Hot answers tagged soteriology
29
No.
God knows each one of us as a person, not just part of a family. This is clear even in the Old Testament:
Ezekiel 33:20 (ESV)
Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways."
Looking at the Gospel in the New Testament, we see that again each of us is an individual to God:
...
28
This question is actually pretty cut and dry. At the core the main thing you ask is "Can I go to heaven even rejecting Christian belief by substituting some set of actions?"
No. No amount of works of any kind will get you into heaven. There is no substitute for faith.
Hebrews 11:6 (ESV)
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever ...
23
No.
As Nicky Gumbel says on the Alpha course, "If you were born in a McDonalds, would that make you a hamburger?"
Furthermore, the Bible makes clear that we are all judged on our own standing with Jesus, e.g. Acts 2:21: "... everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
22
I don't wish to sound flippant but you don't convert anyone. God does. Having said that, our responsibility is:
To explain the hope we have, and be ready to do this, with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3v15
Then we can explain the theology, if people want to know. It comes down to this:
God is perfect (Deuteronomy 32:4, Matthew 5:48). That's His ...
21
Before Christ, people were saved by believing in God's promise of the Messiah who was to come, as we are saved by believing in the Messiah who has come.
Hebrews 11:39-40 (ESV)
And all these [Old Testament saints], though commended through their
faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided
something better for us, that apart from ...
20
At the heart of this question (and many similar ones) is another question: Is God fair?
If God requires acknowledgments of truths that people haven't had a chance to hear in order to be saved, then of course He is not fair.
If we begin with the assumption that God will never act unjustly or unfairly though, then we can assume that He will make Divine ...
17
This isn't a question that can be resolved indisputably here, as there are different views amont Christians about this. These views are generally in a range of:
Pelagianism - the idea that a man's salvation is an act of his free will only.
Synergysm - the idea that a man needs grace, but has to freely cooperate with it.
Irresistible grace - that grace ...
16
The Bible is very clear that all atheists and non-believers will be sent to the Lake of Fire after they die. It even goes further than that by specifying a list of people that are not accepted (which covers more than your question!):
Revelations 21:8 (NIV)
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who ...
16
First a disclaimer, I come from the camp that salvation is by faith alone. The answer will be coming from my perspective, since the question seems to be geared toward those who hold this view. It also intentionally goes against the definition of Christianity as accepted for the sake of this community because I think that it's the only way to address the ...
15
No. See 1 Peter 3 and 4. Starting from the death of Jesus, the Gospel has been preached to the dead as well as the living.
1 Peter 4:6
For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
Bringing salvation to the dead who had ...
15
Even if we can't pray away someone else's free will or convince God to bend the rules regarding the requirements of salvation, there can still be merit in praying on behalf of others with a slightly different attitude. Perhaps "let them have experiences that will lead them to the truth," or "let their hearts be softened, that they may give heed to the Holy ...
14
I second the answer of @mason-wheeler that Acts 2:37-38 represents the basic Christian assumption that repentance and baptism, and indeed the entire Christian life that is "the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and breaking of bread, and prayers," is critical to salvation, and pursuit of salvation outside this life is perilous. Furthermore, resisting a ...
14
Wow, I'm surprised that nobody has actually given a proper answer yet. aceinthehole, was on the right track, just lacked the key.
Hebrews 10:4 (NIV)
It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
@Caleb, you are definitely onto something, because this verse clearly tells us that nobody in the old testament was actually saved ...
14
I believe the best way to address your question is to take apart what you've written, and address it piece by piece, looking especially at the assumptions you have made going into your argument. Please understand that while you may not agree with many of the statements I will make here, they do represent a Christian perspective. In particular, I will be ...
14
God is Holy
God is Just
God is Merciful
The combination of these attributes is the answer to your question.
His Holiness demands that He be obeyed, unequivocally.
His justice demands that He deal with disobedience, mercilessly.
His mercy demands that He forgive, lovingly.
How does one strike a balance in a meaningful manner? The answer is that He who ...
