How are we saved?

God is omniscient; I hope we can agree on that. Because of His knowledge, He knows who will accept Him and who will not. I believe that He formed His plan according to His foreknowledge of our actions, and consequently chose us for salvation based on that foreknowledge. However, it is still our decision to come to Him.

As for how we specifically attain salvation:

Salvation is given to an individual; all they must do is accept it. Their salvation is not based on their works, but rather, their works are an evidence of their faith. It is by the grace of God that we've been saved through our faith, given to us by the Spirit and received by us, and salvation is not by our works (lest we boast in ourselves).

I've no idea what category of the poll that'd fall under.

Option 2 is closest to my way of thinking.

Predestination seems a little arbitrary, and disconcerting psychologically.
Professing God as your savior is a little too simplistic. It's just not enough to call the Lord's name.
Obeying the Law, especially as pertaining to purity laws, can make us slaves to the law withouth effecting inner change.
Recieiving absolution before you did somehow misses the point that we are being saved to do God's work her in this life.

Love God, love others keep the commandments..yes, this would be a pretty good summary of a living faith

I picked 'other'.

All of the options seemed far to simplistic

Good thread. My answer: I'm not sure. But I know I'm saved because I trust Yeshua (jesus) to save me, and I've asked Him to lead me. But this isn't necessarily how we get saved. I'll come back later and read other's opinions.

Some of my beliefs point in the 1st option, a lot of it has to do with being very hard on myself, and believing that Gods Reward is so Good that it is hard (seems almost impossible to achieve). i.e. If i make a mistake, I almost don't want to be forgiven(it would be too good), I would really like to make sure I pay for the particular mistake(this can be damaging)

I believe very much in the Commandments(them being very crucial). And following them. I also believe in Jesus, and the ability to be forgiven(Though I also tend believe in other religons to work aswell, Jewish, Muslim(which are close to christianity), and even buddism(which I think is very cool) -- though they have theories of a reincarnation, so it has less of a Saved point of view, depending on how you look at it).

I Mean they all pretty much work(the choices, to what "I" assume), except for Other ..Which I don't know what that is, or how it will get you saved but ok (jk)

The major key for my understanding
There is a profound difference to someone who tries very hard not to make mistakes, while making a few and asking for forgiveness.(while adding, or not belief) Then compared to someone who is into everything for themselves, and does not care about possible mistakes or doing harm to others.. (while taking away belief, not adding belief because it does not fit) < see the point I am making. Belief is key, and so are works (and very much is the heart)

It is to me a combination of them all. Once you seek god, you are making at least one step. The key is that YOU have done it, and If your True heart does it.

ebia said:

I picked 'other'.

All of the options seemed far to simplistic

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That makes sense

The Bible uses so many metaphors for salvation that it's hard for me to imagine the mechanics of salvation are simple enough to describe in one sentence, to the exclusion of all other theories.

BTW, a theory is no more than a way of looking at things. If Paul could find a half dozen or more ways to look at salvation in the book of Romans alone, I hardly feel qualified to pick just one.

Selected by God from the dawn of creation because i believe God desires all His children to come back to Him, this we are all pre-destined to go back home.
Love God, Love thy neighbor, keep the commandments because these are the 2 greatest commandments that Jesus gave us.
Accept Jesus as your personal savior because Jesus is the Way the Truth the Life.
Obey the Law, keep pure because faith without works is dead.
Receive absolution shortly before you die because of the theif on the cross.

and after i finished the poll, i realized i should have clicked other too.
other because, God can do anything He wants, so I hope He brings as many people, however He sees fit back to Him.

God Bless you all! <><

hmm I picked Jesus as saviour as a simple answer although I don't necessarily believe just that. I believe that we must accept this to be within a chance of going to heaven although I believe that we must also be good etc. I definitely don't believe that God selects some people to be saved and others to not be saved.

Love God, love your neighbor, live life in a state of radical grace.

Which means "Love God" and "love your neighbor" will now apply to each and every thing we do.

How I see things with God:

First, the Bible nowhere talks about accepting Jesus as your "personal lord and savior."

Second, if you talk the talk, you've gotta walk the walk and vica versa.

If you love God, you will strive to keep his commandments (all of them, be they love your neighbor to eating kosher), and one can only strive if they have faith, otherwise how can one say they love him?

