Can Your Christianity Help a Dying Man?

[miknik5]

Yes, even the command to believe is potentially a burden, in light of that.

That's why we do not do "decisional theology" or "accepting Jesus into you heart" Arminian-style evangelism.

Faith even the size of a mustard seed if it is directed in and on CHRIST JESUS as our HOPE is faith sufficient to save

 

[jimmyjimmy]

Yes, even the command to believe is potentially a burden, in light of that.

Faith is opposed to works. Paul makes that clear. Faith is not a work. Faith relieves me from work.

That's why we do not do "decisional theology" or "accepting Jesus into you heart" Arminian-style evangelism.

However. . . this type of "faith" IS a work, and I am completely opposed to it for the same reason you are. It is a burden, and it is a work.

 

[miknik5]

Here is the truth:

No one can come to the FATHER except through THE SON

No one can come to THE SON unless the FATHER enables it

No one knows the FATHER but the SON and those whom The SON chooses to reveal HIM

And yet, all that THE FATHER has given HIM will come to HIM and anyone who comes to THE SON, HE will in no wise cast out

 

[GingerBeer]

What is the essence of your theology? What can it be reduced to? What is the most important thing about what you believe that you would want to convey to anyone, especially someone with little time left on this earth?

What would you share about Christianity with a person who had only has a few hours left to live?

Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because he first loved us. If any one says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.
1 John 4:7-21

 

[FireDragon76]

Faith even the size of a mustard seed if it is directed in and on CHRIST JESUS as our HOPE is faith sufficient to save

Ultimately the fate of a dying person is in God's hands, not ours. And I believe God is merciful. So the best thing we can do is witness to God's love in our actions towards that person. Perhaps that could include talking about our faith, but it needs to be something that is genuinely welcomed by the person and doesn't rob them of whatever measure of peace they have.

 

[miknik5]

Faith is opposed to works. Paul makes that clear. Faith is not a work. Faith relieves me from work.



However. . . this type of "faith" IS a work, and I am completely opposed to it for the same reason you are. It is a burden, and it is a work.

Romans 10
Sufficient

 

[jimmyjimmy]

Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because he first loved us. If any one says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.
1 John 4:7-21

So, you would give him a summary of the entire law, i.e., love God and love neighbor. Is there any particular reason for this approach?

 

[miknik5]

Because what is hidden in your heart where GOD sees is sufficient

HE knows the ones who HOPE in HIM

And GOD has made it that those who HOPE in HIM are receiving the goal of their faith

Even their salvation

 

[GingerBeer]

So, you would give him a summary of the entire law, i.e., love God and love neighbor. Is there any particular reason for this approach?

It is the truth it holds out hope and it is the gospel. That is the reason for the approach.

 

[miknik5]

Let not your heart be troubled

Ye believe in GOD

Believe also in HIM


Many profess to know god(s) but deny THE SON

GOD in HIS WISDOM by sending HIS SON shut the mouths of every other lying whispering spirit

He who has THE SON, has THE FATHER also

Believe and pray and come to know HIM

Talk with HIM in your heart and lay all your cares on HIM
Pour out your heart to HIM and believe and do not doubt

May GOD bless you and keep you and may HE give you the heart rending/knee buckling knowledge of HIS TRUTH and HIS GRACE and HIS MERCY visibly seen in HIS SON

 

[jimmyjimmy]

It is the truth it holds out hope and it is the gospel. That is the reason for the approach.

How much loving of his "brothers" is a man with a few hours left to live going to do?

 

[miknik5]

Sureeeee.... the second covenant wasn't enacted until Jesus was dead (and had risen)

“Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭9:15-17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The thief on he cross died under the Old Covenant

those who died (under the old covenant) prior to Christ's crucifixion and ascension were led captive in HIS TRAIN

 

[GingerBeer]

How much loving of his "brothers" is a man with a few hours left to live going to do?

What does the passage say on that matter?

 

[miknik5]

Who says I have to save them? Am I the Holy Spirit? Nope.

However much I happen to love that person (and the OP said nothing at all about love, tbh), God loves them a whole lot more. Really, your concept of God seems to be somewhat lacking; it is not up to me to convert anyone.

It is up to you to preach the gospel

The commission to "go" was not to just those disciples yesterday

It was to his disciples today and to tomorrow

Our work is to cast the seeds of life and let them fall where they fall

Yes GOD will bring the increase but HE called us into his work to "go"

 

[miknik5]

Today your right, dying people in a hospice setting at the point of death, are not responsive.
Without modern drugs and care they would have died long before they reached such a state.

Some people though comatose who have recovered say they could hear what was being said.
In older days, people may have been close to death and been converted as there were aware and could converse with another person, they were still lucid and died soon after.

You say that a comatose person can hear and yes I have heard that a dying person's hearing remains. so to pray outwardly before them they can hear what is being said. Therefore a family praying over them could help a dying person come to salvation


Just because we may not receive a visible sign testifying to this, they very well may be silently and inwardly engaged and calling g out to GOD in their heart as well

My father was very much silently "at work" in the last hours before he died


And what he said when he came through before he died was clear evidence that GOD had been working in him

 

[jimmyjimmy]

What does the passage say on that matter?

It says quite a bit, which is one reason it wouldn't be my choice for such an occasion.

 

[GingerBeer]

It says quite a bit, which is one reason it wouldn't be my choice for such an occasion.

Why? Do you think dying people take a few seconds to die?

 

[ViaCrucis]

What would you share about Christianity with a person who had only has a few hours left to live?

There is a God who made all things, and that even though sin and death have come into the world, this God was unwilling to let His creation perish. To that end, He sent Jesus Christ, and that Christ came, suffered, died, and rose again from the dead in order to heal and restore a broken, fallen world. This is good news, for God has triumphed over sin, death, hell, and the devil; it is good news for you, for me, for the whole world. Your sins are forgiven, and there is life everlasting found in Him. Christ our Savior loves you, and in Him there is life, peace with God, and the future life of the world to come. This is yours by His grace and kindness. Believe the good news.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ViaCrucis]

Faith is opposed to works. Paul makes that clear. Faith is not a work. Faith relieves me from work.

Faith is a gift, which is why we can say that salvation is by grace alone through faith; for here faith is that which God does and which God gives; but to treat faith as a work is to deny grace and to return again to the place of human efforts to merit God's favor.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[timewerx]

What "work" did the last "worker in HIS field, called in at the very last hour, do?
And who, by the way, was the one who called him in?

I already said it's possible, I just wouldn't bet on it.

Like someone said, God knows our hearts.

But we can't trust our feelings

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?