Are you a Christian?

[Blain]

if in fact he showed us love only because we love him then he wouldn't have died on the cross.
he didn't die just for the good and just for those who loved him he also died for those who hated him and those who were evil in heart. even the most evil of hearts and the most blood stained of souls he still died for them.

He must have seen something behind all that evil and all that sin worth fighting for and dying for

 

[UnderGrace]

Again people look around and say "oh they made it or their ok" and base salvation off of assumptions.. The Bible says what it says bc it's absolutely true... Grace does not cover up, nor is salvation for the practicing.. Bc you've shown no loyalty.. Give up your life.. If you have and press, then this is not for you.. Those who think some things will be overlooked are mistaken

Hmmm ... I have heard this type of teaching before, on the street corners, with big condemning signs Repent....Deny Self..Give Up Your Life, Follow Jesus and Make Yourself Good.

I could name their names but I will not. I will though emphatically write this is NOT the Gospel.

I would suggest you read carefully and pay attention to people like Crossnote and learn that indeed grace is received by faith by believing on the completed work of Jesus on the cross and it is the only way to be saved and He keeps us saved, because it is His work not ours.

No one has loyalty...God has said our righteousness is as filthy rags.

 

[Magenta]

It is the love, grace, and mercy of God that benevolently allows me to know anything.

 

[Utah]

if in fact he showed us love only because we love him then he wouldn't have died on the cross.
he didn't die just for the good and just for those who loved him he also died for those who hated him and those who were evil in heart. even the most evil of hearts and the most blood stained of souls he still died for them.

He must have seen something behind all that evil and all that sin worth fighting for and dying for

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick . . . I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.

 

[Johnlove]

Doesn't coincide with your words that in order to be loved by God we must love Him first. You're not wiggling your way out of this one. Admit you're wrong and I'll let it go.

That is right God did love us, but then he came to defeat Satan, after which he told us he would only love those who loved him. In fact Jesus told us he even choses to not to ever have known those who don’t keep his Word.

(Matthew 7:21) “It is not those who say to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, who will enter the kingdom of Heaven but the person who does the will of My Father in Heaven. When the day comes many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, work many miracles in your name?’ Then I shall tell them to their faces: I have never known you; away from me, you evil men!”

(John 14: 23) “Anyone who loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him.”

(John 14:21) “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.”

 

[Magenta]

(John 14:21) “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.”

God revealed Himself to me while I was yet a sinner, running from Him in ignorance, rebellion, and defiance.

 

[Utah]

That is right God did love us, but then he came to defeat Satan, after which he told us he would only love those who loved him. In fact Jesus told us he even choses to not to ever have known those who don’t keep his Word.

(Matthew 7:21) “It is not those who say to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, who will enter the kingdom of Heaven but the person who does the will of My Father in Heaven. When the day comes many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, work many miracles in your name?’ Then I shall tell them to their faces: I have never known you; away from me, you evil men!”

(John 14: 23) “Anyone who loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him.”

(John 14:21) “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.”

Gee, that's funny, my Bible says the following:

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,[SUP] [/SUP]nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

[Johnlove]

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick . . . I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.

That is right Jesus came for the sick/sinners. He made it possible for the sick/sinners to become children of God. Children of God are no longer sick/sinners.

(1 John 3:5-6) “Now you know that he appeared in order to abolish sin, and that in him there is no sin; anyone who lives in God does not sin, and anyone who sins has never seen him or known him.”

(1 John 3:9-10) “No one who is a child of God sins because God's seed remains in him. Nor can he sin, because he is a child of God. This is what distinguishes the children of God from the children of the devil: whoever does not live uprightly and does not love his brother is not from God” New Jerusalem bible

 

[Utah]

God revealed Himself to me while I was yet a sinner, running from Him in ignorance, rebellion, and defiance.

The very essence of the entire Bible. To God be the glory!

 

[Utah]

That is right Jesus came for the sick/sinners. He made it possible for the sick/sinners to become children of God. Children of God are no longer sick/sinners.

(1 John 3:5-6) “Now you know that he appeared in order to abolish sin, and that in him there is no sin; anyone who lives in God does not sin, and anyone who sins has never seen him or known him.”