If one says "I believe I can't keep the Commandments, but I'm sincere in my heart" and continues to make no effort to keep them, then what does that say about their faith? Is it founded on trying to strive towards what God wants in faith? Or is it about accepting their failure and purposefully falling short? How important is a ham sandwich compared to what God wants?

So here's the continuum: If you have faith in him you'll do what he says, and be able to do what he says if you have faith. You have to start the cycle somewhere.

Personally, I believe that I can keep his Commandments because I have faith in him, and I will always strive to do so. That, I believe, is the key to salvation.

Peace,
-Steve-o

I answered Other because there was no GRACE option.

Accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour is in support of the statement - "None can come to God except through me."

That's just my opinion. And if you look at being saved as coming to God, then you must go through Jesus.

Rev. Smith said:

Greetings Liberals, and not so liberals who stop by

I'm curious how you view how we are saved (as opposed to justified), I think I've included all of the major threads of theology here, but if I missed one (or more) please pick "Other" and drop a note as to your theory.

Click to expand...

How are you saved? I mean what happens to a saved person compared to an unsaved person. How do you know if somebody is saved? What are they saved from?

wow rev smith
i like your posts
if i dont always agree with you, i agree with your attitude, i would go to your church in a heartbeat

but i gotta tell you, ,i hate that poll and the choices

but what are you gonna do?

i vote for the following option: (courtesy of the borg) (we call it the radical grace option, it is for sinners only)


If Jesus is the once and for all sacrifice for sin, understood metaphorically now, it means that God has already taken care of whatever it is that we think separates us from God. It means that God accepts us just as we are and that the Christian life is not about getting right with God. God's already taken care of that. The Christian life becomes about something else, namely, living within this framework of radical trust in God and relationship to God that makes possible our transformation, and, ideally and ultimately, the transformation of the world.

I chose #1 and #3. Before God created anything, he knew who would choose him and who would reject him. We see in three dimensions of space, but God sees in four dimensions of spacetime. I thought #2 was moot, because they are the 2 greatest commandments as stated by Jesus. Living a life of good works and love and grace are good too, as faith without works is dead, however also remember that our best deeds are like filthy rags to Him, so acknowledging him, in your heart not necessarily by mouth, is the first step. "Accepting Christ as Lord and Savior" is moot as well, but it is more complex than just that. How is it that the thief made a confession and absolution on the cross, and Jesus could tell him that he would go to heaven? It is for the same reason that Jesus could say that a group of Pharisees had committed the unforgivable sin (ie, will not go to heaven and that's all there is to it), because he could see into people's hearts.

Other: Salvation for all

I don't find it very satisfying to answer that we're saved by accepting Jesus as our personal savior, a shallow and unscriptural concept (which in my mind reduces the kingdom of heaven to a speakeasy, and Christianity to knowing the secret password) and utterly avoids the radical message of the Gospel as so clearly explained by UberLutheran. Merely "accepting Jesus," when it means praying a little prayer to get you a free pass out of hell, is a cheap and pale imitation of what Christianity means. But if by "accepting Jesus," one means accepting his radical message of love for God and neighbor, then I agree with it. I'd just prefer not to use an unscriptural term that has been so badly misused by others.

I answered "Other," because there was no option for theosis, and no option for universalism. That is, I believe we're saved, all of us, by taking on the nature of God. This is made possible by Christ's reaching out to us, and becoming one of us in the Incarnation. As he came into the world to save the world, I believe he has it in his hand to accomplish his purpose, and that in the end all the world, which already exists in God, will partake of his divine nature. As Meister Eckhart says, "Whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not, secretly all nature seeks God and works toward him."

I also like the response of tattedsaint, and enjoy his exuberant confidence in the love and mercy of God, and his refusal to limit the work of God in our lives.

I also agree with UberLutheran's response, which is a concise and beautiful explanation of the heart of our faith and the way we ought to live.

Dear Rev Smith,I picked Jesus as my Saviour,He was born as man,although He is God-Son,He died for our sins and opened the way back to God again,He showed us how God really is,He vanquished Satan and Death on Golgotha and He helps all who ask Him to repent and be born again.He is the only one who can give life abundantly,and Joy and Peace as the world can never give,I love Him and trust Him with all my heart.I say this with love and humility Rev.Smith.Sincere greetings from Emmy,sister in Christ.

We are saved by Christ if we "love one another".