Thoughts on the "safety" of Christianity

[Kris10leigh]

Hello! I was hoping we could have a discussion on your thoughts about this issue.

I was talking with my brother recently who does not want me to convert to Judaism because he is worried about the afterlife. This is completely understandable and I adore my brother. But it got me thinking. His point was basically "why not". Why not just keep believing because believing in Jesus is a sure way to Heaven, basically.

What are your thoughts? Is it ok for someone to be a Christian in name just for the security of it?

My personal feeling on the matter is that it wouldn't fly to do so. God knows what is in our hearts. I can't profess to believe something I do not just to keep the peace or just to be safe. Faith of any kind takes courage, I think.

Thoughts?

 

[JudaicChristian]

Hello! I was hoping we could have a discussion on your thoughts about this issue.

I was talking with my brother recently who does not want me to convert to Judaism because he is worried about the afterlife. This is completely understandable and I adore my brother. But it got me thinking. His point was basically "why not". Why not just keep believing because believing in Jesus is a sure way to Heaven, basically.

What are your thoughts? Is it ok for someone to be a Christian in name just for the security of it?

My personal feeling on the matter is that it wouldn't fly to do so. God knows what is in our hearts. I can't profess to believe something I do not just to keep the peace or just to be safe. Faith of any kind takes courage, I think.

Thoughts?

Those who were to be first, [in the resurrection [the Orthodox Jews] will be last, [in the judgement of the sheep and goats.]
The true Christians will be first in the resurrection of the Elect, along with the Jews before the days of Christ.

 

[christianmomof3]

Hello! I was hoping we could have a discussion on your thoughts about this issue.

I was talking with my brother recently who does not want me to convert to Judaism because he is worried about the afterlife. This is completely understandable and I adore my brother. But it got me thinking. His point was basically "why not". Why not just keep believing because believing in Jesus is a sure way to Heaven, basically.

What are your thoughts? Is it ok for someone to be a Christian in name just for the security of it?

My personal feeling on the matter is that it wouldn't fly to do so. God knows what is in our hearts. I can't profess to believe something I do not just to keep the peace or just to be safe. Faith of any kind takes courage, I think.

Thoughts?

Just calling yourself a Christian does not mean you are saved.
There are many people who call themselves Christians who do not know or love the Lord and who are not saved. If they ask Him why not, He would probably tell them that He never knew them.

So, no, just calling yourself a Christian so you won't go to hell won't save you nor will it be of any positive effect.

 

[Heber]

I know the struggles you've had, but read Matthew 7, carefully.

Eslewhere Scripture says you are to believe in your heart and confess with your lips that Yeshua HaMashiach is Lord - if you can't do either then looking to Yeshua is going to be less helpful to you than you might think. Getting to the point of death with no certainty in your own faith is folly. Best sort it now!

 

[Kris10leigh]

I agree. And the same could be said for the other side of the fence. I don't think staying in a faith just because it was what you were raised in is what God wants us to do.

 

[Heber]

You could look at it as a gamble: If those who place their faith in Yeshua are right, and you place your faith in a faith, and that turns out to be wrong, you will wish with all your heart that you had backed the winner, not the loser, because the losers in this bet get to know that they cast their shekels in the wrong direction. But you cannot place bets after the race has been run!

Conversely if those who place their faith in a faith are right, and those who believe in Yeshua are wrong then those who placed their faith in Yeshua will, by your faith reckoning, simply pass away - neither gain nor loss, because we go to hell if we do not believe in your faith and we go to hell if we have no faith in anything. Nothing to lose!

Which do you take a gamble on, young lady? :o

 

[Kris10leigh]

Oh, I'm not questioning any more. I'm pretty set in what I believe and am simply studying at the moment.

As far what I personally will take my bets on, I will take my bets on what God says.

I just wondered what everyone's thoughts were on this issue, that's all.

 

[christianmomof3]

You could look at it as gamble: If those who place their faith in Yeshua are right, and you place your faith in a faith, and that turns out to be wrong, you will wish with all your heart that you had backed the winner, not the loser, because the losers in this bet get to know that they cast their shekels in the wrong direction. But you cannot place bets after the race has been run!

Conversely if those who place their faith in a faith are right, and those who believe in Yeshua are wrong then those who placed their faith in Yeshua will, by your faith reckoning, simply pass away - neither gain nor loss, because we go to hell if we do not believe in your faith and we go to hell if we have no faith in anything. Nothing to lose!

Which do you take a gamble on, young lady? :o

Your view seems to be that you won't know if you are right or wrong until after you die. Therefore it seems that you see faith as something that merely secures you a place after death.

That is a poor, pitiful version of faith.

Faith in Christ is not merely for after death.

