The bible proves you wrong about cornelius!
As for the rest, unless you have placed your trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus for your sins- you are not saved! This is the only way God accepts people into the Kingdom. You cannot be born again until you trust the message of the gospel!
I care not any persons standing. I care not what you accuse me of. I asked a n honest question and now you have answered it.
Trying to discuss with you is no wuselss on this thread.. You may have the last word!
All the Holy Patriarchs and Holy Prophets, and even St. John the Baptist, all died before Christ's Passion; and therefore could not have a conscious belief in His death and resurrection. If salvation requires an active decision to believe certain things about Jesus, and any who don't do that very specific thing are helplessly damned, then the only conclusion that can be reached is that all of God's saints who came before Christ are damned for having lived at the wrong time.
I can't help but think that this radically misunderstands what faith in Christ, as the Apostles spoke of it, refers to. Especially misunderstanding that faith is a divine gift and work apart from human effort and activity (Ephesians 2:8-9), a gift which is efficaciously given through God's gracious means (Romans 10:17).
We read that Abraham had faith, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Abraham's trust in the work of God, his reliance and dependence upon God is what reckoned him as righteous. In the Gospel of John Jesus says "Abraham longed to see My day", does that mean that Abraham knew that one day a virgin named Mary would give birth to a Child named Jesus, and this Jesus would be the Christ/Messiah, the Incarnate Logos, whose life, death, and resurrection would be the salvation of the world? Well, probably not, let's be honest. Rather, God made a promise to Abraham, a promise that he would bear a son, and through this promise Abraham would become a blessing to the nations, indeed a father to many nations. Abraham trusted in God's promise, that promise which--we believe--is ultimately realized in Jesus Christ. Abraham's trust in God's promise, ultimately realized in Jesus Christ, is what Jesus means here, He means, "I am what, ultimately, Abraham believed in." Not that he knew it, not that he could know it, but rather trusting in what God had promised, that salvation which is for the whole world was realized and manifest.
How many, therefore, hear and trust in such promises--and though they may not know fully that which is promised, are nevertheless caught up into the mystery of that promise?
Will God hold the ignorance of men against them? The general response of the Church has been throughout history a hopefulness that God, knowing men better than they themselves do, will judge with His justice, not with the justice of men, but the justice of God which is peace and reconciliation toward sinners out of His compassion and mercy. The God who loves this world of sinners is not a God who throws that which He loves away, abandoning them to hopelessness.
When we heard the Gospel, when we were brought to the waters of Baptism, when we receive the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ in and under the bread and the wine, we can be confident that through these revealed Means God gives us faith, He is saving us, for Christ has saved us. For it is by grace that we have been saved, through faith, and this is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not by our own efforts or works, lest anyone should boast. For faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. So all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, and whoever puts their trust in the Lord shall never be put to shame. And so on and so forth as the Apostle says throughout his epistles.
Those who never heard the Gospel, those who do not comprehend the Gospel, those who couldn't receive the Gospel? What of these? What of unbaptized children? What of those who lived before the time of Jesus? What of those who were never reached? What of those who were told a false gospel?
Do we really believe that God is either unable, or unwilling, to save them? Do we really believe that God looks upon the suffering of the world, and is callous?
Do we really believe that God stands above this all, angry, punishing us in this life, and punishing us in the next? Cold, distant, dispassionate toward His creation--like a lofty business CEO without empathy toward the back-breaking of those far beneath him? If that were the case, then why the cross?
If the holocaust doesn't matter to God, then why the cross?
If the pains and sufferings of the least of these, then why the cross?
If salvation is about picking the right set of religious beliefs, then why the cross?
But the Apostle says, "For God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
Why do we preach the cross? Unless
the cross is the salvation for the world.
"
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." - 2 Corinthians 5:18-21
Have faith in this Jesus who saves you. And not only you, but who suffered and was crucified for the whole world; preach the Gospel, and put your hope in God. Entrust to Him the lives of your neighbors, friends, and family members. Believe that the One who so graciously comes and meets you--sinful as you are--is the God who throws Himself away in love through the cross; for Christ though being by nature God did not consider equality with God something to exploit, but humbled Himself, pouring Himself out, becoming a human slave, and was obedient even to the point of death on a cross. See how God has poured Himself out for you, see that He is the Same who poured Himself out for the whole world. See that God did not abandon you, and He won't abandon your neighbor either.
No one knows what the future shall bring, but trust in God. See God through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who says, "If you have seen Me you have seen the Father." For it is by Him that God makes Himself known, that is why He is the way, the truth, and the life--for the Father has willed to be known through His Son. Meet Christ, encounter God; trust in Jesus, trust in God (He says, "You trust in God, trust also in Me").
Live like the Gospel is true.
Live like you believe the good news.
-CryptoLutheran
