need advice...

[Psalm 27]

he comes to know that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsel, endeavours, will, and works, and absolutely depending on the will, counsel, pleasure, and work of another, that is, of God only.

Amen!

 

[Neogaia777]

Amen!

And @Dave L

Or in how far or not he or she comes in and/or to, and/or in overcoming sin, etc... Whether it be just some, or all, or very little or not, etc...

And only He knows whether or not they are still to be saved in the end or by the end or not regardless or irregardless, etc...

Completely up to only His own counsel and/or knowledge and/or will only, etc...

Or foreknowledge and/or will only, etc...

Amen!

God Bless!

 

[Neogaia777]

And @Dave L

Or in how far or not he or she comes in and/or to, and/or in overcoming sin, etc... Whether it be just some, or all, or very little or not, etc...

And only He knows whether or not they are still to be saved in the end or by the end or not regardless or irregardless, etc...

Completely up to only His own counsel and/or knowledge and/or will only, etc...

Or foreknowledge and/or will only, etc...

Amen!

God Bless!

But we "don't know", and since we "don't know", in my view, we should still "try", etc...

But we just might want to re-evaluate every once in a while how it is that we are doing that sometimes, and/or trying though sometimes, cause it is not supposed to be just only in our own will and strength only, etc...

Cause the Bible says that way is a trap, and is self-deceiving, etc...

Actually does the exact opposite, but deceives the person into thinking they are thoroughly succeeding, when in all actuality, that could be the furtherest from the real truth, etc...

There is another way, etc...

Anyway,

God Bless!

 

[Nathan@work]

Let me say thanks to everyone who has posted so far. I have seen some comments that actually have made me do some really heavy thinking.
I know that sexual sin is wrong. I know that im a sinner. I think i have a better idea now about being more honest with myself about being saved and why im not.
First, i can physically feel joy at inappropriate contentography. I cant say the same of Jesus. How could i?? Im not saved.
Second, i dont know how to repent, and change my mind about hating something i currently love.
Third, asking someone to hate sex after 30 something years is like asking me to never get angry again in my life i feel. How do you suppress a natural act??

I have some good news for you. God, the one and only true God, gave His only Son to die in your place so you did not have to experience death or hell. In terms of time, He did this for you over 2000 years ago!

The fact is, your sins(past, present, future) have been forgiven. Read that again. They have been - not will be or could be - they already are. Done deal. This is the love God has for you - it’s the love God has for the whole world.

The only reason at this point you would not receive eternal life is if you choose to reject this free gift that God has given you. In rejecting Christ’s death for you, you are then responsible for your own sins.

Point being, you cannot do anything in order to be saved. A change of heart/mind about sin is included with Gods gift of His Son to you.

Gods enemy has, from the beginning, tried to stop this from happening. Even after a human receives Gods gift, we are still tempted to sin. All in an effort to turn our back to Gods love for us.

So the choice is yours. Believe in Gods love for you and experience His work in your life. Stop trying to be good enough for Him - it’s impossible. Jesus died for you knowing the things you would do, think, and say. He knew all of it, and still loved you and died for you. He died because He knew it was impossible for you to ever be good enough.

Your sins are forgiven. Please don’t reject His love for you.

 

[boughtwithaprice]

I agree that we should not reject God’s love for us, but at the same time we do not give up on God and continue to sin because we think it’s
Impossible for us to stop. God has made so many promises to us to strengthen believers against sin. Ezekiel comes to mind



[26] And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh. [27] And I will put my spirit in the midst of you: and I will cause you to walk in my commandments, and to keep my judgments, and do them



If we don’t ask God to cleanse us from sin in this life, we are ignoring His offer of grace. As Hebrews 10 states

[26] For if we sin wilfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins, [27] But a certain dreadful expectation of judgment, and the rage of a fire which shall consume the adversaries. [28] A man making void the law of Moses, dieth without any mercy under two or three witnesses: [29] How much more, do you think he deserveth worse punishments, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath esteemed the blood of the testament unclean, by which he was sanctified, and hath offered an affront to the Spirit of grace?


The poster that quoted Luther and stated that when we are in sin, and thinking of God, we are close to Him is correct. God’s Spirit is calling to you


think, every lash from the whip was due to your iniquity. Every drop of spittle and mockery directed at the Lord when He wore the crown of thorns was for you and the nails driven into His arms and feet was due to your sin

Can you continue to sin as you gaze upon His broken and beaten body? If you can, then that is because you have a heart of stone, pray to God for a heart of flesh, and He will cleanse you of all unrighteousness

 

[aiki]

i have to say, that there are many good answers on here. as for me, while it is my desire to get saved and goto Heaven, the outlook is grim. but i do think my views of salvation could be considerably different than most. but long story short, i need to come to terms with going to hell. i may eventually get saved, but i cant keep living in such fear that i cant function. perhaps the motto should be, expect hell, hope for Heaven.

