All About Faith

[YourTruthGod]

The Pharisees said the same thing. Just follow God's teachings and you'll be saved. Simple.

Jesus said the Pharisees did not obey.

Matthew 23:1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, 2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: 3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

By the way, you are comparing obeying Jesus to obeying the old law?

 

[tango]

So tell me, do you somehow imagine to think that calling one's self a Baptist or a Presbyterian or a Lutheran or a Methodist, or a Church of Christist or an Episcopalian somehow makes you NOT a lone wolf Christian??? Really??? Show me one thing that you can or cannot believe and you will then be ejected from their Church...


Arsenios

Not necessarily. I don't think I've ever attended a church where I've believed every single thing the church as a whole notionally believed. My current church promotes non-resistance/pacifism, and the minister and leadership team know my stance on pacifism is that I have no interest in starting fights but if you break into my house in the middle of the night, or if you threaten me or my family, I am most likely going to fight back with whatever force (including deadly force) I have at my disposal. Not only am I still welcome in the church they invite me to preach every once in a while.

 

[Arsenios]

You pray for mercy and are thankful for having it, or you are not sure you have it?

The human need for God's Mercy is ongoing until death, and then beyond death...


Arsenios

 

[YourTruthGod]

The human need for God's Mercy is ongoing until death, and then beyond death...


Arsenios

Right, but I think we have to have faith that we do have mercy.

 

[Arsenios]

Actually, no, Jesus was speaking to believers.

Could you provide Scripture where Christ says He is ONLY talking to and for believers?


Arsenios

 

[Arsenios]

Right, but I think we have to have faith that we do have mercy.

Doing the will of the Father attracts God's Mercy...

Doing the will of Satan repels it...

Now it is true that the departure of God's Mercy is itself a Great mercy...

But even within God's Mercy, we have an ever present need for it...

"We call upon Thy Name..."

Similarly with Salvation...

We have been saved, yet we need Salvation...

Because...

We are always in this fallen life but saved in part...

Full Salvation will only come in the Age to Come...

And we are but sinful beggars...

"Blessed are the Poor in Spirit..."


Arsenios

 

[YourTruthGod]

Doing the will of the Father attracts God's Mercy...

Doing the will of Satan repels it...

Now it is true that the departure of God's Mercy is itself a Great mercy...

But even within God's Mercy, we have an ever present need for it...

"We call upon Thy Name..."

Similarly with Salvation...

We have been saved, yet we need Salvation...

Because...

We are always in this fallen life but saved in part...

Full Salvation will only come in the Age to Come...

And we are but sinful beggars...

"Blessed are the Poor in Spirit..."


Arsenios

We have different experiences about that then, because I do not believe we are sinners in Christ, but saints in Christ.

 

[Arsenios]

The law accuses. That's all it does
It does not purify. It was given to show us that we are sinners in need of a Savior.

Do you differentiate obedience to Christ from following the Law of Moses?

Or are you lumping them together?


Arsenios

 

[Arsenios]

Really? You really think you spent careful time explaining? Really???
YTG, you are delusional, but I don't doubt you really believe your thoughts were sound.
It should be a red flag to you that no one agrees with you, but do you take that as a red flag? No, you just double down and claim everyone else is wrong.
There is no value in conversing with you. You live on your island and refuse rescue. We just need to row away and leave you on the island you have created.
Thankfully, God knows when and if you will be saved from the island you have built.

What a charitable thought you offer here, Menno!

Truly inspired, kind, thoughtful, generous, loving and well motivated...

I mean, Gee...


Arsenios

 

[MennoSota]

What a charitable thought you offer here, Menno!

Truly inspired, kind, thoughtful, generous, loving and well motivated...

I mean, Gee...


Arsenios

I'm not wrong. It is loving, though you don't see it. I can live with that.

 

[Arsenios]

We have different experiences about that then, because I do not believe we are sinners in Christ, but saints in Christ.

We see the Church as a Hospital for the sick and the wounded...

According to the Parable of the Good Samaritan...

A sinner in repentance from sin is still a sinner...

He is simply in repentance from his sin(s)...

We see Christian life as a struggle of unseen warfare against demonic powers and principalities...


Arsenios

 

[YourTruthGod]

We see the Church as a Hospital for the sick and the wounded...

According to the Parable of the Good Samaritan...

A sinner in repentance from sin is still a sinner...

He is simply in repentance from his sin(s)...

We see Christian life as a struggle of unseen warfare against demonic powers and principalities...


Arsenios

We are different there too.

I believe we have to actually stop the sins we repent of doing.

Scripture says Satan flees from those who submit to God.

So how is it such doom as you describe?

 

[Arsenios]

I'm not wrong. It is loving, though you don't see it. I can live with that.

The big sin you hate is YTG calling us unto repentance for our Salvation by God...

