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Would you please elaborate?
Those seem like unusual views for an Eastern Orthodox Christian.
Babies who never were born obviously cannot be saved in any manner that applies to the rest of us,
although there is now a widespread feeling that God must have a place for infants who die before being baptised; and Purgatory has nothing to do with second chances. The theory of Purgatory holds that it is only for those who are already among the saved.
Matthew 12:32
“And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.”
To which death do you refer?Is there salvation after death?
There is only one issue here and it is the use of the word "must" in "must be demonstrable".First we ought to define salvation according to the Biblical definition of the term salvation.....
“The deliverance, by the grace of God, from eternal punishment for sin which is granted to those who accept by faith God’s conditions of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus.”
Salvation is tied directly to the saviour, Jesus Christ.
What did Jesus say.....
Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:10)
Faith must therefore be demonstratable before death.
Faith in whom?
Jesus Christ.
So we must be faithful and loyal to Jesus, even onto death, in order to qualify for the crown of eternal life.
Are there cases that Jesus presented of once servants, that is Christians, not being able to qualify for the crown of eternal life?
Well, let us look to what Jesus said.....
Matthew 24:48-51
48But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Can a Christian be complacent in faith?
Absolutely!
Can a Christian turn to wickedness?
Off course!
Will Jesus do to that Christian, whose day and hour comes at his/her death, what he said he will do?
Absolutely!
Is there salvation after death for a complacent and wicked Christian, who continues his/her lifestyle onto their death?
Scripture and the words of Jesus clearly highlight that those who do not remain vigilant in faith and loyal to the saviour, even onto their death will not qualify for the crown of eternal life.
Again....is there salvation after death?
Yes, for the vigilant in faith and loyal to Jesus and No to the complacent in faith and disloyal to Jesus.
Jesus has the final words......
Blessed is the one who remains awake and clothed, so that he will not go naked and let his shame be exposed. (Revelation 16:15)
Being awake, is to be vigilant in faith.
Keeping your cloths, is to be loyal to the saviour.
Shame, is a result of eternal loss, when the servant is forever separated from his saviour.
Is there salvation after death?
Well, if people follow another religion called Universalism or Unitarianism, then they will negate the saviour out of the equation of salvation and that is exactly what both these antithesis religions do.
Nope. After the judgment you referred to, the saved go to Purgatory before going on to Heaven, while the damned go to Hell.
Nothing the soul in Purgatory can do will appeal the sentence or its severity or length. And there is no appealing the judgment.
The only thing possible is for those of us still living to say certain appointed prayers or perform certain acts that carry merit with them (including Masses), as stipulated by the church, and offer them up for souls in Purgatory so their time there may be shortened.
I agree,Yes, of course,
for all those saved before death who do not lose their salvation b4 they die.
If someone is not saved when they sleep/ die/ , then there is no hope at all, ever.
(unless they get 'resurrected' "b4" the resurrection (die and are raised from the dead somehow, as happens more often in china than anywhere else ever heard of) ==== perhaps then , but never established at all in YHWH'S WORD)...
Great post,Yes it does, very clearly. See last quote below.
That is correct for everyone who doesn't know.
The answer is clear in Scripture as noted >>
I have heard these stories. Not only from this place in the world but even in the west.Missionaries who have visited Africa and China have for centuries reported the routine raising people from the dead (often after several days in the morgue/ observed/ hospitals/ i.e. really dead) by devil worshipers as well as (less often) by followers of Jesus.
p.s. oh, btw, no 'bait'.
More like salt. (Truth, Alive, Reality, YHWH'S Revelation Active and Real and True in and for His people, Jews first, then for the gentiles too)
What about the whole salvation is through faith... If you die and the afterlife is opened to you, as it was to the rich man and Lazarus..... it would be impossible to have "faith" for faith is belief in something you are not sure of... those, after death, will be well aware of their fate that awaits them... they will no longer have the luxury of faith for they will have full knowledge.I don't see a time limit put on salvation there.
It says nothing to deny after death salvation to those who die in their sins.
"...it doesn't say what most evangelizers of hopelessness want it to say in that regard either."
Eternity in the Bible by Gerry Beauchemin – Hope Beyond Hell
I beg your pardon! I several times explained that I do not believe in Purgatory and I do not believe that there is a Scriptura basis for Purgatory BUT I was correcting some misconceptions you posted concerning the Catholic Church's teaching about Purgatory.This would be a preposterous deduction to make, because it would imply that even after the cross of Christ, there is still a game of politics being played out and that the cross of Christ and the Holy Spirit as the guarantee to what is to come, is not part of that equation of politcal ramblings.
You sincerely must have the Creator confused with the political ploys of the enemy who still aims at imprisoning and poisoning the minds of those, of the Cross of Christ and the Holy Spirit justified and sanctified in this temporal life.
Of course aborted babies will have salvation. Any infant, child or even adult who never reaches an age or maturity where they would be accountable for what sins they have committed, will have salvation.One doesn't have to be a universalist to believe babies get born again after being killed by abortion. Or that there is a purgatory (or the like) where the unsaved may have a first or second chance for salvation.
It's also a figment of someones imagination.Purgatory is after post biological death, post Judgement decision, in reducing the sentence and its severity, for that is what the action of penance does, as power attorney on behalf of the individual serving in purgatory, who is appealing for clemency against the decision that has already been made by the righteous Judge.
It is an appeal against the Rigtheous Judge and his after the fact decision.
But not of a Purgatory. Indeed, of all the doctrines that are based on "Tradition" more than on Scripture, Purgatory may be the shakiest of all. That's because we know for a fact that the first Christians thought that the Second Coming would occur immanently. The idea of a Purgatory would have made no sense given that scenario.Amongst many in the early church & early church fathers there was a belief in afterlife purgation of the lost.