In 1978 I asked Jesus to "come into my heart" and I "made Jesus the Lord of my life." (Don't bother trying to find these criteria for salvation in your Bible) It didn't take very long for me to discover that I was not performing like a "new creation in Christ" and that my sin nature had not changed. I continued to struggle with the same old things... get mad & cuss, look longingly at curvaceous heavenly bodies and avoid the truth as a convenience.
I wondered why my role was more stringent than that of Jesus, Himself. I was told that Jesus would not forgive my sins unless 1) I was truly sorry for having done the sin and 2) I asked Jesus to forgive me.
On the other hand, I had to forgive others whether they were sorry or not, and even if they didn't ask me to forgive them. Jesus apparently had the easier role here!
I had given up on being a Christian because I couldn't live the Christian life. (Maybe I was one of those that Calvin & Rice talked about... not predestined to be acceptable to God no matter what I did, like Esau, Pharaoh and Judas.)
Some preachers said I had to "finish the race" to achieve salvation. Others said if I did all that I could do in service to the church (drive bus, teach classes, tithe gross income, attended all services, etc.) that at the end of life, Jesus would make up the difference for what I was unable to perform and thus achieve salvation. Some said if I was water baptized I was saved and sealed. Some said nobody could be for sure about salvation this side of the grave. Some said I could be saved and forgiven for "original sin" but that I had to make restitution for all daily sins and that if I died with one sin that I hadn't asked forgiveness for, all would be lost.
I decided that the most important thing I could do in life was to learn the truth about salvation. If I never accomplished anything else, my life would be a success if I could find the truth. There was obviously a lot of untruth being told by preachers (if one said this and another said the opposite).
Well, I'm an O.F. (old fellow) now and it has taken me most of my life to learn the truth but it has been worth all the anguish.
(Remainder omitted) I'm kind of new here so I deleted the end of my story to try to stay out of trouble...
XLente
I wondered why my role was more stringent than that of Jesus, Himself. I was told that Jesus would not forgive my sins unless 1) I was truly sorry for having done the sin and 2) I asked Jesus to forgive me.
On the other hand, I had to forgive others whether they were sorry or not, and even if they didn't ask me to forgive them. Jesus apparently had the easier role here!
I had given up on being a Christian because I couldn't live the Christian life. (Maybe I was one of those that Calvin & Rice talked about... not predestined to be acceptable to God no matter what I did, like Esau, Pharaoh and Judas.)
Some preachers said I had to "finish the race" to achieve salvation. Others said if I did all that I could do in service to the church (drive bus, teach classes, tithe gross income, attended all services, etc.) that at the end of life, Jesus would make up the difference for what I was unable to perform and thus achieve salvation. Some said if I was water baptized I was saved and sealed. Some said nobody could be for sure about salvation this side of the grave. Some said I could be saved and forgiven for "original sin" but that I had to make restitution for all daily sins and that if I died with one sin that I hadn't asked forgiveness for, all would be lost.
I decided that the most important thing I could do in life was to learn the truth about salvation. If I never accomplished anything else, my life would be a success if I could find the truth. There was obviously a lot of untruth being told by preachers (if one said this and another said the opposite).
Well, I'm an O.F. (old fellow) now and it has taken me most of my life to learn the truth but it has been worth all the anguish.
(Remainder omitted) I'm kind of new here so I deleted the end of my story to try to stay out of trouble...
XLente
