How do I find truth amidst so many opinions?

ToBeLoved

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I have recently been considering dedicating my life to God, but I am having some trouble. First, I understand that repentance is a necessary part of salvation, but what exactly is that? Is it simply acknowledging that I am a sinner and completely unredeemable by my own merit, or is it actively trying to turn from sin and live a holy life despite the fact that I will certainly sin again whether I want to or not? I know this sounds bad, but what if I don't really want to stop sinning?

I hope this helps.

The Bible is clear that breaking just one of the 10 commandements is a sin. So, if you have lied, lusted after someone before marriage, taken or desired something someone else has had, ect... Than you have broken the holy will of God.

God in heaven is holy. Holy with no sin. We have sinned and this sin is what separates us from God. When Adam and EVe partook in the apple, that is when they were no longer reconciled to God. Before the apple, God resided in Eden with Adam and Eve in perfection.

So, back to the 10 commandments. So a holy God cannot have sin. A holy God cannot reside with sin.

That is the sin problem.

God sent His Only Begotten son, God Himself from heaven to die for our sins. All of our sins. For the sins of the world. However, since God has given us free -choice, it has to be our decision to accept the gift that Jesus has offered us to become one of His own and have our sins forgiven.

With our sins forgiven, we are once again reconciled back to God.

Does that make sense?
 
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kimbie

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I'd like to thank everyone for your replies to my questions. I haven't revisited this thread until today, because I was in a bit of crisis. It is painful for me to think about the many, many ways I have failed God when I know He loves me so deeply and perfectly. I sincerely appreciate everyone who answered so thoughtfully.
 
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ToBeLoved

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I'd like to thank everyone for your replies to my questions. I haven't revisited this thread until today, because I was in a bit of crisis. It is painful for me to think about the many, many ways I have failed God when I know He loves me so deeply and perfectly. I sincerely appreciate everyone who answered so thoughtfully.

We all fail God.

Pick yourself back up and do better next time.
 
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aiki

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I have recently been considering dedicating my life to God, but I am having some trouble.

Dedicating your life to God is putting yourself front and center in a relationship that is supposed to be centered on God. Without Jesus, without God, the Bible says you can do nothing spiritually fruitful. (Jn. 15:5) Absolutely nothing. It isn't, then, that you must dedicate yourself to God - that puts entirely too much of the onus for your Christian life on you - but that you surrender yourself to Him. In and of yourself, you haven't the capacity to serve God as He calls you to serve Him. And when you dedicate yourself to doing so in your own human reserves of strength, your obedience will be short-lived. The only way you can expect to walk well with God is as you yield yourself to His will and way and wait on Him to be powerful in and through you. He saves you. And He changes you. And He doesn't need your self-reliant promises of commitment to do so, only your willingness to humble yourself under His hand and be conformed by His Spirit to the character of Christ.

First, I understand that repentance is a necessary part of salvation, but what exactly is that? Is it simply acknowledging that I am a sinner and completely unredeemable by my own merit, or is it actively trying to turn from sin and live a holy life despite the fact that I will certainly sin again whether I want to or not?

Repentance is turning from a life lived independently from God to one that is fully reliant upon Him. It is choosing to move toward God and a holy life and away from a life of rebellion toward God and sin. Acknowledging that you are a sinner is confession (agreeing with God), which leads to repentance.

When a person is born-again, when they are saved, they are made "dead to sin and alive unto God." (Ro. 6) In this condition, they no longer "have to sin whether they want to or not." If a woman in a skimpy dress walks by a dead man, does he respond with a catcall or wolf-whistle? No. He's dead. In the same way, a born-again disciple of Christ has, upon their conversion, been made spiritually dead to sin. As the apostle Paul puts it:

Romans 6:6-7
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.


It's a very common belief among modern believers that being a Christian means merely managing our sin. There is this idea that sin is inevitable and we just need to relax into our human imperfection and embrace our sinfulness. But is this what the Bible teaches us? Absolutely not!

Romans 6:1-2
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?


