What Have You Done to Deserve Salvation?

[brinny]

Amen, one had a change of heart, which is what God looks upon to judge every man.

Now this is difficult to explain, but that is exactly what it is.

 

[EmSw]

Now this is difficult to explain, but that is exactly what it is.

 

[Traveling teacher]

Nothing to deserve salvation
Everything including Obedience to His word to show Christ that I love Him and His fathers words

 

[Wordkeeper]

Now this is difficult to explain, but that is exactly what it is.

Repent, meta noia, change mind, born again.

 

[-V-]

Contrasting your life with someone's who is not a Christian, what is different about you in your actions, thoughts or desires, etc., that makes you a Christian while they are not?

Why you and not them?

If we listen to the Calvinists, it's because God elected me and forced me to accept Him, while God refused to let them accept Him and forced them to remain damned.

 

[Wordkeeper]

Contrasting your life with someone's who is not a Christian, what is different about you in your actions, thoughts or desires, etc., that makes you a Christian while they are not?

Why you and not them?

They forgot the great works God did to get them out of the grasp of Egypt. I didn't.


Psalm 78:11
They forgot His deeds And His miracles that He had shown them.

 

[Haipule]

If a man eats onions everyday, and gets terrible indigestion, what would be his remedy?

If a man sins against God every day, and gets condemnation, what would be his remedy?

Even a first grader would tell the man who eats onions to stop eating onions.

What I always wanted to know is, if you are allergic to cats: then why do you eat cats!

 

[Haipule]

If this is such an obviously easy choice, why isn't everyone a Christian?



For You??? Wouldn't it be stupid for anyone?



I'm trying to get a focused answer to the OP, so I'll take your answer to be: You were more logical than someone who isn't a Christian. Is that accurate?

My followup would be, is this the case across the board? Can we say that in order to become a Christian, you must have superior logic? Or, framing it another way, do all non-Christians have inferior logic?

NO SIR! Rather, SUPERIOR love! I have met downs kids with God's superior love and they are a blessing!

I have met people with an IQ north of 200 and because they do not share in God's love, they are nothing!

 

[JohnRabbit]

Contrasting your life with someone's who is not a Christian, what is different about you in your actions, thoughts or desires, etc., that makes you a Christian while they are not?

Why you and not them?

2 Corinthians 10:12(NKJV)
12For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

 

[Friend-of-Jesus]

Contrasting your life with someone's who is not a Christian, what is different about you in your actions, thoughts or desires, etc., that makes you a Christian while they are not?

Why you and not them?

I guess I was born in a country were everybody is free to profess any religion they like. And I happened to accept Christianity because I was surrounded by Christians. Pure luck! If I were born in the jungles of India or in the deserts of Arabia, I would most certainly be a Hindu or a Muslim. Chance chance chance.

 

[derpytia]

Contrasting your life with someone's who is not a Christian, what is different about you in your actions, thoughts or desires, etc., that makes you a Christian while they are not?

Why you and not them?

Anything that I do that could even be considered remotely deserving of salvation is surely canceled out by all the sins I've committed in my lifetime. Therefore, without Christ's love and the Holy Spirit working within me, I have never been and will never be worthy.

Thank goodness I can rely on Christ.

 

[Jennifer Rothnie]

Contrasting your life with someone's who is not a Christian, what is different about you in your actions, thoughts or desires, etc., that makes you a Christian while they are not?

Why you and not them?

The title of this thread is wrong. We don't 'deserve' salvation any more than anyone else. Salvation is offered to all people, and has nothing to do with our own worth or merit.

Rather, God in His grace has allowed anyone to be saved if they respond to the gospel in faith. The response in faith is the difference between someone becoming a Christian or remaining an unbeliever.

The reason God made faith the litmus test, vs. personal merit or dead works of righteousness, is so that no man could boast. What does it mean in Rom 3:27 that boasting is excluded because of the law that requires faith?

Since faith is in every way contrary with boasting, it could be said that one difference between believers and unbelievers is humility/recognition of one's standing before God, vs. pride of self.

Based on the title of the thread, since no Christian believes we 'deserve' salvation - it was Christ's work and not our own merit, I would hazard the guess that the OP is trying to bait people with the strawman argument of Spurgeon's facetious 'Arminian prayer,' where he imagines an Arminian sending up a boastful prayer to God:

"...Thou givest grace to everybody; some do not improve it, but I do. There are many that will go to hell as much bought with the blood of Christ as I was; they had as much of the Holy Ghost given to them; they had as good a chance, and were as much blessed as I am. It was not thy grace that made us to differ; I know it did a great deal, still I turned the point; I made use of what was given me, and others did not-that is the difference between me and them."

Of course, scripture is abundantly clear that responding to the gospel in faith is not a dead work of man. It's the 'work God requires.' Spurgeon's straw man argument seems like a great 'trap' for non-Calvinists at first glance, but doesn't fit with how Scripture portrays faith as contrary to boasting in every way.

 

[EmSw]

What I away wanted to know, if you are allergic to cats: then why do you eat cats!

I know, especially after the doctor says to get rid of the cats, or boil them in vinegar first.

 

[Haipule]

I know, especially after the doctor says to get rid of the cats, or boil them in vinegar first.

I personally love all God's creatures: you know...right next to the mashed potatoes! I especially love the Green Sea Turtle: you know...sautéed in sherry with butter and garlic, a little salt with just a pinch of black pepper! I recently read a book on Manatees: I was so disappointed...not a single recipe!

 

[I'm_Sorry]

Anything that I do that could even be considered remotely deserving of salvation is surely canceled out by all the sins I've committed in my lifetime. Therefore, without Christ's love and the Holy Spirit working within me, I have never been and will never be worthy.

Thank goodness I can rely on Christ.

Happy Birthday Sister

 

[jimmyjimmy]

NO SIR! Rather, SUPERIOR love! I have met downs kids with God's superior love and they are a blessing!

I have met people with an IQ north of 200 and because they do not share in God's love, they are nothing!

Are you going back on your original post?

 

[jimmyjimmy]

I guess I was born in a country were everybody is free to profess any religion they like. And I happened to accept Christianity because I was surrounded by Christians. Pure luck! If I were born in the jungles of India or in the deserts of Arabia, I would most certainly be a Hindu or a Muslim. Chance chance chance.

So, the God of the universe left this up to chance, is that right? Jesus died for a crap shoot, in other words.

 

[EmSw]

I personally love all God's creatures: you know...right next to the mashed potatoes! I especially love the Green Sea Turtle: you know...sautéed in sherry with butter and garlic, a little salt with just a pinch of black pepper! I recently read a book on Manatees: I was so disappointed...not a single recipe!

Oh no, not my precious, gentle, and graceful manatees! Remember they don't have scales.

 

[EmSw]

So, the God of the universe left this up to chance, is that right? Jesus died for a crap shoot, in other words.

Much like your predestined destination. There's a chance you make heaven and a chance you don't.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

Much like your predestined destination. There's a chance you make heaven and a chance you don't.

He didn't leave a thing to "chance". "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out."