(1 John 3:9-10) “No one who is a child of God sins because God's seed remains in him. Nor can he sin, because he is a child of God. This is what distinguishes the children of God from the children of the devil: whoever does not live uprightly and does not love his brother is not from God” New Jerusalem bible

You never answered my question. When was the last time you sinned?

 

[Johnlove]

Gee, that's funny, my Bible says the following:

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Yes and who do you assume the “us” is referring to? Remember Jesus does not even know those who don’t keep God’s Will. Also one who sins has never seen nor knows God, so Paul could not have been speaking to people who did not even know God.
(1 John 3:5-6) “Now you know that he appeared in order to abolish sin, and that in him there is no sin; anyone who lives in God does not sin, and anyone who sins has never seen him or known him.”

 

[Magenta]

The very essence of the entire Bible. To God be the glory!

Amen and amen.

 

[Johnlove]

The very essence of the entire Bible. To God be the glory!

Yes God reviled himself to me when I was still a sinner also. Notice Paul said when he was still a sinner.

(Romans 8:1-4) “The reason, therefore, why those who are in Christ Jesus are not condemned, is that the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. God has done what the Law, because of our unspiritual nature, was unable to do. God dealt with sin by sending his own Son in a body as physical as any sinful body, and in that body God condemned sin he did this in order the Law’s just demands might be satisfied in us, who behave not as our unspiritual nature but as the spirit dictates.”

 

[Vdp]

Did you know Johnlove its a Mortal sin to Pray to Mary?

We are only to Pray to God.

Saying the "Hail Mary" is a sin that will keep you from entering into Heaven.

Matthew 7:21-23
[SUP]21 [/SUP]“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. [SUP]22 [/SUP]Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ [SUP]23 [/SUP]And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

Praying to Mary is NOT doing the Will of the Father. Its doing the will of Satan.

 

[Magenta]

I have a slightly different understanding because of the way I have experienced God, even while I was still running from Him in disobedience, rebellion, and defiance. I consider myself to have been lost at that time from my present perspective, but God knew exactly where I was. This was quite a few years ago, when I was thirty three years old. My marriage had broken down following two first-trimester miscarriages, and a still birth that occurred less than two weeks before the nuptials. I also had a lot of baggage from my past that I had been unable to deal with/put "closure" on.

It was around Passover in 1988, and a neighborhood evangelical Christian church was showing a movie on the life of Christ based on the Gospel of Luke. I had been brought up in a fairly strict religious environment but did not know Jesus, and was curious, and living in a world of unremitting emotional pain, so I went. As I sat in that church after seeing the first or second part of that movie, I am not sure at what point the following happened: my whole body was filled with the Light of God's unconditional love and forgiveness for me and all I had done, all the ways I had messed up my life, all my failures and mistakes, all of it bathed in the Light of His absolute understanding of how and why I had become the person I was, all of it bathed in the Light of His unconditional love and total forgiveness. I wept. I felt so broken and so lost and so unredeemable, but most of all I felt unworthy. And of course I am unworthy.

Even after that, oh yes, it was a cherished experience to know that God loved me, but even after that I did not believe in "that" God. I had begun a spiritual seeking phase, and carried on in that for another fifteen years or so until God clearly called me out of what I was doing, for I was a professionally practicing pagan, putting the life of my very soul in danger. And yes, even after that, even after that clear calling out, my stiff-necked stubbornness was so set against Him it took another year following the calling out for me to surrender my life to Him.

 

[blue_ladybug]

That is right Jesus came for the sick/sinners. He made it possible for the sick/sinners to become children of God. Children of God are no longer sick/sinners.

(1 John 3:5-6) “Now you know that he appeared in order to abolish sin, and that in him there is no sin; anyone who lives in God does not sin, and anyone who sins has never seen him or known him.”

(1 John 3:9-10) “No one who is a child of God sins because God's seed remains in him. Nor can he sin, because he is a child of God. This is what distinguishes the children of God from the children of the devil: whoever does not live uprightly and does not love his brother is not from God” New Jerusalem bible

Children of God are no longer sick, eh? Then why do I STILL have seizures, and a bad back? Why does Angela STILL have such bad RA? Why does Blain still suffer with cancer? They are all God's children, and they're all still sick. As for children of God no longer sinning, obviously you haven't read the surplus of adultery, divorce and porn threads in the family forum..lol.. ALL christians still sin, it's human nature. Anyone who says they DON'T sin is a bald faced liar..

