Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boasts."
The difference between the idea of salvation for Born Again Christians as against other religions in the world, including Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox church, is that, these religions prescribe certain sets of moral precepts and code of conducts for their followers to observe to be able to attain salvation.
In their eyes, God is like the perfect Accountant that balances the credits (good works) as against the debits (sins or violations of moral laws of their respective religions) to determine where the deceased mortal will go.
On the other hand, Born Again Christians adhere (as what the Bible attests in Ephesians 2:8-9) to the dispensation of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, salvation is not contingent on the moral condition of the person but on the grace or free gift of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
In other words, mere belief (faith) or acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior assures the person salvation and eternal life as attested in John 3:16 and Ephesians 2:8-9. Then good works will follow as fruits or evidences of said salvation.
When the Lord Jesus Christ uttered one of His final words on the cross, "It is finished," He meant just that. Nothing more can be added to or subtracted from the grace of salvation He earned for the entire mankind by His death on the cross.
The assurance of eternal life for those who believe in Him was further evidenced by His resurrection from the dead.
"All WHO CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."
Still - Hillsong
12 comments:
"Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox church...these religions prescribe certain sets of moral precepts and code of conducts for their followers to observe to be able to attain salvation."
So, Jimmy Swaggart, who accepted Jesus, is going to heaven? as simple as that.
BTW, GOD is a PERFECT ACCOUNTANT like what us catholics believe. Somewhere in the Bible it says that Every idle word that a man speaketh shall be given ACCOUNT thereof at the day of the judgement.
Hi tk,
There is no quarrel there, even those Christians who accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior shall be accountable for their actions. But, and this is a big BUT, sinning after acceptance of Jesus Christ is more of an aberration rather than a common happenstance. Why, because their long dead and dormant spirit was made alive by the Holy Spirit during the acceptance of Jesus Christ which is termed a born again experience. Jesus is the end of the laws and the commandments. In fact everything in the Old Testament was a precursor of Jesus sacrifice on the cross. The shedding of animal blood was just a replica of the real atonement by the shedding of the blood of the Lamb. I said sin is an aberration rather than a common happenstance for those who are born again because the Holy Spirit dwells in their hearts and convicts them of any sin or transgression. And by the amazing grace of God, forgiveness for sins is assured by the washing of Jesus blood. It is also assured by 1John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." What is the assurance of salvation? The Word of God. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." God did not give any prescriptions of good works for salvation. Let us use our logic if we may, do you think the Father will send His only begotten Son to die on the cross if there are other options? Certainly not. Would you sacrifice your own child to save another person's life? Absolutely not, isn't it. Why do you think the Father has to sacrifice His own Son, adored by millions of angels in heaven, to die an ignominious death on the cross if there is any other way. Surely He would have just given mankind prescriptions for salvation just like what He did in the Old Testament. The commandments were given to mankind to show men the futility of relying on man's own efforts to save himself. Without divine intervention no man could ever save himself from destruction.
Another proof of salvation is the transformed lives of born again Christians. The Bible says, "by the fruit you shall know the tree." A person who was an atheist and a de facto communist like Eddie Villanueva was transformed by God into a televangelist and leader of the biggest Christian church in the Philippines. Former drug addicts, hardened criminals, hard core womanizers and gamblers, murderers have shown miraculous transformations because of the effects of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Being born again is an experience. It is not a religion. Even Roman Catholics can be born again and experience total transformations in their lives through the workings of the Holy Spirit. Why is it that after confession and Holy communion a catholic still find it hard to attain total transformation? That's because they are still not born again and their spirit is still dead and dormant. Compare this to the Roman Catholics who have undergone Christian renewals (their term for born again experience) and see how they worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth. I'm referring to Fr. Archie Guiriba.
You referred to Jimmy Swaggart whether he is also assured of salvation. Well yes, if he confess his sins and return to God. That's God's amazing grace. Of course, there are backsliders from among born again Christians too but they are afforded the way to reconciliation and forgiveness by the grace of God. Without the grace of God, it is impossible for man to
withstand the wiles and ways of the enemy- the devil. The Bible says, "not by might nor by power but by my Spirit says the Lord almighty." The same Spirit that enabled the puny David to kill the giant Goliath is the same Spirit that shall transform us and protect us from the enemy until the very end.
I don't know if my explanations satisfied you. You are free to make any comments. Smile. God bless and have a nice and peaceful day.
Mel, If that is what you believe in, then I have bad news for you. YOU are NOT a born-again christian,
YOU are a Catholic Christian.
So, See you on sunday mass at the communion, Mel. Bring your rosary. Don't forget to venerate Saint Anthony on the way out of the CHURCH (he's the patron saint of lost causes, I think)give him a kiss for me, will ya as you kneel and make the sign of the cross in front of his image.
Hi tk,
A very typical answer from the usual people who don't know the truth. They speak in generalizations and name callings. You claim something and does not have anything to back it up, just your own ideas of what spiritual truths should be. I bet I know more of Roman Catholicism than you do. And you don't know anything about born again Christians than
your own preconceived and biased ideas about them. So you cannot give me any bad news for you do not know what you are talking about. Could it be the other way around?