I know this sounds bad, but what if I don't really want to stop sinning? I mean, if I could snap my finger and not sin anymore without any struggle or temptation I would do it in a heartbeat, but what if I would rather just take the easy way and keep doing what I've been doing? I guess what I'm asking is, if I intentionally and habitually sin am I not saved? I have heard people say different things on the topic, and I'm not really sure who to believe.

If you're trying not to sin and failing, it is, in part, also because you are working from the wrong power source in resisting sin. When you have submitted yourself to God's will and way, and in so doing place yourself in the flow of His Spirit's power, you will not find moral failure is your common experience but rather that you are, as the Bible says, truly "dead to sin."

If you want to keep sinning, it is because you find your sin more gratifying than walking in obedience to God. And this is so when you don't love God as you ought to love Him. If I love to eat chocolate, I will eat chocolate - and likely, since I love it, quite a lot of it. If I love God, I will delight in knowing and walking with Him. Fellowship with my Heavenly Father, whom I love, will be a joy that I will be careful to preserve by obedience to Him. If I love God more than I love my sin, I will forsake my sin in order to pursue God. So, if I want to sin more than I want to obey God, that just says something about my love for God.

Can you love God properly with your own corrupt, self-centered love? Nope. The only love God wants from us is His own perfect, holy love. Obviously, then, we have to get His love from Him and then express it back to Him. How do we get His love? By getting His Spirit. And how do we get His Spirit? By being born-again.

Does habitual sin always mean you aren't saved? No. But if you have no qualms at all about your sin, if you are quite at ease with your sin, then I think you do have reason to doubt the genuineness of your salvation.

1 John 2:3-6
3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
4 He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.


I guess my personal feeling is, if I truly had the love of God in my heart I wouldn't want to sin anymore. Does anyone have a definitive answer? I am confused. Thank you in advance for any light you can shed on the subject.

The believer's love for God grows and deepens over time. As it does, the believer's love of their sin diminishes and dissolves. But this is a process. It takes time. Being saved does not immediately eradicate every impulse to sin. Having the love of God within you by the presence of the indwelling Spirit does not mean you will instantly and forever abandon all of the sinful things in your life that have gratified you. No, this happens gradually as you more and more submit yourself to the Holy Spirit, to God, and live out your spiritual identity as a child of God, and enter more fully into the truth of God's awesome love for you.

Ephesians 3:17-19
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.


Selah.
 
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com7fy8

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Seriously people, I'm exhausted. I mean, just living feels like too much to bear and I'm losing hope for any meaning or redemption. If you know, can you just tell me- please?
"'Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.'" (Matthew 11:29)

I'd like to thank everyone for your replies to my questions. I haven't revisited this thread until today, because I was in a bit of crisis. It is painful for me to think about the many, many ways I have failed God when I know He loves me so deeply and perfectly. I sincerely appreciate everyone who answered so thoughtfully.
I haven't read every detail of every post, but I think ones have given you good things. I'll quote and comment about some of what we have shared.

If you want to keep sinning, it is because you find your sin more gratifying than walking in obedience to God.
But if I have experienced how I can be in God's love and relate with other people . . . when I do sin, I can get "homesick" very quickly.

we have to get His love from Him and then express it back to Him.
amen > God is our Source of all. So we can rest in Him.

How do we get His love? By getting His Spirit.
"Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Romans 5:5)

The believer's love for God grows and deepens over time.
So, it is not an instant thing of instantly becoming perfect. And included in our process is >

"Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain." (Philippians 2:14-16)

So, as we stop our complaining and arguing, we can become "blameless", "harmless", even "children of God without fault" - - - right "in the midst of" this world's "crooked and perverse generation". Because complaining and arguing are against God's love; so as we get corrected from these and get stronger in God's love, this love makes us "blameless and harmless, children of God without fault" . . . like His love in us is :)

"So it all comes from God and how He loves us by changing us to be like His love in us is, sharing this with us :)"

So, yes - - - if we truly appreciate that our Father loves us, we seek this with Him > > > His correction (Hebrews 12:4-11), with His love curing our character > 1 John 4:17. Curing takes time, but there is proof of how this works, in us.

