Do you consider yourself saved?

[ALoveDivine]

Will there be people in heaven, who had no idea that they were "saved"?
In other words, will there be folks in heaven who are surprised
that there is an afterlife and a heaven?

No. Only Christians will be in heaven, and to become a Christian you must repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That requires at least a basic understanding of judgement, your sinfulness, your need of salvation, and Christ's work on your behalf.

That said, there will probably be many people in heaven who are, of course, genuine Christians, but who mistakenly thought that they weren't "good enough" to get to heaven. Maybe they struggled a lot with sin or maybe they sat under some terrible loose-your-salvation preaching that scared them half to death, maybe they even thought they'd end up in Hell. I imagine these kinds of Christians will be very pleasantly surprised by the grace of God, and I'll just hug them and say, "see, I told ya so!"

That is our present condition as believers, to know the
path to life, and to share it. In whatever fashion that takes.

Word.

I'm awake, it's time to wake the neighbours!

Let's do it! Did I mention witnessing to people is an incredibly joyous thing to do??

 

[tall73]

Let's do it! Did I mention witnessing to people is an incredibly joyous thing to do??

That we can all agree on!

 

[Avid]

... Will there be people in heaven, who had no idea that they were "saved"?...

The pastor of our Church has stated this very well when he addressed some of the issues people in Church have. A SIGNIFICANT part of the New Birth is having the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit in the person's heart. He is there to Comfort us, Guide us and to make Intercession for us to God the Father.

If someone was to move into my house, you can be CERTAIN I would know it.

Now, let me address this more particularly. If I just got a new job, and my new BOSS was to move into my house, and begin approving, disapproving, directing, and correcting my actions, YOU CAN BE SURE that I would know someone had moved in. If this guy was doing as much or MORE INSTRUCTING of me in a new occupation while I was at HOME than he did when I was at work, I would ABSOLUTELY be aware of that as a distinctive change.

A huge problem comes when people who spend a little time around "Church People" hear that they need to do a thing or two to be saved, and they say that prayer, or accept a name they have heard, they may have made a small step toward Christ, and assumed a HUGE leap when there was none.

As certain people like this live out the error they learned from TV, or the few times they were in Church, or the MANY things that are taught WRONG, even in Church, they assume a firm standing with God, and may find that JESUS CHRIST will judge them, saying, "...I never knew you!"

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