Both YTG and I affirm with John the Baptist and Jesus that repentance is our preparation for and prior to Salvation by God...


Arsenios

 

[MoreCoffee]

We see the Church as a Hospital for the sick and the wounded...

According to the Parable of the Good Samaritan...

A sinner in repentance from sin is still a sinner...

He is simply in repentance from his sin(s)...

Christ is the healer of the faithful and of the unfaithful too - after all the faithful pretty well all start as unfaithful and progress towards faithfulness as grace is given and as it is exercised in life.

We see Christian life as a struggle of unseen warfare against demonic powers and principalities...

Surely life is more than that and surely warfare against imaginary powers is not the ideal towards which Christ calls the faithful.

Arsenios

 

[YourTruthGod]

I'm not wrong. It is loving, though you don't see it. I can live with that.

You don't have truth to debate me with so what else are you given to say to me?

 

[YourTruthGod]

The big sin you hate is calling us unto repentance for our Salvation by God...

Both YTG and I affirm with John the Baptist and Jesus that repentance is our preparation for and prior to Salvation by God...


Arsenios

Amen.

 

[MennoSota]

The big sin you hate is YTG calling us unto repentance for our Salvation by God...

Both YTG and I affirm with John the Baptist and Jesus that repentance is our preparation for and prior to Salvation by God...


Arsenios

You mean calling people to work for their salvation? Yes, I disagree with your salvation by works teaching. I disagree with your Pharisaical teaching. The entire letter to the Galatians addresses your false teaching. Is that why you both were banned from the other site? You taught salvation by works with grace not needed?
Faith isn't needed in your teaching and even Jesus death isn't needed. Just repent and get your sticker for saving yourself.
Yeah, I believe the Bible rejects your teaching as do most people at CH.
Let me know when you wish to leave your man-made island.

 

[Arsenios]

We are different there too.

I believe we have to actually stop the sins we repent of doing.

Indeed we do... Yet as Paul says, we are to "run the race set before us..." Hence the ongoing struggle... One sin at a time, and so often, we find that we have a sin of which we were unaware... And as the Psalmist writes: "For I know mine iniquity, and my sin is ever before me..." We have ingrained patterns of sin, and the working of our way down into the layers of the onion of self-denial is indeed the Great Work of Salvation that God appoints... The mortification of the will of the flesh as we progressively overcome the world following Christ...

Scripture says Satan flees from those who submit to God.

Submission to God is progressive - We cannot just say: "I repent" and it all just disappears...

Many are the trials of the righteous, and Scripture instructs us to persevere against sin in the Faith to the end of our lives...

No one is ever too exalted not to fall...

So how is it such doom as you describe?

It is a worthwhile undertaking, done in purification of the heart, in a genuineness of soul, in lowliness of soul, for the sake of the Kingdom of God...

It is joy and anticipation as we sorrow for our iniquities... Our native lawlessness in this fallen condition... Our infirmities regarding sin...

And there comes a time when God puts some of us pretty right...

But only by His Good Pleasure...

To those who have pretty much died to the world...

God's doing, not man's...

Man repents - God Saves...

Salvation is Union with God - The Marriage of the Lamb...

KNOWING the One True God and His Son, Jesus Christ...


Arsenios

 

[Arsenios]

You mean calling people to work for their salvation? Yes, I disagree with your salvation by works teaching. I disagree with your Pharisaical teaching. The entire letter to the Galatians addresses your false teaching. Is that why you both were banned from the other site? You taught salvation by works with grace not needed?
Faith isn't needed in your teaching and even Jesus death isn't needed. Just repent and get your sticker for saving yourself.
Yeah, I believe the Bible rejects your teaching as do most people at CH.
Let me know when you wish to leave your man-made island.

Not my belief, by myself, as you falsely again accuse, but the teaching of the Christian Faith for 2000 years...

Show me your false theory that Salvation precedes repentance existing in the first 1500 years of the Christian Faith...

Nor is it in the Bible - No such verse exists there...

John the Baptist's ministry came before Christ's...

As John was born before Christ...

And Christ Himself preached John's words:

"Be ye repenting, for the Kingdom of the Heavens is at hand!"

For those of you from Rio Linda, and Steeler fans, that means repentance is UNTO that Kingdom...


Arsenios

 

[YourTruthGod]

You mean calling people to work for their salvation? Yes, I disagree with your salvation by works teaching. I disagree with your Pharisaical teaching. The entire letter to the Galatians addresses your false teaching. Is that why you both were banned from the other site? You taught salvation by works with grace not needed?
Faith isn't needed in your teaching and even Jesus death isn't needed. Just repent and get your sticker for saving yourself.
Yeah, I believe the Bible rejects your teaching as do most people at CH.
Let me know when you wish to leave your man-made island.

You lie when you say we don't preach have faith.

You know what happens to liars, right?