relates to Messiah's statements that "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit" and "A bad tree cannot produce good fruit."
Of course, these things are best a general indicator, and it's not our place to judge that simply because WE see no good fruit, that doesn't mean none is being producted.
Basically, I'm just trying to determine... well in the case of Christians speaking about Judaism, it's definitely a false dichotomy, that Jews never thought that doing good deeds, or keeping G-d's law WAS going to get them in heaven.
So I guess I'm just wondering, if there really are Christian denominations that actually teach this stuff, or if it's just a strawman argument, the same way that Jews are often falsely portrayed as trying to earn salvation.