As it does, the believer's love of their sin diminishes and dissolves.

Having the love of God within you by the presence of the indwelling Spirit does not mean you will instantly and forever abandon all of the sinful things in your life that have gratified you.
God will prove Himself in us, how His love does us so much more good than "gratifying" things. Pleasures might make us feel good for a little while, but they can not make us strong against the misery things which can drive people to seek pleasure for feeling of relief. Only God's love can make us strong against things of this world, so they can't get the better of us and make us suffer > God's love makes us strong against fear and all its torments of personality > 1 John 4:18.

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21)

No, this happens gradually as you more and more submit yourself to the Holy Spirit, to God, and live out your spiritual identity as a child of God, and enter more fully into the truth of God's awesome love for you.
excellent > we need to feed on all of God's word, to help us with this.

Remember God looks at our successes as well as our failures.

You are not only your failures and God forgives those.

Be all about your success for Christ.
I have a lady friend who yesterday was down on herself. I offered to her that she needs to not just criticize herself, but confront what is wrong and seek correction of God so she is busy with caring about others, instead of fretting and being discouraged about not having things she might like in her own life. If she messes up things of her life, she can now care about others and get into loving, instead.

And I have been one to just criticize others, instead of confronting people while having hope for them, and now I care about people and go for them to get corrected; and I am committed to spending time with people, to help them and expect and encourage them to also help me to get correction and learn how to love :) She is very good about helping and reminding me to have compassion for wrong people, and not give in to paranoid stupid nonsense like I still can.
 
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Ed1wolf

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I really don't mean to be antagonistic, but those seem like cop-out answers. Do you not really know either, or are you not sure? I feel dirty going before God and asking for forgiveness with the knowledge that I will definitely sin again. It feels cheap and inauthentic to read His word and entertain notions that perhaps forgiveness is for people like me. And yes, I actually do want to be spoon-fed the answers. I'm sorry to say that I do not feel like the Bible speaks to me like living word, but rather just text that can, and IS, interpreted differently by whoever reads it. Seriously people, I'm exhausted. I mean, just living feels like too much to bear and I'm losing hope for any meaning or redemption. If you know, can you just tell me- please?
Yes you will sin again, you will even sin sometimes and not even realize it, but God loves you and will forgive as long as you acknowledge that you are a sinner and will try not to sin and try to obey Christ's teachings. The essentials for salvation are obvious in the bible and cannot be interpreted in multiple ways.
 
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throughfiierytrial

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Greetings,
Not to be too redundant, I agree with many of the responses, but one must learn to love the Word and really eventually desire it. Realize what it is...the very words of God!!...not man's word or man's thoughts, but God Himself speaking directly to you, individually, through the Scripture! Do you realize how awesome that is? Reflect on this. I don't know how to motivate you to read Scripture other than to underscore this for you. It seems only an excuse to say you won't read because you may not understand it...if not though, consider these Bible passages:
“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. --Luke 12:47-48

Also, know that to read and learn God's Word is to learn the love of God and love of your brother and it is this love which will help you fight the sinful nature.

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon. --Isaiah 55:6-7

Now get to your reading; onward Christian Soldier!
 
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TheyCallMeDave

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Hello, let me preface this by saying that I do not have as much knowledge of the bible as many on here, despite being raised in a Christian home. I have recently been considering dedicating my life to God, but I am having some trouble. First, I understand that repentance is a necessary part of salvation, but what exactly is that? Is it simply acknowledging that I am a sinner and completely unredeemable by my own merit, or is it actively trying to turn from sin and live a holy life despite the fact that I will certainly sin again whether I want to or not? I know this sounds bad, but what if I don't really want to stop sinning? I mean, if I could snap my finger and not sin anymore without any struggle or temptation I would do it in a heartbeat, but what if I would rather just take the easy way and keep doing what I've been doing? I guess what I'm asking is, if I intentionally and habitually sin am I not saved? I have heard people say different things on the topic, and I'm not really sure who to believe. I guess my personal feeling is, if I truly had the love of God in my heart I wouldn't want to sin anymore. Does anyone have a definitive answer? I am confused. Thank you in advance for any light you can shed on the subject.