 

[Chester]

Yes before Jesus came and gave us his Holy Spirit it was not possible to defeat Satan/sin. Jesus made it possible for us to become children of God by giving us his Holy Spirit.

To believe one can be of God and still sin one has to believe Apostle John did not understand what God taught him.

(1 John 2:5 -6) “Whoever says, 'I know him' without keeping his commandments, is a liar, and truth has no place in him. But anyone who does keep his word, in such a one God's love truly reaches its perfection. This is the proof that we are in God. Whoever claims to remain in him must act as he acted.”

(1 John 3:5-6) “Now you know that he appeared in order to abolish sin, and that in him there is no sin; anyone who lives in God does not sin, and anyone who sins has never seen him or known him.”

(1 John 3:9-10) “No one who has been begotten by God sins; because God’s seed remains inside him, he cannot sin when he has been begotten by God. In this way we distinguish the children of God from the children of the devil: anybody not living a holy life and not loving his brother is no child of God’s.”

I am all in support of striving against sin and believe that the Christian can live victoriously - but that is different than trying to say a Christian cannot or does not sin.

These verses you keep quoting from I John do not mean a Christian cannot or does not commit a single act of sin. They are in the Greek present tense which means ongoing continual action. The one who has been born out of God will not continue in sin/ or live a life of sin/ or ongoing keep on committing sins.

I John 2:1 says that if we do commit an act of sin (aorist tense), we have an advocate with the father. The Christian may commit acts of sin, but ongoingly keeping on sinning is not congruent with being born out of God.

 

[Utah]

Yes and who do you assume the “us” is referring to? Remember Jesus does not even know those who don’t keep God’s Will. Also one who sins has never seen nor knows God, so Paul could not have been speaking to people who did not even know God.
(1 John 3:5-6) “Now you know that he appeared in order to abolish sin, and that in him there is no sin; anyone who lives in God does not sin, and anyone who sins has never seen him or known him.”

Okay my little naïve friend, I'm going to share this with you one time only:

Our righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees -- that righteousness is not based on good works and perfection, for our good works are merely filthy rags in God's sight. That righteousness is based on having faith in Jesus Christ.

On a side note, I was in the midst of a severe storm for three days and asked God to quell the winds for just 15 minutes. I knew God was going to stop the winds because Jesus teaches us that things will be done according to our faith provided its God's will. The winds ceased for 15 minutes around me and me only while everyone else around me continued to get smashed by those hurricane force winds.

Here's where things will get dicey for you; I've rejoiced in God's saving grace since I was four years old, and I've sinned every single day that I was strong enough to get out of bed. And yet be that as it may, God stopped those winds for 15 minutes just like I asked. I have salvation in Jesus Christ's great and glorious Name because I've asked. Go figure.

 

[Blain]

Children of God are no longer sick, eh? Then why do I STILL have seizures, and a bad back? Why does Angela STILL have such bad RA? Why does Blain still suffer with cancer? They are all God's children, and they're all still sick. As for children of God no longer sinning, obviously you haven't read the surplus of adultery, divorce and porn threads in the family forum..lol.. ALL christians still sin, it's human nature. Anyone who says they DON'T sin is a bald faced liar..

Your post is very true however one thing I need to say is that I don't have cancer anymore but my I suffer and deal with the effects of it. I don't want anyone to be confused and think I have cancer right now

 

[Johnlove]

Did you know Johnlove its a Mortal sin to Pray to Mary?

We are only to Pray to God.

Saying the "Hail Mary" is a sin that will keep you from entering into Heaven.

Matthew 7:21-23
[SUP]21 [/SUP]“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. [SUP]22 [/SUP]Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ [SUP]23 [/SUP]And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

Praying to Mary is NOT doing the Will of the Father. Its doing the will of Satan.

First of all the Hail Mary is all scripture. Also if I ask all the saints in heaven to pray for me, it would seem that I would also be asking Jesus’ mother to pray for me too.
Your judgment as to what a sin is, does not have anything but your opinion to justify it.

I believe in the communion of saints. We are all the body of Christ, and we need to support one another.

No personally I believe what the Catholic Church had done in lifting up Mary in glory is totally not of God. I in no way believe in any of the so called vision of Mary were of God. I believe those visions are of the devil.