=mailmandan;3361288]
Thanks for your reply Dan,
I agree 100%. But what if I'm born into a religion that transgresses the Commandments of God by church tradition? What if a religion sets out to re-define God's Laws so as to justify their traditions? Do I reject what EVERY Word of God says to keep my safe place in society, or do I "Come out her" and be faithful to Jesus, the Word who became flesh?
Are you a member of the SDA church? That sounds like their logic. "Come out of the Roman Catholic church and keep the Sabbath day on Saturday?" Is that your implication? They turn keeping the Sabbath day into a legalistic prescription for Christians under the New Covenant and basically turn the Sabbath day into an idol.
Bible Truth Versus Adventist Truth - Mark of the Beast
That is completely different than honoring Jesus with repentance and obedience and slipping during a test of our faith.
We are talking about two completely different things. I'm talking about looking at God's Word and rejecting it. You are talking about slipping and falling.
Is believing in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and loving one another, as He commanded us rejecting God's Word?
But Jesus said:
Luke 6:
46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord,
and do not the things which I say?
47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings,
and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
You need to be careful not to confuse DESCRIPTIVE passages of scripture with PRESCRIPTIVE passages of scripture. That is how people arrive at salvation by works.
So to believe and rely on Him for salvation means we must listen and do what He says.
To believe and rely on Him for salvation means we must trust in Him as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation. Doing what He says "after we have been saved through faith" is works and we are not saved by works.
He is expressly against "Transgressing the Commandments of God by man made doctrines and traditions.
In regards to transgressing the Commandments of God by man made doctrines/traditions, in Matthew 15, we read:
Matthew 15:1 - Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2 "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread." 3 He answered and said to them, "Why do you also
transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying,
'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' 5 But you say,
'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God"-- 6 then he need not honor his father or mother.' Thus you have
made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. 9 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."
So what Commandments of God are you accusing believers of transgressing?
*Please explain to me what you believe it means to
"KEEP" His Commandments.*
It sounds to me like you define "BELIEVES IN HIM" as obey Him through perfect obedience to His Commandments. Are you trusting in Christ's finished work of redemption as the ALL-sufficient means of your salvation or are you trusting in your best efforts to obey His Commandments as the supplemental means of your salvation?
He said "Many" would come in His name to deceive.
Like Ellen White and the SDA church for example.
When asked about how to get to heaven He said "Keep the Commandments". Is there really anybody that doesn't truly know He was speaking about His fathers Commandments?
I have often heard works salvationists (including Roman Catholics and Mormons) quote Matthew 19:17 in an effort to prove that salvation is based on the merits of their best efforts to "Keep the Commandments," yet Jesus was showing the rich young man how short he falls of even keeping the first commandment (Exodus 20:3) which is the first of the two great commandments (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37). The rich young man confidently and (self righteously) declared that he has kept the commandments from his youth up and qualified for heaven under those terms. Yet Jesus knew the man's wealth had become his idolatrous god, which kept him from believing/trusting in Jesus for salvation.
The rich young man missed the point that Jesus was making, failed to place his faith in Jesus for salvation, and continued instead to trust in his riches (vs. 21-23). His face fell and he went away sad because he could not part from his great wealth, not even in exchange for eternal life. If keeping the commandments is the basis by which we receive eternal life, then why isn't this remark the pattern for all discussions concerning eternal life? Paul would have said to the jailer who asked, "what must I do to be saved?" by replying in Acts 16:31 - keep the commandments, yet that's not what Paul said.
Jesus knows the hearts of all men and responds to each individual a little differently because He knows where their need is. He didn't respond to the woman at the well, or to Nicodemus or to the rich young ruler the same way, yet the consistent pattern in scripture is salvation by grace through faith, not works (Ephesians 2:8,9).
So there are MANY who preach we don't need to do these things. That we are free from God's Commandments. We can create images of God in the likeness of whatever we want. We can create our own "Feasts unto the Lord", we can reject the Sabbath He created, before becoming a man, that He created for man, and we can replace it with whatever we like.
So you wish to remain under the law? It sounds to me like you are trusting in your best efforts/performance in obeying the 10 Commandments from the OT as the means of your salvation. *There is something you need to know - "He has made us competent as ministers of a
new covenant —
not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter
kills...the ministry that brought
death, which was
engraved in letters on stone...the ministry that
condemns" (2 Corinthians 3:6-9).
Sabbath keeping with all it's rules and regulations (Exodus 16:23; 31:12-18; 35:3; Leviticus 23:32; Jeremiah 17:21; 19:30; 23:2-3; Numbers 15:32-36; 28:1-10; 29:39-40; I Chronicles. 23:30-31; II Chronicles 31:2-4; Isaiah 1:13) was part of a covenant with Israel that is not binding on the Church/Christians under the New Covenant.
*Colossians 2:16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a
Sabbath day — 17 things which are a
mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
All of the moral precepts of 9 the 10 Commandments from the OT are repeated under the New Covenant,
yet not the command to keep the Sabbath.
1. You shall have no other gods before Me. - Acts 14:15
2. You shall make no idols. - 1 John 5:21
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. - James 5:12
4. Keep the Sabbath day holy. -
Not binding on the Church - Colossians 2:16-17
5. Honor your father and your mother. - Ephesians 6:1-2
6. You shall not murder. - Romans 13:9-10; 1 John 3:15
7. You shall not commit adultery. - Romans 13:9-10; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
8. You shall not steal. - Romans 13:9-10; Ephesians 4:28
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. - Romans 13:9-10; Colossians 3:9-10
10. You shall not covet. - Romans 13:9-10; Ephesians 5:3
These things are not slipping and falling Dan. They were prophesied by God for centuries. A great religion that rejects God's Word all in the name of Jesus.
This is what I am speaking to.
Sadly, there are many false religions and cults that reject God's Word and pervert the Gospel of Christ which is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that
BELIEVES.. (Romans 1:16), all in the name of Jesus.
