Do I belong here?

[Neostarwcc]

Okay so, I've been identifying as non-denominational for a while now and, I was going through the statement of faith and was confused about what one of the supporters of the forums said:

"Salvation is by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ who died for our sins and rose again, providing eternal redemption to those who believe. It is not by our works or works of the law"

I 95% agree with that. Salvation is by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ and Jesus does provide salvation for those who believe. Your works alone will not save you, you cannot be saved without our Lord and Savior. However, we cannot keep breaking God's law and rely just on Jesus's Sacrifice alone that is what I believe.

I believe that and I have been identifying as Non-Denominational for almost 7 months now and thought that was what non denominational Christians believed until I came here and read that.

Do I belong here believing those things? Or, is that just a guideline for these particular forums and, just merely topics like this aren't allowed here? I'm just very confused. Like, are ALL non-denominational Christians supposed to agree that it is Jesus Christ alone who saves us without works or obeying law?

Even Paul had this same question in (Romans 6:1).

But, I believe I'm right that it's important to keep the law in this because of several passages in the bible (Hebrews 10:26) and in (John 5:1–15) Jesus after healing an invalid said "Go and sin no more or something more sinister might happen to you", or in (John 8:10-11) when, a woman was about to be stone to death for committing adultery Jesus saved her and said "Go and sin no more."

and because a majority of the book of Matthew where Jesus basically warns us, "Don't do many of these things or you might not be saved."

Do I belong here believing these things and for reading the bible extra closely and taking the bible literally? And certainly, do I belong here as a newly ordained aspiring minister who wants to use the title "Non-denominational" and teach the "Non-denominational" faith? I'm just so confused.

 

[dysert]

"Salvation is by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ who died for our sins and rose again, providing eternal redemption to those who believe. It is not by our works or works of the law"

I 95% agree with that. Salvation is by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ and Jesus does provide salvation for those who believe. Your works alone will not save you, you cannot be saved without our Lord and Savior. However, we cannot keep breaking God's law and rely just on Jesus's Sacrifice alone that is what I believe.

I believe that and I have been identifying as Non-Denominational for almost 7 months now and thought that was what non denominational Christians believed until I came here and read that.

Do I belong here believing those things? Or, is that just a guideline for these particular forums and, just merely topics like this aren't allowed here? I'm just very confused. Like, are ALL non-denominational Christians supposed to agree that it is Jesus Christ alone who saves us without works or obeying law?

Even Paul had this same question in (Romans 6:1).

But, I believe I'm right that it's important to keep the law in this because of several passages in the bible (Hebrews 10:26) and in (John 5:1–15) Jesus after healing an invalid said "Go and sin no more or something more sinister might happen to you", or in (John 8:10-11) when, a woman was about to be stone to death for committing adultery Jesus saved her and said "Go and sin no more."

and because a majority of the book of Matthew where Jesus basically warns us, "Don't do many of these things or you might not be saved."

Do I belong here believing these things and for reading the bible extra closely and taking the bible literally? And certainly, do I belong here as a newly ordained aspiring minister who wants to use the title "Non-denominational" and teach the "Non-denominational" faith? I'm just so confused.

Welcome, mmbattlestar! I think you belong here. Actually, I think you're over-thinking the criteria. Personally, I'm registered as nondenom simply because I used to belong to a denomination (baptist, and then PCUSA), and felt like I didn't want to be associated with a denomination any more because the denomination (in the case of PCUSA) can "declare" things that I don't agree with, and I don't want to be associated with the denomination any more. (As far as I know, the baptists are still ok.) So I go to a nondenom church now and hopefully will stay that way.

I'd say you should stay -- unless you get too rowdy ;-)

 

[Neostarwcc]

Oops, I forgot to finish the post! *Facepalm* I don't know why I write topics the way I do (I fill out the sections that I know about first and then fill in the rest later and sometimes this happens where I forget to fill in parts of it)

I meant to say that, I was confused about the "Statement of purpose" that's stickied in this forum http://www.christianforums.com/threads/non-denominational-statement-of-faith.7396062/.

Towards the end of the post he says "

• Salvation is by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ who died for our sins and rose again, providing eternal redemption to those who believe. It is not by our works or works of the law. (Eph 2: 8-9)
• Since salvation is by grace, promotion of the doctrine of salvation by works and Saturday (seventh-day) worship is not allowed. Please discuss these topics in Sabbath and The Law forum."

So, these two statements confused me. I'll fix my OP now and read and reply to your reply in a second.

Welcome, mmbattlestar! I think you belong here. Actually, I think you're over-thinking the criteria. Personally, I'm registered as nondenom simply because I used to belong to a denomination (baptist, and then PCUSA), and felt like I didn't want to be associated with a denomination any more because the denomination (in the case of PCUSA) can "declare" things that I don't agree with, and I don't want to be associated with the denomination any more. (As far as I know, the baptists are still ok.) So I go to a nondenom church now and hopefully will stay that way.

I'd say you should stay -- unless you get too rowdy ;-)

Thank you for your welcome! I too became non-denominational because, I was born and raised Catholic and didn't agree with many of the things they were teaching me so, I left the religion about 2-3 years ago.

But, I considered Baptist and other Protestant religions and then eventually came across non-denominational and it seemed to fit in with me the best. I just didn't know the one detail of my beliefs that conflicted with the non-denominational faith.

 

[thesunisout]

Okay so, I've been identifying as non-denominational for a while now and, I was going through the statement of faith and was confused about what one of the supporters of the forums said:

"Salvation is by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ who died for our sins and rose again, providing eternal redemption to those who believe. It is not by our works or works of the law"

I 95% agree with that. Salvation is by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ and Jesus does provide salvation for those who believe. Your works alone will not save you, you cannot be saved without our Lord and Savior. However, we cannot keep breaking God's law and rely just on Jesus's Sacrifice alone that is what I believe.

Hey brother,

I think what you may be confused about is what that statement is and isn't saying. What it is saying is that we cannot in any way save ourselves, either by action or merit. Salvation is 100 percent a work of God. It is not by our works, but it isn't saying that works are not an integral part of our sanctification process. Gods word clearly states that those who are saved will do good works. We should be doing works, but works aren't the justification for our salvation; they are the evidence of our salvation. Jesus said a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Once we are saved Gods Spirit starts to transform us into a good tree and we *will* bear good fruit. What happens to a tree that despite Gods best efforts still won't bear fruit? I think the word is clear about that too:

Luke 13:6-9

6 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’”

I don't think the statement of faith in any way contradicts this simple truth. As a minister, surely you are aware of a centuries old debate in the Christian community about whether you can lose your salvation. That is another matter entirely, apart from this statement of faith. Hope this helps, God bless

 

[1watchman]

The biblical Church is non-denominated (not named by choices and separate by reasoning's), and it is non-sectarian (not deviating from the pure Word), so we need to hold to Bible-only which teaches the universal "one body of Christ" and urges "no schism in the body", as God tells us. Most professing Christians line up with various sects to please themselves, saying: "Go to the church of your choice". That flies in the face of God, I see. Some of us in the world endeavor to hold to what God has given for His Church ---universal and locally, and appreciate the "priesthood of all believers (1 Pet. 2). One should search this out.

We need to be allowed to exercise our priesthood in the assembly, not yield to a hierarchy and rituals, I see; and all such assemblies in the world need to bind together by Scripture as "unity of the Faith" and enjoy fellowship and Godliness as it will be in Heaven.