Yes, if you intentionally and habitually sin then this is an indicator that you haven't been born again which you must be according to Jesus. In other words, there HAS to be an inward change of character and temperament as proof that you were serious about making Jesus your personal Saviour . He came not only to forgive us but to want us to be overcomers of sin because its an offense to God and Others. You cant say you love Jesus and want to serve him , yet keep on participating in the world and its destructive philosophies which are counter to God and his ways for you.

Does this make sense to you now ?
 
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Yeshuas_My_Freedom

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It's a personal one on one relationship.
You could read the Bible. There are plenty of sites linked in any search engine if you look for, how to study the Bible.

Trust God to lead you. Pray, read, listen to that intuition inside you. Everyone has their own perspective of what the message of Christ is.
Ever heard of that story about the blind men and the elephant?

 
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jbearnolimits

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I'd like to thank everyone for your replies to my questions. I haven't revisited this thread until today, because I was in a bit of crisis. It is painful for me to think about the many, many ways I have failed God when I know He loves me so deeply and perfectly. I sincerely appreciate everyone who answered so thoughtfully.

Kimbie, I don't know if you have found your answer yet but I wanted to share this with you and everyone else who may be in your position. You mention that you know you are going to sin again and that it keeps you from wanting to come to God. You mentioned that you enjoy sin even.

Want to know something that is going to make you thrilled? The Bible says God seeks people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. You already have the truth part down. You are willing to admit the truth that you enjoy sin and know that even if you say you will never sin again it would be a lie.

Though many here may be confused by what I am about to say, since I am known as someone who preaches that repentance is not just changing your mind, it is turning away from sin. I still hold to that and always will. But there is a difference between repentance and being perfect.

You say you are afraid you can not truly repent because you know you will want to sin again. But let me ask you this...Do you want to not want to sin?

This is ultimately what real repentance is. Because the Bible says a righteous man may fall 7 times, but he gets up. No man in the Bible is able to say that he never sinned again (even willfully and joyfully) after he came to Jesus. Even Paul said that he wished he would not sin...but that he did sin. Yet he didn't think he needed to repent again. Why?

It's because even though he wanted to sin in his flesh, he didn't want to want to sin in spirit. This is why he said that he served the law of sin and death with his body but the law of God with his mind.

Our natural flesh will ALWAYS want to sin! Repentance is when we decide we will fight against that temptation...but repentance doesn't mean we will always win.

So here is the question I want you to ask yourself:

Do you want to keep wanting sin even though you know it will lead to hell? Or would you rather not want to want to sin and as a result fight against the temptation even if you may lose?

The first leads to hell...the second leads to life everlasting. Because a broken and contrite heart will not be rejected by God. Jesus is asking you to run after Him. He is not telling you that you can never fall again if you hope to make it.

And is this truth or opinion? Well...It's the central theme of repentance found in the Bible, and I think you already know it is truth. The question now is will you believe it and act on it by simply trusting Jesus when He says that if you will turn to Him and come after Him then He will clean all the bumps, bruises, and scrapes you may get as you fall along the way.
 
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98cwitr

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Hello, let me preface this by saying that I do not have as much knowledge of the bible as many on here, despite being raised in a Christian home. I have recently been considering dedicating my life to God, but I am having some trouble. First, I understand that repentance is a necessary part of salvation, but what exactly is that? Is it simply acknowledging that I am a sinner and completely unredeemable by my own merit, or is it actively trying to turn from sin and live a holy life despite the fact that I will certainly sin again whether I want to or not? I know this sounds bad, but what if I don't really want to stop sinning? I mean, if I could snap my finger and not sin anymore without any struggle or temptation I would do it in a heartbeat, but what if I would rather just take the easy way and keep doing what I've been doing? I guess what I'm asking is, if I intentionally and habitually sin am I not saved? I have heard people say different things on the topic, and I'm not really sure who to believe. I guess my personal feeling is, if I truly had the love of God in my heart I wouldn't want to sin anymore. Does anyone have a definitive answer? I am confused. Thank you in advance for any light you can shed on the subject.