You identify as a Calvinist which may be a prime source of your difficulties concerning your eternal destination. There are very excellent alternatives to Calvinism and the infamous TULIP that, in my opinion, handle God's word far better, and are far more rational, too: Provisionism (aka Traditionalism), Molinism.

Check out: www.soteriology101.com

www.reasonablefaith.com - Search: Molinism

 

[Psalm 27]

think, every lash from the whip was due to your iniquity. Every drop of spittle and mockery directed at the Lord when He wore the crown of thorns was for you and the nails driven into His arms and feet was due to your sin

Can you continue to sin as you gaze upon His broken and beaten body? If you can, then that is because you have a heart of stone, pray to God for a heart of flesh, and He will cleanse you of all unrighteousness

Thankyou for that

 

[StillGods]

You identify as a Calvinist which may be a prime source of your difficulties concerning your eternal destination. There are very excellent alternatives to Calvinism and the infamous TULIP that, in my opinion, handle God's word far better, and are far more rational, too: Provisionism (aka Traditionalism), Molinism.

Check out: www.soteriology101.com

www.reasonablefaith.com - Search: Molinism

agree, Calvinism is only a tiny subsection of Christendom and has quite a few issues that I personally see as deceptions. the vast majority of Christendom have security of salvation.

 

[Neogaia777]

Matthew 15:14- "If the blind lead the blind, then both will fall into a/the pit", etc...

God Bless!

 

[Lifelong_sinner]

agree, Calvinism is only a tiny subsection of Christendom and has quite a few issues that I personally see as deceptions. the vast majority of Christendom have security of salvation.

may i ask what specifically?? I find calvinism to be the most correct doctrine due to my own situation of trying to find salvation.

 

[Neogaia777]

Posted in the wrong thread, post deleted, etc...

God Bless!

 

[Neogaia777]

Posted in the wrong thread, post deleted, etc...

God Bless!

 

[Strong in Him]

may i ask what specifically?? I find calvinism to be the most correct doctrine due to my own situation of trying to find salvation.

With respect it sounds as though you're saying that as you can't (or won't) give up your sin and repent, or maybe you do say sorry for a while, then do it again and it's all a bit of a struggle, then that must mean that God hasn't "chosen" you to be saved. In other words "God's fault; I'm not chosen, or destined, to become a Christian."
But if that were the case, why would God punish you for not becoming something that he never planned for you to be?
You've said, "I know this is wrong" - where do you think that sense of right and wrong comes from? From God. God sends his Spirit to convict people of their sins. Some people call that conscience; if it is, God gave us one of those too. God doesn't convict people of their sin to make them feel bad, embarrassed and so on, but to lead them to Jesus to repent and be forgiven.

But you have said that you enjoy your sin. Your enjoyment of sin seems to be greater than the knowledge that you are hurting God and doing wrong, and you don't want to give up something that you enjoy.
And while that remains the case, I suspect you will never give it up.

Do you really believe that God made all people in his own image and then sat back and said, "I'll love and save that one, but not that one over there"? Or, "this person here has been created specifically NOT to ever know me, and then I'll punish them because they didn't know me or accept and follow my Son"?
God loves everyone, Jesus died for all and all can be saved.
If repenting of sin seems hard it may be either because you have an idea that Christians don't have a life, have to follow the rules, go to church, sing hymns and read an old fashioned Bible all day, and you don't want to do that. Quite simply, that the enjoyment of your sin is far more attractive than fulness of life with God - and if you can't give it up, then it's God's fault for not choosing you to be saved.

 

[Neogaia777]

I think the most true evil, in this day and age most especially, is all the people for which and with whom "nothing at all is ever enough", etc...

And I do mean "nothing at all is ever enough", etc...

It is because of these people that we cannot have a world where everyone is very well fed, clothed, housed, etc, and also why the earth is being utterly destroyed also, to where all that is green will be gone, eventually forever, etc...

And it is these people that are committing some of the greatest forms of some of the greatest kinds of evil and most extreme wickedness to me, and are "the problem" right now, according to me, etc, and I do mean "the problem", etc...

This can consist of rich or poor people, it's just simply the "type", etc...

And that "type" is ruining us, and wrecking our planet greatly, etc...

Because they really "don't care", etc...

And care about nothing any more than they do just only themselves, and what the want at the immediate time, etc, and they absolutely refuse to ever see beyond it or that, so they stay and remain the same, etc...

And it's quite literally "insane" as well... So our entire world, and everyone in it, is being completely and utterly destroyed by this "insanity", and these "insane" people, etc...

Because nothing is ever enough for them, and they flat out refuse to "think about it" ever, etc...

