holiness:what do I gain?

All4Christ

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SeventhValley said:
How is a Christian better than someone who follows the Golden Rule since the Golden Rule comes from God without the added baggage of church politics?

I don't think it is appropriate or always accurate to make a statement saying that a Christian is better than another person who follows the Golden Rule. Our salvation is not due to our goodness; rather, it is due to our acceptance of the salvation offered by God, along with working towards our salvation each day (synergy between God and mankind). Works or goodness alone cannot save a person; ultimately, only God can save us. The Church guides us and assists us in working out our salvation. Another person can probably explain this better, but that's my 2 cents.
 
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Grafted In

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Assuming you mean the person following the golden rule is not saved, the difference is eternity. For an
unsaved person who follows the golden rule, or God's laws for that matter, his/her life may very well be less difficult but their reward in the end will be nothing. Unsaved is unsaved regardless of one's way of living out their appointed days.
On the other hand, a saved person's life can be incredibly nightmarish if they do not follow either.
Just my opinion.
 
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gzt

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Everybody should earnestly seek the good of their neighbor, the truth in the world, and to love their enemies. God gives us the strength and the reason to do so. If you don't want God while you try to love your neighbor, that's your prerogative. But be careful: everybody worships something, make sure it's not yourself.
 
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How do you work out salvation if it is given to you. Also what good is salvation? I'll never understand God so why try?

Be careful you don't confuse salvation with "understanding God" ... meaning figure Him out and completely apprehend Him with human minds. That will never happen with any of us. And it doesn't have to.
 
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How is a Christian better than someone who follows the Golden Rule since the Golden Rule comes from God without the added baggage of church politics?

Just about everyone is rendered incapable of truly adhering to the "golden rule", by what the Church traditionally refers to as a sort of innate "sinfulness" from which persons need to be healed. Modern psychology also recognizes the need for such healing, or "change". This would imply that most of us are too sick to live properly with regard to ourselves, let alone others.

I short, our faith is all about changing to become a better human being. If you are already a perfect human being, then I guess you do not need any of the healing mechanisms that the Church has to offer. If, however, you are like myself, then change for the better is exactly what is needed.

You need to decide if you desire to be a better person, or if you are already good enough. A careful and honest examination of one's own psyche can help one make such a determination. This examination usually involves about 40 days worth of strict fasting and unceasing prayer, performed with acute attentiveness. Usually by the end of such a period we can know a great deal more about ourselves so that we can be better equipped to determine what path we should be on.
 
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ArmyMatt

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How do you work out salvation if it is given to you. Also what good is salvation? I'll never understand God so why try?

as for your first question. you work it out in the same way that a child works out eating dinner to get the gift of the desert at the end. since God does not force Himself on us, working out our salvation prepares us to receive the gift that He bestows.

as to the second question, heaven or hell.

as to the third, while true you will never understand Him, you can come to know Him and ever deepen your knowledge of Him and relationship with Him.
 
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