Before listening to any opinions on doctrine or what you need to do, I would recommend doing the following first:

1. Read the whole Bible, cover to cover
2. Pray about it

As far as the habitual sin part, you should read Hebrews 10.
 
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ViaCrucis

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Hello, let me preface this by saying that I do not have as much knowledge of the bible as many on here, despite being raised in a Christian home. I have recently been considering dedicating my life to God, but I am having some trouble. First, I understand that repentance is a necessary part of salvation, but what exactly is that? Is it simply acknowledging that I am a sinner and completely unredeemable by my own merit, or is it actively trying to turn from sin and live a holy life despite the fact that I will certainly sin again whether I want to or not? I know this sounds bad, but what if I don't really want to stop sinning? I mean, if I could snap my finger and not sin anymore without any struggle or temptation I would do it in a heartbeat, but what if I would rather just take the easy way and keep doing what I've been doing? I guess what I'm asking is, if I intentionally and habitually sin am I not saved? I have heard people say different things on the topic, and I'm not really sure who to believe. I guess my personal feeling is, if I truly had the love of God in my heart I wouldn't want to sin anymore. Does anyone have a definitive answer? I am confused. Thank you in advance for any light you can shed on the subject.

In Lutheran thought we use language such as daily drowning ourselves in repentance. Repentance isn't a singular, individual act, or a moment in our lives; repentance defines Christian spirituality. It regards the Christian life as a life of the Cross, of dying to ourselves in repentance. Repentance, we might say, is a lifestyle. We use the idea of "drowning" rather specifically, as it hearkens back to our Baptism, because Baptism for the majority of Christians is how they first became Christians; and in Baptism we died together with Christ to be raised up together with Him to new life (Romans 6:3-8)

So what is repentance? The Greek word translated as repentance is metanoia, the word is a combination of the prefix meta, meaning to change, and the word nous meaning "mind", also "understanding", as in our thoughts, ideas, our way of thinking.

In the beginning of Mark's Gospel we read the following:

"Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news!'" (Mark 1:14-15)

There's a story concerning the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who lived and wrote in the latter part of the 1st century and is one of our most important sources for the Jewish-Roman War that resulted in the destruction of the Jewish Temple in the year 70. Josephus was actually in the Roman army, and thus was on the other side of the Jewish-Roman conflict than the Zealots, the Zealots being the religious-political faction in Judea who believed in armed conflict with Rome to reclaim Judea from Roman occupation, among whose ranks was one of Jesus' own disciples, Simon Zealotes, that is, Simon the Zealot who left the Zealot Movement to follow Jesus.

So the story goes Josephus came across a young Zealot, and said to him, "Repent, and follow me." This wasn't a call to come and worship Josephus or anything crazy like that, it was instead Josephus saying, "Change the way you're looking at things and doing things and come do things my way."

In the Gospels Jesus is calling people to come and follow Him, yes quite literally, but consider the Lord's teachings on the kingdom of God. Jesus in preaching the kingdom is not talking about "going to heaven", or about starting a militant movement on earth, but talks about the reign and kingly authority of God and what it looks like, usually in ways that are sharply contrasting with the ways in which power and politics work in the world. Jesus' language of the kingdom is at odds with both Roman imperialism and the revolutionary sentiment of Zealotism. Instead Jesus speaks of God's reign, God's kingdom, as where the first shall be last, where the greatest among us will be our servant (original Greek: "slave"), He says the kingdom is like a mustard seed, a very small seed but that grows into one of the largest shrubs. Jesus speaks of a great banquet where the banquet holder invites many, but they refuse to come, and so instead the lame, the crippled, the blind are invited instead and the originally honored are left on the outside. Jesus is really proposing a very upside-down way of looking at things, and is calling people to come and join Him, to follow Him, to come and be part of this kingdom of God thing and that means changing, rearranging how we see the world.

