Non-denominational view of how to get to heaven.

[davidthegreek]

Is there a reason you believe "getting into Heaven" is the point of being a Christian?

I guess for me that seems almost backwards. Salvation =/= going to Heaven, but rather salvation is God coming down to rescue us, which is an act of unmerited and unconditional grace. This He has done by the Incarnation, the Son and Word united Himself to our humanity, and by death and resurrection redeemed it. "Heaven" is simply "where" God is, and if Christ has reconciled us to God then we are with God, and ultimately that means when Christ returns to renew and restore creation, that means a resurrected life here forever on planet Earth with God.

However all that aside, the goal of the Christian life isn't "getting into Heaven"; rather it is God who has met us here in the Person of Christ, saving us, who then says, "I have saved you, I have forgiven you, now go and live" and upon which we now seek to live in the obedience of Christ, living in the shape of the Cross, not for our own salvation (which has been accomplished on Mt. Calvary once and for all), but to be bearers of God's Word--the Gospel of what God has accomplished by His Son--to the world, and in faith striving toward good works so that our neighbor might be fed, clothed, have drink, and be taken care of because this is the will of God.

The good works merit nothing, the life of living crucified is not earning us points with God, it does not bring us closer to God nor closer to "Heaven"; God has already become close to us by the Incarnation itself, and that's the Good News. Living crucified is out of fealty to our Lord, it is faithfulness to the Crucified Christ, who calls us to imitate Him in this world of suffering and evil. Not that we might gain what has already been freely given, but that we might live as Christ for the sake of our neighbor who suffers.

-CryptoLutheran

the criteria of salvation though are the works. When jesus seperates the sheep and the goats he will tell the goats to depart from him, because he was thirsty and they never gave him drink, he was hungry and they never fed him, etc... these are examples of works. are they not?

 

[CGL1023]

I feel like I have finally figured out what I believe it takes to get to heaven and I was wandering what others think. John 3:16 states that for God so loved the world that He gave his only son that who soever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. This verse is often used to tell people how to be saved, but I have come to believe that this is more of a summary.

It is not if you believe in him, it is if you daily deny yourself pick up your cross and follow him. And the denying yourself, picking up your cross, and following him could be expanded into an unending exhaustive detail about daily trials and tribulations dealing with sin etc.

Is that pretty much the non-denominational view?

I think you have to mention 'faith' and 'Jesus Christ' in becoming saved. I would say a better set of verses is Romans 10:9,10, mixed with faith to become saved. It is also what you do afterward that keeps you saved, i.e.,staying on the straight,narrow path.

 

[Albion]

the criteria of salvation though are the works. When jesus seperates the sheep and the goats he will tell the goats to depart from him, because he was thirsty and they never gave him drink, he was hungry and they never fed him, etc... these are examples of works. are they not?

Those who are saved will produce fruit, yes, but they are not what saves. Be careful with the sheep and goats passage because it doesn't say that the separation occurs BECAUSE of each side's works, or lack of same, but that those who did right will be saved and those who didn't will not be. Do you see the difference? It's a matter of identifying those whom God favors, not necessarily a matter of them qualifying by means of their works. If the latter were the case, it would mean that salvation is NOT by faith...although we know that it is.

 

[ViaCrucis]

the criteria of salvation though are the works. When jesus seperates the sheep and the goats he will tell the goats to depart from him, because he was thirsty and they never gave him drink, he was hungry and they never fed him, etc... these are examples of works. are they not?

Not a criteria of salvation; but a criteria of faithfulness and ultimately how we must give an account when we stand before our Lord and Judge.

I don't think anyone would agree that the way we "get saved" is through our own efforts, as this would fly flat in the face of the consistent message of Scripture and the historic witness of the Christian faith. It would arguably be even worse than Pelagius' heresy.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Steve.Page]

the criteria of salvation though are the works. When jesus seperates the sheep and the goats he will tell the goats to depart from him, because he was thirsty and they never gave him drink, he was hungry and they never fed him, etc... these are examples of works. are they not?

Not a criteria of salvation; but a criteria of faithfulness and ultimately how we must give an account when we stand before our Lord and Judge.

I don't think anyone would agree that the way we "get saved" is through our own efforts, as this would fly flat in the face of the consistent message of Scripture and the historic witness of the Christian faith. It would arguably be even worse than Pelagius' heresy.

-CryptoLutheran

I'm not quite sure how you can say that scripture (Matthew 25:31-46) has nothing to do with salvation. "Depart from me" certainly sounds as if somebody lost their salvation. Do you think we can be saved without being being faithful to the Lord?

All through the New Testament we see that we must be faithful to Jesus and what he commanded. I can't save myself through works, and I can't circumvent the cross with good works. That does not mean that my lack of good works won't send me to hell though. Faith without works is dead. Works without faith is dead as well.

We must choose to be obedient and faithful if we have faith and believe that Jesus is Lord.

I think that the era of Augustine is where the Church (the Body of Christ) started going astray from the truth. Augustine interpreted scripture through what he believed as a Gnostic and a Stoic. We need to get away from that. We need to get away from comparing what others believe to Augustine or Pelagius. It seems Augustine's ideas were often at odds with with what Polycarp or Irenaeus' contemporaries wrote. Roman Catholics claiming something is heretical really isn't an accurate test of heresy. I don't think scripture condemns Pelagius as a heretic what he taught was closer to what Jesus and the Apostles taught than the Roman Catholics or Augustine.

How does what you believe compare to what the Lord has taught since Eden, which is choosing faith, faithfulness and obedience?

 

[Albion]

I'm not quite sure how you can say that scripture (Matthew 25:31-46) has nothing to do with salvation. "Depart from me" certainly sounds as if somebody lost their salvation. Do you think we can be saved without being being faithful to the Lord?

I don't believe that he did say it has nothing to do with salvation. It obviously is related to salvation in some way. What he said is that the works are not the criteria for salvation--with which I would agree.

You see the passage as the sheep being rewarded with salvation on account of the works they did; we see them being the people whom God saves and, not surprisingly, the people who lived lives as those of us who are saved would want to do. Can you appreciate the idea that those who are saved are identifiable by their works but, at the same time, that those works not be the reason that they are saved?

 

[spacefreak]

you still have to believe in jesus and in what he did on the cross because jesus is the only to heaven

the bible has jesus saying 'i am the the way the truth and the life. [first half] i can't remember the rest of the verse right now but basically you can't get to the father in heaven except through the son jesus