How does one get saved?

[Jesse Dornfeld]

I don't mean to bring division or controversies here. I just have one question for now:

How does one come to get saved from eternal damnation and to being fellow heirs with Christ in the NHNE?

 

[HTacianas]

I don't mean to bring division or controversies here. I just have one question for now:

How does one come to get saved from eternal damnation and to being fellow heirs with Christ in the NHNE?

Repent of past sins, accept by faith the sacrifice of Christ, become baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and participate in the sacramental life of the Church.

 

[lismore]

I don't mean to bring division or controversies here. I just have one question for now:

How does one come to get saved from eternal damnation and to being fellow heirs with Christ in the NHNE?

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved (Acts 16:31)

 

[TheWhat?]

Firstly, your question reminded me of this passage, emphasis added.

[Mat 19:17-21, 25-26 NKJV] 17 So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one [is] good but One, [that is], God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." 18 He said to Him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, "'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 19 'Honor your father and [your] mother,' and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' " 20 The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?" 21 Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." ... 25 When His disciples heard [it], they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" 26 But Jesus looked at [them] and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

I was just thinking about this today...

[Zec 13:1 NKJV] 1 "In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.

[Jer 31:31-33 NKJV] 31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- 32 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 "But this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

[Rom 2:28-29 NKJV] 28 For he is not a Jew who [is one] outwardly, nor [is] circumcision that which [is] outward in the flesh; 29 but [he is] a Jew who [is one] inwardly; and circumcision [is that] of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise [is] not from men but from God.

[2Co 7:9-10 NKJV] 9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance [leading] to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

 

[ArmyMatt]

I don't mean to bring division or controversies here. I just have one question for now:

How does one come to get saved from eternal damnation and to being fellow heirs with Christ in the NHNE?

join the Orthodox Church.

 

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

join the Orthodox Church.

One knows where the church is, but one doesnt know where she isnt if I remember the phrase correctly. The safest way to salvation is through valid sacraments, sound theology and apostolic succession, all which are present in the church of the east. If there werent any cultural issues getting in my way, I wouldve doxed long ago.
Culturalism is a big obstacle in many places, especially in Europe.

 

[renniks]

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved (Acts 16:31)

This.
It's not any certain church at it's not any sacrament.
It's trusting in Christ.

 

[ArmyMatt]

One knows where the church is, but one doesnt know where she isnt if I remember the phrase correctly. The safest way to salvation is through valid sacraments, sound theology and apostolic succession, all which are present in the church of the east. If there werent any cultural issues getting in my way, I wouldve doxed long ago.
Culturalism is a big obstacle in many places, especially in Europe.

no we know where the Church is not. we just can’t say for sure who will be in it in the End. those things are only present in the Orthodox Church.

 

[ArmyMatt]

This.
It's not any certain church at it's not any sacrament.
It's trusting in Christ.

this is the Orthodox subforum. you can’t post against our faith on here. you can debate us in our debate forum.

 

[Guojing]

I don't mean to bring division or controversies here. I just have one question for now:

How does one come to get saved from eternal damnation and to being fellow heirs with Christ in the NHNE?

Believe in the gospel stated in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.

 

[Nathaniel Red]

I don't mean to bring division or controversies here. I just have one question for now:

How does one come to get saved from eternal damnation and to being fellow heirs with Christ in the NHNE?

To love God with all your heart mind body and soul. To be saved is the same thing as having a personal loving relationship with God, and to be damned is the same thing as rejecting his love.

 

[Jesse Dornfeld]

Alright, so... If I were to ask (the EO, that's why I'm asking here) what is the Gospel? What would your answer be?

 

[ArmyMatt]

Alright, so... If I were to ask (the EO, that's why I'm asking here) what is the Gospel? What would your answer be?

the Gospel is that Christ has defeated death by death, and restored us to life.

 

[Justin-H.S.]

Alright, so... If I were to ask (the EO, that's why I'm asking here) what is the Gospel? What would your answer be?

There's a book called "Arise O' God" by Fr. Stephen Andrew Damick that goes exactly into this from the ancient context.

Essentially, Ευαγγέλιον or "Gospel" was a genre of ancient writing. Sort of how we have non-fiction, biographies, fantansy, horror, instructionals, etc. today if you were to look in a book store, there's different genres. Evangelion were a genre in that respect. What were Evangelion? That's the question.