The bad news may be for you. The Bible says, people perish for lack of knowledge. You are so knowledgeable about medicine, the arts and information and what's the current issues are all about. But I bet, you are ignorant of the Word of God and everything about God. So where do you get your self assured confidence, in your own convoluted ideas of spiritual truths? I am not disparaging you, I cannot gain anything from that. I am just showing you in plain language where you are standing right now. If you profess to be a Catholic, then be a good Catholic. Go to mass every Sunday and holy days of obligations. Regularly go to confession and communion. Obey all the ten commandments if you can. Do what the priest tell you to do. And then you can talk spiritual matters with other people. The church says if you don't do this, you will go to hell. Do you believe your own religion? Thanks for dropping by. I hope you can take as much as you give. Smile. God bless and have a nice and enlightening day.
Mel, I took umbrage at your underlying insinuation that I am prone to being a philanderer because of the toung-in-cheek lines that I tell my wife for a quick laugh. I'm not an adulterer... because I don't think there's any chance in hell that Jessica alba will pay my wife $10M to spend the night with me. Those jokes we share strengthen the fact that she has no insecurities unlike most girls I know. That's why she is so endearing to me.
You know more about the Born again christian religion and catholicism than what makes me tick.
I wanted to piss you off with the swaggart comment because you, inadvertently, pissed me off. But I guess I overshot a bit.
Please accept my apologies.
I visited your blog and reviewed my comments to see what I said that made you "pissed off" and I saw none. I praised you to high heavens for taking time to bond with your family. I was so fascinated by your children who radiated pure joy in their faces that I could not help but utter prayers for your whole family. I wanted so much that the Lord should bless and maintain those bondings so I made those prayers for your family. I did not take note nor was I interested in your joke about moms taking a fancy
on you. A joke is a joke and I could recognize one a mile away. I don't think I will sully my prayers to the Lord by doing deprecatory prayers that have double meaning or intended to insult someone. That is very insulting to the Lord and usually brings a swift retribution especially to someone who knows the potencies of prayers. And I don't know you personally. What would be my motive to sarcastically pray for you? Don't you think it may be a case of you seeing a ghost of your very own creation? Character is shown by how a person reacts to certain situations. And your reaction to a perceived "innuendos" speaks so much about your character. Apologies accepted but the damage has been done. Thanks for visiting and for your comments. God bless and have a good day.
No prob, sir.
buti nalang, God forgives and forgets. I guess born again christians forgive differently, eh.
God forgives but He does not easily forgets. Although He forgave David for his adulterous relationship with Sheba and for plotting the murder of her husband Uriah, still He punished David by killing his firstborn son by Sheba. That is part of divine justice. Man may be forgiven his sins but the consequences of sins will still overtake him for that is God's immutable law of justice.
All throughout our correspondences you always used sarcasm, innuendos, name callings and total disrespect for other people's beliefs as though you have an unlimited license to do so. And when you got hurt by your own misguided judgment of other people's well meaning prayers, your immediate reaction was to lash out with all venomous sarcasm and vitriolic attacks on his beliefs. And when you said your apologies, which was so shallow you can see the insincerity in it, you expect the person you so malign to immediately forgive and forget. And when you see that he has forgiven you but has not forgotten the unprovoked attack, your immediate reaction was to disparage him and his Christian brothers by comparing them with the forgiveness of God. Your moral standard is quite amazing. It's heads you win and tails I lose. You showed your childishness by announcing that henceforth you will no longer visit the blog of the person you so maligned. Talk about the sincerity of your so called apologies. I guess you can say sorry at the drop of a hat and not feel any sincerity in it. Your unprovoked attacks on Born Again Christians are uncalled for. May God forgive you for that. I dare you venture into a Muslim blog and say all the attacks you did on our beliefs and see if they will react the same Christian way that Born Again Christians do. I suggest you look at your blind spot for it may lead you to some problems later on. And please, there is such thing as civility and mutual respect in communications among civilized and so called educated people. God bless you and your family and may He give you wisdom to distinguish between the religious and the profane.
uhh... I think it's Bathsheba, Sir-- TK
Yes, you are right. I stand corrected. I already saw my error but my comments were already printed. Thanks for pointing that out to me. God bless and have a nice and pleasant day.
Mr. Mel where did you get your authority to interpret the Holy Bible? All Christian Groups from all denomonations quote the Bible to assert their teachings, even contradicting each other, yet all claimed to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. Now who is telling the truth?
HI Anonymous,
Actually I delete all anonymous comments but your question deserves an answer. As you can see, I just quote Bible verses and give my thoughts about them. I am not interpreting the verses but extrapolating my own opinions about them. Yes, I agree that there are many who quote the Bible and it is upon the readers to choose whom to believe. To a believer no proof is needed to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and savior and to an unbeliever no proof is ever sufficient to convince him to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and savior. Conviction by the Holy Spirit, conversion and salvation are all graces from God who gives freely to all who ask from Him. Thanks for your visit and comments. God bless.
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