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questions about Christianity

Kostilaks

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why Jesus came to earth? why He came in a specific time? Why there is the New and the Old Testaments? Does God forgive people through Jesus? I think the Bible says that God knows everything, why He send Jesus in that period of time? Was it necessary to send Jesus? Why the New Testament came later? What about the people who lived in the Old Testament? How will they be judged?
 

yeshuaslavejeff

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Everyone will be judged with perfect justice.
God does not think in terms of Old Testament and New Testament - it is all His Word, True and Righteous and He Guards It and Watches Over It Perfectly to Accomplish It Entirely as He Says.
Jesus is God's Plan to Save People. Without Jesus no one could be saved, ever. (OT or NT)
Forgiveness is Available through Jesus, Atonement (payment of sin and purchase price of believers/ Ekklesia) is BY HIS BLOOD, ONCE FOR ALL TIME - no more sacrifice for our or anyone's sins will be made.
 
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Basil the Great

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Many or most Christians will claim that those who lived in Old Testament times will be saved if they looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. Personally, I think that this thesis is rather flawed. We do not know when the Jews first started believing in the coming of the Messiah, but it seems very likely that the earliest Jews were not aware of such a prophecy. Hence, how will God judge those who lived prior to the prophecy of a coming Messiah? He will judge them based upon the lives that they lived and if they loved Him and their neighbors.
 
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St_Worm2

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why Jesus came to earth? why He came in a specific time? Why there is the New and the Old Testaments? Does God forgive people through Jesus? I think the Bible says that God knows everything, why He send Jesus in that period of time? Was it necessary to send Jesus? Why the New Testament came later? What about the people who lived in the Old Testament? How will they be judged?
Hello Kostilaks, here are a few verses/passages that should help answer some of your questions. If you have additional questions, please don't hesitate to ask them.

Matthew 1
21 She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

1 Timothy 1

15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.

Galatians 4
4 When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,
5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

John 14
6 Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."

Acts of the Apostles 4
12 There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.

Hebrews 9
22 All things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Hebrews 10
4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Romans 5
8 God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Romans 2
12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.
13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.
14 Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law,
15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.
16 This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

Romans 3
23 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed.
*
26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
The "news" from God is this, a person needs to be both innocent and righteous to stand in His presence.

The "bad" news is this, no one is (innocent or righteous), as the OT Law of Moses, which all have failed to obey, clearly demonstrates for us.

The "Good News" is this, God sent His Son here to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves/to save us from our sins 1. by living a perfectly righteous life before His Father on our behalf (the life that we were supposed to live) & 2. by dying in our place on the Cross to atone/pay the price for our sins & reconcile us to God in this life , and to satisfy the wrath of His Father against us in the age to come.

Therefore, Jesus is our 'only' innocence, our 'only' righteousness, and the 'only' atonement and satisfaction for our sins. So all are saved by God's mercy and grace, through faith in Jesus, and in all that He did for us (merited for us), as well by belief/trust that God will save us in this gracious manner alone.

*God "passed over" (withheld the judgement of) the sins previously committed by His OT elect/saints, until the one Sacrifice that could actually atone for their sins was finally made available to them by Jesus.

There is much more that the Bible has to say about all of this, and there is much more than I can say in the way of explanation as well, but this has already become a long post, so I will stop here for now.

Questions?

--David
quote-my-hope-lives-not-because-i-am-not-a-sinner-but-because-i-am-a-sinner-for-whom-christ-charles-spurgeon-57-36-33.jpg


He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:21
.
 
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Marilyn C

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why Jesus came to earth? why He came in a specific time? Why there is the New and the Old Testaments? Does God forgive people through Jesus? I think the Bible says that God knows everything, why He send Jesus in that period of time? Was it necessary to send Jesus? Why the New Testament came later? What about the people who lived in the Old Testament? How will they be judged?

Hi Kostilaks,

Lots of good questions there. And each one would take a big discussion. However I will give you a short version.

God made the world with people, however, as we know rebellion came in by some angels and humans. God knew this and at the right time sent Jesus to redeem mankind.

God made 3 realms, earth & atmosphere, Universe and angelic realm. Each of these require good rulership. That is what God has been preparing over the centuries.

1. Earth - Israel over the nations.
2. Universe - Old Testament saints.
3. The Third heaven - The Body of Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father, (at the moment) building up and maturing the Body of Christ. The Father is bringing the nations to the Lord, (Ps. 110) to be judged. Then it will be time for Israel to rule righteously over the nations.

God has great purposes and each require some study. All the best, Marilyn.
 
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St_Worm2

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We do not know when the Jews first started believing in the coming of the Messiah, but it seems very likely that the earliest Jews were not aware of such a prophecy. Hence, how will God judge those who lived prior to the prophecy of a coming Messiah? He will judge them based upon the lives that they lived and if they loved Him and their neighbors.
Hello Basil the Great, if this is true, that people were saved on the basis of their inherent goodness, then why the Incarnation and the Cross? If it's true (that we can save ourselves), would that not make the Father a Monster (for sending His only begotten Son here to die that horrible death on the Cross if it wasn't absolutely necessary for our sakes that He did so)?