So, the ancient world was very....tumultuous. Wars everywhere. Kingdoms, tribes, empires conquering each other all the time. So, let's just use Caesar Augustus as an example of a conquering king. Let's say you lived in a Greek town called....Corinth. (History nerds, pls don't crucify me) So, Augustus is conquering Greece to expand the Roman Empire, and he wins a battle that leaves it wide open for him to march into Corinth and take over. Augustus would send out (Apostle means the being 'sent out') a herald to announce to Corinth that

"Caesar Augustus, the son of god, has just won the battle against your overlords and will be arriving to uphold peace in Corinth for a thousand years, and you can either receive his lordship over you or be removed and killed outside of the town."

The townsfolk would either accept Augustus as the new lord over them or not. That's roughly what Ευαγγέλιον was as a genre. A proclamation of victory and lordship and instructions on how to be integrated into the new lord's realm.

So, that's what the Apostles did, they went into towns to declare Christ's victory over the enemy (death). This is why in the book of Acts, whenever the Gospel was proclaimed by the Apostles, the people ask "What must we do to be saved?" The Apostles would then give them instructions on how to be saved: "Repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." If you read throughout the book of Acts, you will notice that whenever the question is asked: "What must I do to be saved?" the answer is always the same: "Repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Spirit. You and your whole family." It's a recurring pattern starting from Acts 2:37-38 and throughout the book.

Now, we can go into the whole ancient meaning of 'repent' (μετανιώνω) and receiving the Holy Spirit, but that's a question for another time.

 

[Lukaris]

There is an ancient church manual from about 100 AD called the Didache. It is only about 10 pages & easily found online.

Didache

 

[Andrei D]

I don't mean to bring division or controversies here. I just have one question for now:

How does one come to get saved from eternal damnation and to being fellow heirs with Christ in the NHNE?

Are you genuinely asking this in the Orthodox forum? If so, read on, if not then please do not read (honestly!).

"Enter through the narrow gate." Tame your will, tame your passions, learn obedience, surrender your ego and pray for forgiveness, pray for tears, fast, use your body as an instrument of repentance and as a receptacle of grace. Understand that humility is the single most powerful weapon we have against sin and death. Yes, love is important, but prideful love is not love at all. Do what it takes to (1) obtain death and rebirth, be gifted a Guardian Angel and the (2) seal of the Holy Spirit. (3) Confess your sins earnestly to Christ frequently and do your best to sin no more; do so through those who are granted that what they "loose on earth will be loosed in heaven". Rush (as early in life as possible) to be protected against your own weakness under the crown of (4) Holy Matrimony (or that of Monasticism, for each according to their calling). Receive healing of body and soul (5). And do what it takes to approach the chalice often, but only with "fear and trembling" and properly prepared, although never worthy of your own, to receive (6) His most precious True Body and True Blood without which you have no life. Understand that these Mysteries do not exist without the Mystery of (7) Priesthood through Apostolic succession, as instituted by our Lord Himself, and later fulfilled by the Holy Spirit Himself on the day of Pentecost for the glory of God the Father, and passed on, in fulfillment of His promise, through endless generations of bishops.

Learning, debating, lecturing, and dissecting words with your rational mind and feeding your emotional responses with rhetoric and songs may be useful, but it is not worship and won't save you. There is no Church without the altar. There is no praise without sacrifice.

 

[Swag365]

join the Orthodox Church.

Well let's say that an infant is baptized in a Lutheran church, with water, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the Orthodox view, if the infant dies a moment later, does it go to heaven?

 

[ArmyMatt]

Well let's say that an infant is baptized in a Lutheran church, with water, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the Orthodox view, if the infant dies a moment later, does it go to heaven?

yes, because in the baby’s purity, when the baby dies he will see Christ as confessed in the Orthodox Church, and in that moment be saved and be Orthodox.

 

[Swag365]

yes, because in the baby’s purity, when the baby dies he will see Christ as confessed in the Orthodox Church, and in that moment be saved and be Orthodox.

Got it. Thanks. So if that same child grows up to be an adult, but never formally enters the Orthodox Church (let's say, for example, that he never even meets an Orthodox believer or learns about the Orthodox Church during his lifetime) - can he go to Heaven when he dies, under a similar principle?

 

[ArmyMatt]

Got it. Thanks. So if that same child grows up to be an adult, but never formally enters the Orthodox Church (let's say, for example, that he never even meets an Orthodox believer or learns about the Orthodox Church during his lifetime) - can he go to Heaven when he dies, under a similar principle?

yes