If we see through natural eyes we see that might makes right, we see that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. We might, like Jesus' disciples, see a blind man and ask, "Who sinned to make this happen, this man or his parents?" Because those who are life's "losers" seem to be cursed by God, and those who are well to do, in charge, and with power seem to be blessed by God. But instead Jesus turns that on its head, saying, "Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God." and "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Jesus says, "You have heard it said, an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, but I tell you do not resist an evil person, if someone strikes you on the one cheek, turn and offer the other." And "You have heard it said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say to you, love your enemy, bless those who curse you, pray for those who persecute you."

Is repentance confessing our sin, turning away from sin? Yes. In repentance we confess that we are indeed truly sinful, and in need of God's mercy. But repentance also means that we must understand that we can't continue living the way we think we ought, or thinking in the ways we think we should, but instead must turn and do things Christ's way, that is, to do things God's way. And very often that looks very different than the how things are, and how we perceive things. Repentance is a lifelong endeavor, it is the continual calling of our Lord saying that the kingdom is near, to repent and follow Him. Repentance is the continued call of the Lord to take up our cross and follow Him.

Our repentance doesn't save us, because our works don't save us. But repentance is part what it means for God to be saving us. There is no Christian life apart from repentance, repentance is the daily call of Christ to come and die, to come and take up our cross, to come and be His disciple. And if we are a Christian people, we hear the Master's voice, the voice of the Good Shepherd, and we die at His command--hoping, believing, trusting in the mercy and grace of God, because there is life, resurrection, and mercy from God freely and forever.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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aiki

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Ever heard of that story about the blind men and the elephant?

You might want to think twice about using this story. It makes some serious philosophical errors. It assumes, for one, that those outside of the realm of religion can better see the whole picture than those within it. How so? The analogy also ignores the fact that the claims of the various religions are not merely different but contradictory.

Selah.
 
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SeventyTimes7

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Hello, let me preface this by saying that I do not have as much knowledge of the bible as many on here, despite being raised in a Christian home. I have recently been considering dedicating my life to God, but I am having some trouble. First, I understand that repentance is a necessary part of salvation, but what exactly is that? Is it simply acknowledging that I am a sinner and completely unredeemable by my own merit, or is it actively trying to turn from sin and live a holy life despite the fact that I will certainly sin again whether I want to or not? I know this sounds bad, but what if I don't really want to stop sinning? I mean, if I could snap my finger and not sin anymore without any struggle or temptation I would do it in a heartbeat, but what if I would rather just take the easy way and keep doing what I've been doing? I guess what I'm asking is, if I intentionally and habitually sin am I not saved? I have heard people say different things on the topic, and I'm not really sure who to believe. I guess my personal feeling is, if I truly had the love of God in my heart I wouldn't want to sin anymore. Does anyone have a definitive answer? I am confused. Thank you in advance for any light you can shed on the subject.
Also Paul was not sure about his salvation (Philippians 3:13-14) and no one can be 100% sure about it.
First use the 10 commandments and write down the sins you commit the most, after you find them, read it and focus on them and try to find the root of the error you fall to break that commandment. Then pray to God to help you to not fall in temptation again.
Also Jesus said that to his apostles "pray for to not fall in temptation, cause the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak", so pray.
 
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Job8

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Also Paul was not sure about his salvation (Philippians 3:13-14) and no one can be 100% sure about it.
That passage should not be misapplied to mean uncertainly about salvation. What Paul was saying is that he had not attained in practise the perfection of Christ -- "either were already perfect" (v.12). Paul was 101% sure of his salvation, as were all the apostles, and as are those who simply believe God. Paul believed what John believed (1 Jn 5:13): These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
 
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