Narrow is the Way

Behold said:

And why is this "NARROW"? Its because the world, the devil, and his people, worldwide and universe deep... teach that there ARE MANY WAYS TO GOD... Many Paths to God... All religion leads to the same place in the end.... and all THAT.....is how the verse is describing "BROAD is the way to destruction"..

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It's not just that. It is part of human nature to at some point to want to put your own wants and needs above God and His will. It is also very easy to follow Jesus etc. and do so because of the loaves and fishes etc. and other good things He gives and does rather than purely out of love for Him.

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

This is a great verse to show to people if they try to pull out the argument which says that all religions are just "different ways" to go to heaven, or that all religions teach the same things from different perspectives. If that were the case, then the way would not be so narrow.

Behold said:

And why is this "NARROW"? Its because the world, the devil, and his people, worldwide and universe deep... teach that there ARE MANY WAYS TO GOD... Many Paths to God... All religion leads to the same place in the end.... and all THAT.....is how the verse is describing "BROAD is the way to destruction"...

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Of course that is a ridiculous man-made idea.
The CONTEXT of the verse is not those in the world who REJECT
Christ. Instead, the CONTEXT is the "wheat and tares" who call
Christ their "Lord". The context of Matthew 7:7-11 is Christians.


There is a "narrow way" for Christians to follow and
there is a "BROAD WAY" for Christians to follow


The "narrow way" is to follow the True Gospel which teaches
that God is Sovereign in the salvation process. And, because
of "original sin" NO MAN will ever seek God [Rom 3:10-12],
no, not even one. The True Gospel says NO MAN can ever
come to Christ unless the Father "draws" them and ALL MEN
the Father draws "shall come" to Jesus and He loses NONE.


So God "chooses" or "elects" who He will save based ONLY
on His Good Pleasure and (sometime during the man's life)
God "draws" him and saves him. This is the "narrow way",
that God is Sovereign and "elects" who He will save.


The "BROAD WAY" is to follow a false "works gospel" that
teaches man is NOT born spiritually DEAD... he still has enough
life in him to decide to do some "work" to save himself... this
means MAN is sovereign in the salvation process because MAN
initiates the process.


Typically false prophets will teach that MAN decides to believe
or to have faith... God then SEES this good work of man and
then God is obligated to then save them.


This work could be many different acts:
Man can save himself by saying the sinner's prayer
Man can save himself by making an altar call
Man can save himself with water baptism
Man can save himself by "inviting Jesus" into his heart
Man can save himself by repenting of sin
Man can save himself by "accepting" Jesus
Man can save himself by having "faith"


But these are all false gospels of the "BROAD WAY" leading
to destruction... all of these are the Boaster's gospel:


Eph 2:8-9
For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that [faith is] not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.


The BROAD WAY is to follow the "Boaster's Gospel"
which pretends that we can put OUR FAITH in God
when the Bible says NO MAN seeks God, not even one.


The narrow way is to understand God is Sovereign (not man)
and ALL MEN are going to hell. So God has "chosen" or "elected"
those who He will save based ONLY on His Good Pleasure...
there is NOTHING that man can do to save himself.


.

Behold said:

"come to me that you may have LIFE".

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Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

A "Path" leads someplace. There are "many" Paths, but Jesus only walked One. And He Himself said to deny our self, and Follow Him. And it is written in another place, "Walk even as HE Walked", and He said again "Be Ye Perfect even as your Father in Heaven is Perfect".

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

I would ask you a question; This broad "WAY" that "many" follow, do you believe the leaders of this way are declaring "Come follow us on the Path to destruction" and "many" want to be destroyed? Or is Jesus talking about deceivers who are telling folks "Come follow us to eternal life" and the people are deceived into believing them?

15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Jesus IS Eternal Life.
If you have Jesus, you have Eternal Life., from the first moment you are saved, and this never changes.
There is no, working for it. There is no "process" whereby you eventually become..... and all this noise.
You BEGIN as "saved".... = AS the righteousness of God, in Christ.
You are "In Christ", from the moment you are saved.
You "abide" because you are 'IN".