Like you just said, we don't know when people first started believing in the coming Messiah, but we do know that the first Messianic prophecy recorded in the Bible occurred while our progenitors were still living in the Garden .. Genesis 3:15 and, of course, much more is said about Him in the OT (so much so, in fact, that non-Christian Jews continued to look for Him throughout 1st Century, just like they continue to do today).

Everything that was known at the beginning (by our earliest ancestors) was not recorded for us in the Holy Writ, of course (for instance, it's clear, as early as Genesis 4 with Cain and Abel, that our forefathers understood 1. that a sacrifice was needed to save them from their sins and 2. that only a certain kind of sacrifice was acceptable). So, we know that they knew that they were sinners, that they knew that their sins needed to be atoned for, and that God's elect believed/trusted that He would save them from their sins on that basis, a sacrifice/the shedding of the blood of another.

--David
 
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rturner76

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Does God forgive people through Jesus?
Yes, if you accept him and repent (ask forgiveness and want to change etc)

Was it necessary to send Jesus?
Yes, because everyone in the world has sinned (broken God's law) and sin cannot be near God and his perfection. God took bodily form suffered and died to pay for our sins. Now if we accept him and live like him the best we can, we can be near God.

why Jesus came to earth? why He came in a specific time? Why there is the New and the Old Testaments? What about the people who lived in the Old Testament? How will they be judged?
The Old Testament was written before Jesus, The new was after. You will need to take up some theology studies to learn the answers to these kinds of questions. They have been debated and discussed since before Jesus came here. Thousands of books written by thousands of people with different interpretations. of the religion and most everyone, people seem to know in their interpretation is THE REAL TRUTH.

I would just Google or Wiki what I wanted to know about and Info would come back I would decide who has the most reliable information .edu and .org I checked first, check what makes the most sense or what speaks to the heart and read more from that source. U would see what do people with a different answer say. Each church is a walk and I found a walk I wanted to stay on and keep learning.

If you are on your own, the best is the internet or library. Otherwise, just pick a church you feel comfortable in and pray. Somebody told me to find someone who's got what you want and try their church.
 
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rturner76

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Many or most Christians will claim that those who lived in Old Testament times will be saved if they looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. Personally, I think that this thesis is rather flawed. We do not know when the Jews first started believing in the coming of the Messiah, but it seems very likely that the earliest Jews were not aware of such a prophecy. Hence, how will God judge those who lived prior to the prophecy of a coming Messiah? He will judge them based upon the lives that they lived and if they loved Him and their neighbors.
What would make sense to me is that people who never got a chance to know about Christ, I would be judged on their heart (good/evil scale)

Just a personal theory
 
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Basil the Great

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What would make sense to me is that people who never got a chance to know about Christ, I would be judged on their heart (good/evil scale)

Just a personal theory
That is the only thing that makes sense.
 
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com7fy8

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why Jesus came to earth?
Jesus came to save us from our sins.

Why Jesus and not someone else?

God sent His very own best to us > His own Son Jesus.

Because "God is love" (in 1 John 4:8&16)
 
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St_Worm2

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What would make sense to me is that people who never got a chance to know about Christ, I would be judged on their heart (good/evil scale)

Just a personal theory
Hello rturner76, are you speaking of something like the 50/50 principle? (IOW, if someone is less of a sinner than the worst 50% among us, God will justify them on that basis, rather than on the basis of Christ's blood?) If that's true however, then why the Incarnation and the Cross :scratch: (a question that I just posed above to Basil the Great, in fact)

James 2:10-11 blows that theory right out of the water though, doesn't it? ... as well the passage that I posted earlier in this thread (a post or two back, Romans 2:12-16), that tells us that all who sin apart from the Law (of Moses) will perish anyway, and that on the basis of disobedience to the law that they do possess, IOW, the law that was written on their hearts by God, that proves 1. that they knew right from wrong and 2. that they chose to sin anyway? (and there are many, many others, too, as I'm certain that you are aware ;))

It is more than just doubtful that Adam and Eve, Abel and Seth, and even Abraham, had much of a fullness of knowledge about Messiah, but they were all saved by faith/belief in God, according to what they did know/what God had revealed to them at the time.

St. Paul went to great lengths in his opening treatise in Romans (Romans 1:18-3:23) to describe the spiritual condition of both Jews and Greeks (all who lived/live apart from faith in God/outside of Christ), that ~all~ were/are under sin and that all will perish as a result (again, he is speaking of those who are outside of faith, of course).

--David
p.s. - Missionary Bruce Olsen's autobiography, Bruchko, concerning the Motilones in South America and their being led to Christ, has a chapter in it called Jesus the Motilone. If you want to be blown away, read his book, as it will show you, at least one way, that God works directly in the lives of those who have never heard of Jesus to bring Him to them, and to salvation.
 
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