Entirely too selfish for that, etc...

Anyway, we could have a perfect world right now, or a perfect paradise right now, if were not for these people, or these types, etc...

And if that is not wicked, I don't know what is, etc...

They need to "repent", etc...

And repent the most, etc...

Our world both would and could, be very, very different without them, etc...

And again, I'm not just talking about rich people, or very well off people, etc...

These types exist everywhere, etc...

They would reject a perfect world if they were offered it, etc...

And most of them could not even tell you "why" either, etc...

But I think we all know "why", etc...

Anyway, very, very evil, etc...

God Bless!

 

[NomNomPizza]

so with the current news and comments from other preachers concerning ravi zacharias here lately, im gonna ask a question about him, but using it to reference myself. do you think ravi was saved and made it to Heaven??

the reason i am asking this is because i have a willful habitual sexual sin myself, and if ravi did make it to Heaven, then that could mean that there is hope for me too.

now for the plot twist...im waiting to here how many will say instead, that it is wrong to question ghetting to Heaven while unrepentant and instead of looking for assurance, i should be more concerned about acyually stopping the willful sinning everyday.

There is no difference if u sinned once or 1000 times you are equally guilty of death in both cases. God doesn't let one man go because he touched himself 20 times and punish the other because he did that 500 times , what kind of logic is it? Read James 2:10
Doesn't matter if u stopped sinning now you alredy commited sin

 

[Strong in Him]

Doesn't matter if u stopped sinning now you alredy commited sin

If he confessed and repented of his past sin and stopped sinning now, that would make all the difference.

 

[Neogaia777]

I think the most true evil, in this day and age most especially, is all the people for which and with whom "nothing at all is ever enough", etc...

And I do mean "nothing at all is ever enough", etc...

It is because of these people that we cannot have a world where everyone is very well fed, clothed, housed, etc, and also why the earth is being utterly destroyed also, to where all that is green will be gone, eventually forever, etc...

And it is these people that are committing some of the greatest forms of some of the greatest kinds of evil and most extreme wickedness to me, and are "the problem" right now, according to me, etc, and I do mean "the problem", etc...

This can consist of rich or poor people, it's just simply the "type", etc...

And that "type" is ruining us, and wrecking our planet greatly, etc...

Because they really "don't care", etc...

And care about nothing any more than they do just only themselves, and what the want at the immediate time, etc, and they absolutely refuse to ever see beyond it or that, so they stay and remain the same, etc...

And it's quite literally "insane" as well... So our entire world, and everyone in it, is being completely and utterly destroyed by this "insanity", and these "insane" people, etc...

Because nothing is ever enough for them, and they flat out refuse to "think about it" ever, etc...

Entirely too selfish for that, etc...

Anyway, we could have a perfect world right now, or a perfect paradise right now, if were not for these people, or these types, etc...

And if that is not wicked, I don't know what is, etc...

They need to "repent", etc...

And repent the most, etc...

Our world both would and could, be very, very different without them, etc...

And again, I'm not just talking about rich people, or very well off people, etc...

These types exist everywhere, etc...

They would reject a perfect world if they were offered it, etc...

And most of them could not even tell you "why" either, etc...

But I think we all know "why", etc...

Anyway, very, very evil, etc...

God Bless!

I guess what I meant to say or point out is that, "this particular kind of sin" is going to be "the death and ultimate end of us all", etc, and is very, very important for us to take care of, and/or eliminate, or nip in the bud, the most right now, etc, but not that it makes any other kinds of sins any more OK, etc...

Cause I'm not saying that, etc...

Anyway,

God Bless!

 

[StillGods]

may i ask what specifically?? I find calvinism to be the most correct doctrine due to my own situation of trying to find salvation.

no offense but it seems you think you cant be saved precisely because of that calvinist doctrine and yet you can absolutely be saved according to what the rest of Christendom teaches, according to what the Bible teaches. the rest of Christendom believe and read the Bible as well not just calvinists, calvinists dont have exclusivity on truth, dont believe the arrogant stance calvinists spread that believers who aren't calvinists dont know, read, teach or know their Bible.

theres a lot of things that calvinism has slightly wrong that in my opinion keeps people bound (for example thinking they cant be saved is an example of that).

The Bible teaches you get to choose to believe, just as God chooses you.
God chooses you but will you choose to believe in what Jesus did on the cross for you? that's what it comes down to. it's both, not just God choosing you, but you have to choose to believe as well. it's a covenant between you and God, you have to be a part of that, not just hoping somehow that God has randomly chosen you instead of the next guy. you need to believe in what Jesus did on the cross for you and bow your knee and say God I need you. God save me, forgive me, I give my life to You to do what you will with me. Of course you can be saved!. A broken and contrite heart God will not despise. of course He will save you! there is no reason that He will not.



