i am agreeing with you. living a good life does not grant you a spot in heaven according to christians. embracing jesus christ does. in fact you live a terrible life and your second to last breadth can be i accept jesus and you are all good.
Yes.
(1/2 yes).
Salvation is a free gift of God.
We don't earn it - we accept it.
My thought is that people stop at this point -The 'Pauline' version, set by 'the church' some 1900 years ago.
Of course Paul goes on to say that if you are really reborn in spirit in Christ then in that new heart you desire to live in the Love and the Light, that is you do not desire your old life in the darkness.
Paul (Saul of Taurus) phrases things from his background as a Pharisee. You know what Christ said about the Pharisees.
Saul was not an ordinary Pharisee. He had deep loathing of Jesus and his followers and having killed 2 disciples was on his way armed with a letter to arrest and kill more disciples.
The "Jews" (this equals the Jews' clerical leadership - and not all, and certainly not the average person who loved Jesus) hated Jesus with a deep loathing and anger. Jesus showed up their hypocrisy - their love of money, of position, of show praying in public etc.
You praise me with your lips your hearts are far from me.
If your father was Abraham you would know me, but you are liars and murders as your father -satan.
The difficulty is the church took over Jesus's work&message to reshaped things for money, power and control => evil priests never change their evil ways.
---------sacrifice to 'atone for sins'---
Now the Jews were and are very big on sacrifices to atone for sins. Turning to Exodus we see that prior to Moses ascending to mount Sinai he had the people make a blood convent. This is the 602 (?) laws and regulations 'from God'. They all agreed. Moses then sacrificed and lamb and sprinkled them with blood, making it a blood covenant -which cannot be broken except by death.
Mount Sinai was in darkness and flashing lightening and so the people were afraid to go up and pleaded with Moses to go up and talk with 'God'.
So Moses goes up get the stone tablets and comes back down 40 days later to find the people had given up and ask Aaron - Moses's sidekick and more articulate assistant from Pharaoh days - to make them a golden calf to worship.
Moses is furious seeing them worship a golden calf idol, smashes the tablets (copy1).
'God' is furious -
his wrath burned - and wanted to wipe them off the earth and start afresh. Moses does some bargaining and arguing with 'God'...that everyone else will think God failed 'his chosen people' led them out of Egypt to die in the desert.
--- what's the point? -----
Every since breaking their blood covenant Jews are fixated on blood sacrifices to stay off judgement for their sins. ('atone' for their sins). Sure killing a scapegoat will please 'God"(sarc).
So Saul=Paul a Jew - and Messianic Jews - are all about the crucifixion part - atone for sins with sacrifice.
So we get the saved by the blood, etc., etc.
(Jews don't believe Jesus rose from the dead).
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Dying is not it. It is dying and resurrecting. This is how Jesus defeated death and defeated Satan.
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1. Before Jesus's work on the cross salvation was impossible.
(Jesus said none 'born of woman' have made it. See where He speaks of John the baptist who though the greatest of men 'born of woman' is less that the lowest in 'Heaven'.)
2. So yes our salvation is made possible, by believing that Jesus is of God, died and rose making it possible to get free.
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I have checked on:
"Does loving Jesus include following his teachings?" and got yes.
---- two meanings of repent -
1. Repent means turning away. (from your old life)
2. Repent - of your sins is/can mean something different. (sort of - there is semantics around the meaning of the word 'sin')
-- though probably a very sincere heartfelt deathbed repentance (so on one's deathbed you are only going to be doing #2.) perhaps is enough?
(certainly that is the churches -both catholic and non position).
The difficulty is that the church/satan wants you to believe this (one) physical life is it. Utter nonsense. This is supportive of love of money.power,position - worldly riches.
Just imagine if the church supported that one must also following Jesus's teachings - as Jesus taught us:
- get rid of all your money and possessions, your loves and hates in this world of darkness, don't call anyone here on earth 'father' for there is only one Father the Father in heavens, no one is higher than anther (tosses out kneeling and kissing a Cardinal's ring!), when you pray speak directly to the father (no intermediators), and on and on and on, set no-one above me (including the pope
as part of salvation..
loving god, loving each other, not loving the world and worldly things..
..how awful for them - all that gold in the Vatican and lands, and the selling of indulgences - poof!
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On your point, I will have to pray on that - that accepting Jesus even with your dying breath is enough. (Certainly the Church wants you to accept this).