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"You BEGIN as "saved""

Isn't this what Eve was convinced of in the very first example of deception given us in the Examples the Christ had written for our admonition?

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: (You are already saved)

What of the Word's of Jesus Himself? Shall men not listen to Him?

You are preaching;

There is no, working for it. There is no "process" whereby you eventually become..... and all this noise.

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But Jesus said "ALL" who come to Him must deny themselves. This is something men must do in order to "come to Jesus", at least according to the Jesus of the Bible.

Jesus said;

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Jesus Said;

Luke 13:3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Jesus said;

Matt. 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

Jesus said:

Matt. 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Jesus said;

33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

Phip. 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

Is this not the Way of the Lord? Are we not to follow HIM in this Way? Are we not to take on us HIS Mindset? Is HE not the Author and Finisher of our Faith?

And how "many" are there on this "Path" that He Walked?

At what point do we choose to listen to Jesus and be a "Doer" of what HE instructs, and reject the "other" religious voices in the land we are born into, as HE did?

Behold said:

Following Jesus won't get you into heaven.

The way you end up in Heaven is by this..

Jesus said..."You must be born again"..

Once you are born again, then take up your cross and follow as a good disciple should.
Born again FIRST, then discipleship follows.

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Rom. 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?

In your religion, who was Isaiah talking about that didn't obey the Gospel?

17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

So you are preaching that being "Born Again" comes before we come to Christ. Paul is teaching just the opposite. If I am "born Again" apart from the Word of God, then why is there a Gospel in the first place?

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

So isn't Jesus the "Preacher" that God sent? And are we not to "believe" in this Preacher?

So how can we believe in HIM if we haven't heard HIM Speak? Are you preaching that being "born again" comes before repentance? And how can we repent of sin if we haven't heard what sin is? And how can we know what sin is, if God, our creator, hasn't shown us?

If being "Born again" comes first, then how can you reconcile Paul's words defining his own teaching?

Acts 26:19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:

20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, (JEWS) and then to the Gentiles, that they (ALL) should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.

Are you really preaching that Paul only teaches this to those who are already "Born Again", already saved, to repent?

If I am already "Born Again" why do I need repentance? Why "turn to God" if I am already "Born Again"? Why do I need to "do works" worthy of repentance if I am already "Born Again"?

At what point does a man "Choose" between believing the religious doctrines and traditions of the religious men of the world, and believing what the Inspired Holy Scriptures actually say?

Is choosing to believe the Holy Scriptures over the words of religious men, "Entering in at the strait gate" that few enter?

If I am "Born again" first, then why do I need to Do (Enter) into another Path at all?

Behold said:

Jesus is the "narrow way"..... John 14:6 To Heaven All other "ways" to try to be saved, are RELIGION, and these are defined as the "broad way" to Destruction. = HELL.

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No, that is not Biblical and not correct.
In fact is shows you cannot discern the CONTEXT of the text.


Your delusion does not even discern the CONTEXT of the
immediate passage or the surrounding passages. That is how
we can see you have a "private interpretation" which does not
harmonize with the Scriptures.


You are PRETENDING that Jesus is comparing Christianity
with other world religions or Paganism.... that is ridiculous.
Jesus is comparing the DIFFERENT WAYS that Christians
try to come to Him.


Of course Jesus is the ONE WAY...
there is no dispute about that among Christians..
those following Christ... who are the CONTEXT of the passage.


But "Christians" have designed MANY WAYS to Jesus.
Some (Christians) teach:

Man can save himself by saying the sinner's prayer
Man can save himself by making an altar call
Man can save himself with water baptism
Man can save himself by "inviting Jesus" into his heart
Man can save himself by repenting of sin
Man can save himself by "accepting" Jesus
Man can save himself by having "faith"


These are all the BROAD WAY that Christians take to Jesus.
Notice the common thread is that in each false gospel MAN
is sovereign (not God) and MAN initiates salvation (not God)
That is the Broad Way that leads (Christians) to destruction.