The www.soteriology101.com link that someone else shared is a good place to start looking at some of the issues calvinism has. it's worth a look.

 

[Bobber]

I’ve done that more times than i can remember, and yet i KNOW im not saved. Why some people make like its easy to get saved is beyond me. For some, it may be easy. For me, it seems impossible.
If a good man like ravi didnt make it to Heaven, what chance do i have. For that matter, why am i still trying???

I've always found it's a matter of degrees.....when some make statements like it's being hard what is the thing they call hard can be an exaggeration on their part or YES there are times it can be difficult or challenging but what are we talking about?

If many come to terms with same basic things though it'd help them to keep things properly in perspective. As an example I ask some how much prayer, communication with God, and feeding your spirit with God's word or with good Bible teaching do you do every day. Some will say 5 minutes maybe 10. What if I said how about making it all 1 hour or 2 hours each day? They'll look at you like are you insane? 1 hour or 2 hours a day?????

That's too hard or unreasonable in their way of thinking but then they'll turn right around and watch 2-3 hours EVERYDAY of secular television, news, entertainment, or whatever. I wonder if most turned that around and allowed themselves only 5-10 minutes of this world's attention getters if somehow they might find their lives a lot more empowered where a Christian life some claim is hard isn't found to be as hard as they thought.

Sometimes I think we all need to stop complaining, whining and gripping though. Let's ask ourselves was it easy for Jesus all the time? There was difficult times in his life too but he didn't back off and was committed. I hardly think it was a great joy temporarily to have spikes driven into his hands and feet and a crown of thorns thrust into his scalp. Was that easy? NOPE! I think we need to throw off the thought that any idea the Christian life is hard is any indication we should leave it. I consider it like the military.

There are soldiers in regular forces....they're to be commended but there's also special forces, elite troops who are the best of the best and they subject themselves to training which is very intense. Is it hard? Yes, you bet! But it's something they take delight in and they want their lives to count for something honourable and great. To achieve that they'll agree YES it's hard but I want this more than anything else in the world! (Think of the parable of Jesus of the Pearl of Great Price) He gave EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING to obtain it and forget about even the thought of it taking much sacrifice! To such one even thinking about "hard" is such frivolous, shallow thinking! So here each one of us individually are today. What type of thinking will we embrace? Always keep in mind though. We all only have ONE life to live so let's do it right.

 

[StillGods]

I've always found it's a matter of degrees.....when some make statements like it's being hard what is the thing they call hard can be an exaggeration on their part or YES there are times it can be difficult or challenging but what are we talking about?

If many come to terms with same basic things though it'd help them to keep things properly in perspective. As an example I ask some how much prayer, communication with God, and feeding your spirit with God's word or with good Bible teaching do you do every day. Some will say 5 minutes maybe 10. What if I said how about making it all 1 hour or 2 hours each day? They'll look at you like are you insane? 1 hour or 2 hours a day?????

That's too hard or unreasonable in their way of thinking but then they'll turn right around and watch 2-3 hours EVERYDAY of secular television, news, entertainment, or whatever. I wonder if most turned that around and allowed themselves only 5-10 minutes of this world's attention getters if somehow they might find their lives a lot more empowered where a Christian life some claim is hard isn't found to be as hard as they thought.

Sometimes I think we all need to stop complaining, whining and gripping though. Let's ask ourselves was it easy for Jesus all the time? There was difficult times in his life too but he didn't back off and was committed. I hardly think it was a great joy temporarily to have spikes driven into his hands and feet and a crown of thorns thrust into his scalp. Was that easy? NOPE! I think we need to throw off the thought that any idea the Christian life is hard is any indication we should leave it. I consider it like the military.

There are soldiers in regular forces....they're to be commended but there's also special forces, elite troops who are the best of the best and they subject themselves to training which is very intense. Is it hard? Yes, you bet! But it's something they take delight in and they want their lives to count for something honourable and great. To achieve that they'll agree YES it's hard but I want this more than anything else in the world! (Think of the parable of Jesus of the Pearl of Great Price) He gave EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING to obtain it and forget about even the thought of it taking much sacrifice! To such one even thinking about "hard" is such frivolous, shallow thinking! So here each one of us individually are today. What type of thinking will we embrace? Always keep in mind though. We all only have ONE life to live so let's do it right.

yes, after God freed me someone said fill your life with things of God, Gods Kingdom things, put your energies into those things. and yes you do see God at work and get encouraged and know He is there. like volunteering etc finding Kingdom useful things to fill your life with makes a huge difference, things that please God helping people on the street or fundraising for orphanages or whatever is in line with helping the oppressed. its keeps you grateful to God with the added benefit of leaving you very little time to be tempted etc. and gives you joy too, helping others out of darkness gives joy too.