1. We must become one of God's people through obeying His will.
No, not what I said. We become God's people by turning to Him in faith.
Then we are enabled to do His will. We no longer depend on ourselves or man or any created thing but upon Him for everything, including our moral integrity. God loves and died for us despite the fact that we're sinners. The gospel is not about remaining in them as if it's a carte blanc permanent reprieve from the penalty of all sin but about becoming free from the captivity- and therefore the consequences- of sin.
2. Our salvation is tied to living an authentically righteous life.
3. Our righteous deeds are the guage of the truthfullness of our profession of faith.
Yes, of course! Righteousness, living as a child of God should, is intrinsic to, inseparable from, salvation.
4. Simply answering an alter call isn't enough to make us permanently saved because real faith means we do God's will.
I'll put it this way:
"Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8). To the extent that we’re near to God we become like Him-and that will be borne out by how we live our lives. To the extent that we’re not like Him we aren’t near to Him. And our nearness to Him
is our salvation. Anything else or anything less is pretty much just talk.
5. He judges us at the end on how well we did at picking up our cross and following daily.
Faith, hope, and especially love define our righteousness. Beginning with faith, all of these are both gifts of grace-
and human choices to accept and express those gifts. They are daily, continuous choices that directly impact how we live our lives-or they're not the real thing. I've come to agree with the best and most concise teaching I've heard on this:
"At the evening of life we shall be judged on our love."
All of our actions will be influenced by that God-granted virtue that marks transformation into His own image.
If we are not working hard to overcome our sinfulness, then we are not His but have become comefortable in our sinfulness.
Oh, not
so hard. Jesus' burden is light, just not
non-existent. And He helps us with the load.
What you have laid out here (and in many of your posts) is the proposition that our eternal life is dependent on our faithful execution of the gifts, tallents, grace, free gift, etc., that God has given us. At its core, this proposition makes eternal life something that a person deserves because he earns it. When confronted with this fact, you double-down on citations from the Bible that you think support your proposition.
I quote verses that give the whole, balanced perspective on God’s will, not shying away from either the carrots
or the sticks. We have to understand that God’s purpose with man has never been to completely override his will, but, like a good parent, to seek to draw us, by His revelation and grace, to the right choice, to Himself, where we belong. And the time was ripe to give that desire its full expression some 2000 + years ago. His purpose has never been to simply stock heaven with some and hell with the rest but to finish His creating, to produce something, something grander than He began with, something like Himself. Our very justice/righteousness depends on this relationship, a relationship that Adam spurned at the beginning in his bid for autonomy from God.
To want to be righteous and do the right thing, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, is only a good thing, and is what God wants for us as well-He didn’t create us to be sinners. It’s definitely not a desire of the flesh but of the Spirit. But to want to do it
apart from God was the sin of Adam. Only
God can put His law in our minds and write it on our hearts; only
God can justify us. And that’s why Jesus came- to reconcile us with Him, so we can reverse Adam's rebellious choice within ourselves and begin to be who we were created to be-to fulfill the very purpose we-and Adam- were created for.
You do seem to understand that no person is able to satisfy the requirements you have laid out. As a result, you come up with doctrines like the following that give wiggle room for some unrighteous deeds to not count against us. This is understandable because lots of wiggle room is needed for salvation by works to succeed.
This has been addressed. If history has no meaning or import for you then there’s not much reason to keep revisiting the same old theme. But, again, just in case, there's post #669 here:
The highlighted portion isn’t a mark because it’s not something that is noticeable. It is noticeable. I can see whether I'm forgiven or not. The fact that you can't see it makes no difference. Same is true of the new man that Christ created in me when He came to live in my heart. I can see it...
www.christianforums.com
The opposite of working hard to prove oneself worthy of eternal life is not to become comfortable with one's sins. The opposite is to acknowledge one's shortcomings and to rest all one's hope for forgiveness in Christ.
For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. (
Heb 4:10)
If one thinks the gospel means we don’t have to overcome sin, then they’ve become quite comfortable at remaining in them-and that was Luther’s error even if he later added a qualification or two. God’s rest means to come to Him, to stop trying to prove or attain one’s righteousness by works of the law but to allow
Him to do that, by admitting our need for
Him first of all. Then the disobedience that we should certainly hate isn’t merely forgiven, but taken away-because disobedience will certainly
keep us out (Rom 4:6, 4:11). And this is also why Hebrews can go on to tell us that we must do our part, as we now know God is doing His, most vital part:
"Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord." Heb 12:14