These false "works gospels" is why MANY Christians go to hell...
and only FEW Christians are really saved [Luke 13:23-30].
Again, the CONTEXT is Christians... those calling Jesus "Lord".
The question in Luke 13 was asked by and for followers of Jesus.
If you cannot discern the CONTEXT of a passage then you have
no hope of ever understanding the MEANING of the passage.


The BROAD WAY which leads Christians to destruction is
thinking that MAN can save himself by some action he takes.
These are all false "works gospels" that lead Christians to hell.


The narrow way that Christians take to Jesus is to accept
the Bible Truth (that Jesus taught) that NO MAN can come
to Him unless the Father "draws" them and ALL MEN the
Father draws "shall come" to Him. To understand that men
are born spiritually DEAD and (like Lazarus) can do nothing
to save themselves.


In fact, when His disciples realized that Jesus was teaching
salvation by ELECTION many immediately abandoned Him.
[John 6:6-66]


WHY in the world would someone abandon the Son of God?
Of course the answer is simple: They did NOT WANT a salvation
plan were God is Sovereign and God decides WHO He will "draw"
and God initiates the salvation process from start to finish...
He is the author and finisher. This is the narrow way to Jesus...


Instead (like most men today) they wanted to be able to save
themselves. They wanted MAN to be sovereign and MAN to be
the one who initiates when/where/how they are saved. They
wanted to DENY that men are born DEAD and that NO MAN
seeks God [Rom 3:10-12], they wanted to pretend some men
seek God, that men are not TOTALLY DEAD... that there is still
enough LIFE in men to allow them to initiate their own salvation.
This is the BROAD WAY to Jesus... which ends in destruction.


There is nothing NEW here:
Throughout the history of the church, from the time of John
the Baptist until today, there have been TWO (2) major gospels.


(1) The True Gospel that teaches NO MAN will seek God, no, not
even one [Rom 3:10-12] That ALL MEN are born spiritually DEAD
and are not able to do anything... they are all headed to hell. So,
God "chooses" or "elects" certain people before the foundation of
the world (not on any "works" they will do, but ONLY on His Good
Pleasure) and, sometime during that person's life, God "draws"
them to Jesus... and they are saved. This is the narrow way.


(2) The false "works gospel" teaches that men are NOT born
spiritually DEAD... they have just enough life in them to be able
to do some works (as listed above) in order to save themselves.
This "works gospel" teaches that MAN is sovereign in salvation
that MAN initiates the salvation process by doing some "work"
and then God is OBLIGATED to save that person. This is the
BROAD WAY that leads Christians to destruction.


This is why it's important for Christians to LEARN something
about Church history... so they can understand this issue has
been debated for almost 2000 years... and they can get some
PERSPECTIVE on what their church is teaching... whether it is
the narrow way to Christ or the BROAD WAY to destruction.


Unfortunately most Christians (and many "teachers") have
no perspective on church history and they just follow whatever
gospel their church teaches. It is the blind leading the blind.


But we should not be surprised. The Bible WARNED that relatively
FEW CHRISTIANS would be saved. And the Bible PROMISED that
there would be very FEW (saved) Christians on earth when the
Lord Returns. So the apostasy in the churches today, where
99% of them teach the BROAD WAY was foretold from the start.


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Behold said:

Jesus is the "narrow way"..... John 14:6. All other "ways" to try to be saved, are RELIGION, and these are defined as the "broad way" to Destruction. = HELL.

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No, once again demonstrate that you do not have a CLUE
what you are talking about. You cited John 14:6, but that
is NOT talking about the narrow way for Christians to inherit
eternal life and the BROAD WAY for Christians that leads to
their destruction.