13
It is said that Jesus rose from the dead frequently in the New Testament. This presumes that yes, Jesus was fully dead at some point. Before Jesus, of course there wasn't a heaven, just a place of the dead referred to "hades" or "hell" (as you acknowledge). As Jesus had died, he went there. Jesus preached the Gospel to the dead (1 Peter 4:6) and those that ...
13
Actually, it never worked.
Hebrews 10:4 (ESV)
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
All the OT sacrifices were useless in an of themselves. What they did all along was not actually solve something but point people to the idea that something needed to be solved and the way that had to happen was through sacrifice. ...
12
Aquinas asks: Whether the will of the demons is obstinate in evil? (Summa Theologica 1.64.2). He considers several arguments in favour:
That demons have intellect and could therefore choose to be good again.
That God's infinite mercy exceeds the finite malice of the demons.
That the demons' chief sin was pride, but they no longer have anything to be proud ...
12
The sinners prayer has no place in Christ's Gospel
Why did Christ die? Have you thought about that? If Christ was somebody that everybody loved, why was the entire town chanting that He be killed? Have you thought about that?
John 15:25 NKJV
But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in
their law, ‘They hated Me without a ...
12
Is the biblical idea of being “born again” compatible with eastern religious ideas of reincarnation?
Being "Born again" and being reincarnated are completely different concepts.
The concept of being born again comes from this Bible passage below. I know it's long but the theological and doctrinal implications found in this passage are profound and critical to understanding what it means to be "born again" and what salvation requires.
John 3:3-21 (NIV)
...
12
No I don't think he was surprised at all. But that doesn't mean he wasn't disappointed. I'm sure he held out a false hope that things might go his way.
Satan is not omnipotent and could not have known exactly what God was planning, but he would have known and been able to understand the prophecies as well or better than men and it was never any secret that ...
12
YES, there are!
The footnote in my NLT Bible for Acts 11:1 has a list of Old Testament verses that say that salvation is for all people, not just the Jews. Below, I've reproduced the list and for two of them, I've directly quoted them because they're the clearest and most direct with regards to this topic.
Genesis 12:3
Psalm 22:27
Isaiah 42:4
Isaiah 49:6
...
11
No, I do not believe that this is the only sure sign of the Holy Spirit. Also, I would question if someone is truly speaking in tongues when they claim to be. Can people speak in tongues today? I have seen people who would claim they were speaking in tongues, but there was no one there to interpret.
Paul lists speaking in tongues as one of the spiritual ...
11
Based on the following scriptures, I would say the answer is no.
Jude 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left
their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under
darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
MATTHEW 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand,
Depart from me, ye cursed, into ...
11
(From an Evangelical, Sola Fide perspective)
The question is based on a false dichotomy. Neither is more pleasing to God.
Both types of giving are a sign of obedience to God, and an act of love and mercy if our motive in doing either is pure. If we are doing either simply to do so, or to "earn points" then neither is pleasing to God. If we're trying ...
11
Super short summery:
No it is not like sola fide.
Now really long answer:
Are LDS saved by faith? Yes absolutely. The thing to understand here is that death and the Resurrection are viewed differently in LDS doctrine. Latter-day Saints believe EVERYONE will be brought back into the presence of God, because of the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. Now this ...
10
Short Answer, YES; Long Answer, YES YES
First we need to define what repentance is.
The word in Greek is Metanoeo which means: To change ones mind. The word repent in Hebrew is Nacham which means to: to be sorry, be moved to pity, have compassion.
Repentance is a state of mind, of sorrow over your actions.
Now that we understand the word's definition ...
10
This is a question that is not really cut and dried. There is a huge amount of very accurate information in this article summarising different beliefs on it. Summarizing the summary: One viewpoint is the Restrictivist Position.
Most Fundamentalists and many other Evangelicals continue the Restrictivist beliefs taught by traditional Christianity. They ...
10
Hebrews 10:1 (KJV)
For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
I think you can say from Hebrews 10 that the Old Testament sacrifices were a picture of Christ's sacrifice more than that his death ...
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