So once again you intentionally ignored 99% of my post
and you created a strawman argument to respond, showing
you could not respond to MY WORDS and you had to deflect
in order to try to save face. It is very hard for me to believe
that you citing the WRONG VERSE was unintentional.


Here are the passages you should have cited.
Notice the CONTEXT is Christians.... those calling
Jesus their "Lord". And notice these Christians are
very SINCERE in their belief that they are saved...


But these Christians did not follow the narrow way,
to Jesus (where God is Sovereign) they followed the
BROAD WAY to Jesus, the way that teaches MAN can
do some "work" to save himself. They followed the
"Boaster's Gospel" where man initiates salvation.


Now... pay attention here, the CONTEXT is those who are
following Jesus. The CONTEXT is "Christians".


Mat 7:7-14
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and BROAD is
the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many [Christians] there
be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and FEW [Christians] there be that find it.


Mat 7:21-23
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, [Christians] shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many [Christians] will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? [these Christians SINCERELY thought they were saved] And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.


So once again we see that you have NO CONCEPT of what these
passages actually teach because you are not able to discern the
CONTEXT of the passages... which is those following Christ.


The narrow way is talking about Christians going to Jesus.
The BROAD WAY is talking about Christians going to Jesus.
One leads to eternal life... the other leads to destruction.


There is nothing NEW here:
Throughout the history of the church, from the time of John
the Baptist until today, there have been TWO (2) major gospels.


(1) The True Gospel that teaches NO MAN will seek God, no, not
even one [Rom 3:10-12] That ALL MEN are born spiritually DEAD
and are not able to do anything... they are all headed to hell. So,
God "chooses" or "elects" certain people before the foundation of
the world (not on any "works" they will do, but ONLY on His Good
Pleasure) and, sometime during that person's life, God "draws"
them to Jesus... and they are saved. This is the narrow way.


(2) The false "works gospel" teaches that men are NOT born
spiritually DEAD... they have just enough life in them to be able
to do some works (as listed before) in order to save themselves.
This "works gospel" teaches that MAN is sovereign in salvation
that MAN initiates the salvation process by doing some "work"
and then God is OBLIGATED to save that person. This is the
BROAD WAY that leads Christians to eternal destruction.


You preach the "BOASTER'S GOSPEL" that teaches that men
are NOT born spiritually dead, they have enough life to do some
good "work" to save themselves. You preach that men can have
"faith" (when the Bible insists faith is a GIFT OF GOD) and you say
that after men decide to have "faith"... then God will SEE that good
"work" that man has done and God is OBLIGATED to save the man.
Your gospel pretends MAN is sovereign and MAN initiates salvation.
That is why your "works" gospel is called a "BOASTER'S GOSPEL"


Eph 2:8-9
For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that [faith is] NOT of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, LEST ANY MAN SHOULD BOAST.


.

Seems like everyone is an expert on scripture and everyone else is not!

Lost4words said:

Seems like everyone is an expert on scripture and everyone else is not!

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No, it seems that Christians have ALWAYS followed either
the narrow way to Christ or the BROAD WAY to Christ.
One results in eternal life, the other in eternal damnation.


But that is why understanding church HISTORY is so important.
The church has always argued about TWO major theologies:


(1) The True Gospel that teaches NO MAN will seek God, no, not
even one [Rom 3:10-12] That ALL MEN are born spiritually DEAD
and are not able to do anything... they are all headed to hell. So,
God "chooses" or "elects" certain people before the foundation of
the world (not on any "works" they will do, but ONLY on His Good
Pleasure) and, sometime during that person's life, God "draws"
them to Jesus... and they are saved. This is the narrow way.


(2) The false "works gospel" teaches that men are NOT born
spiritually DEAD... they have just enough life in them to be able
to do some works (as listed before) in order to save themselves.
This "works gospel" teaches that MAN is sovereign in salvation
that MAN initiates the salvation process by doing some "work"
and then God is OBLIGATED to save that person. This is the
BROAD WAY that leads Christians to eternal destruction.


.