It is so that we can know and experience the living God living within us now while we are alive so that it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

It is experiencing Him day by day as our life, peace, hope, security and joy.

It is enjoying the Lord daily as He lives in us and builds us up together with other members of His Body.

I am not waiting until I die to find out if I was right to believe that Jesus is God.

I know I am right because He lives in me and I experience Him and share thaqt experience with other born again Christians.

and Kristen - if you do not have that experience - pretending to does not make you saved or safer

 

[ChavaK]

What are your thoughts? Is it ok for someone to be a Christian in name just for the security of it?

Personally, I think using "fear" or "safety" as a basis of one's faith is improper.
And a bit sad.

As you say, G-d will know what we truly believe, and being in a "name only"
religion isn't going to cut it

 

[Desert Rose]

Personally, I think using "fear" or "safety" as a basis of one's faith is improper.
And a bit sad.

Good point. Nobody can become a true believer out of fear. You cant
"scare" anyone into faith, including yourself. Faith is not a safety net, but only possible when it comes out of Love for the One you believe in.

 

[visionary]

Best answer can only come from God. It is to Him, who can redeem you, save you, bring you back from the dead, whom you need to worship and honor. It is that relationship that is above any earthly religious adherence. While all the different faiths have their attractive points, and they sustainance to feed the soul, it is all nothing without the personal relationship with Him.

For whatever reasons that you wandered further into the roots of the faith, there is no salvation in religion. This is not about acknowledging the Father or the Son, this is about "knowing" Him.

Many have come only so close and no further in their relationship with God. It is like the tribe of Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai. They think that they are honoring God, but they do not have the kind of relationship which would bring them up the Mount like Moses travelled to be in His Presence. That is what is really sad. But their deeds while waiting for Moses to show back up, they really revealed a lack of understanding of what God really requires.

I personally believe that we should all strive to climb the Mount. We need to be transformed. The head knowledge that we feed upon to make the decisions we do regarding what we believe and why are faulty at best. Only when we come into His presence will we see the rags of truth that we wear in faith. It is nothing compared to what God has for us.

You read the rantings and ravings of the prophets of old, coming down hard upon the sins of the people. You get glimpses of what was shown to the prophets and to the best of their ability did they try to describe and pass it on to us. They seen the glory. They were in the Presence. They know within their being that these fragments that they were able to have documented are but a glimpse into the majesty of His Holiness.

So before you throw out the baby with the bathwater, have God meet with you and open up your mind to the reality of His world, before you get consumed in the attractions of this religious world.

 

[Heber]

CM3 it was an illustrative challenge, no more and no less. It certainly doesn't set out to reflect the wonderful life we live in Yeshua, day by day.

 

[SGM4HIM]

As far what I personally will take my bets on, I will take my bets on what God says.

Me too!

 

[SGM4HIM]

I agree being a Christian just for "fire insurance" is not a good motivation. However, some start out for this reason and continue to grow in his ways.

 

[BarryWestern]

Those who use Yeshua to gamble and are Christians in name only are just kidding themselves. I myself am in a state of confusion right nw but there's something abt Yeshua that makes me want to keep following him, even if there were irrefutable proof against his messiahship (which there isn't)

 

[fremen]

Curiously, I heard a Sefaradi rabbi say that he preferred a Jew to become a pious Christian than to be a bad Jew. Of course this is only his opinion, and not without controversy for sure.

But it kind of summarizes how I think: We are better off being pious and truthful about our views concering the Bible (whether Jewish or Christian) than treating religion as a mere social affiliation.

Kol tov,
Fremen

 

[Tishri1]

Everyone should do an inventory of their lives as soon as possible...When were you the most on fire for the Lord, the closest to the Lord, being used as a light for the Lord and the most in love with the Lord......If you were isolated from the rest of the world right now, could you hold on tight to him, or would you find your emptiness showing.
Get back to that place is all I have to say and stay there...If you havent found it yet search for it I guarantee He is looking for you there right now!!!

I really have to tell you Torah doesnt make me more in Love with the Lord, I honestly think when the Church and the Messianic Community joins in the last days, hanging around them again we will rediscover a love we lost along the way...If your trying to fall in love anew with Yeshua or Abba thru Torah you may not be able to achieve it.....And also if you think you can find fullfillment in Torah with out a love relationship with Yeshua or Abba , you will find the yoke heavy as well...Love has to be there

BUT

The Torah is the best way to walk IMO, it matures us, and creates a community of order and safty, and when the Church joins us they will benefit from this maturity as whole groups hoping to work together need this structure....Diligence to observe Abba's instructions, to stay united under Him, may be the only way to survive in the end times


But

To lose your first love

is tragic

 

[christianmomof3]

Curiously, I heard a Sefaradi rabbi say that he preferred a Jew to become a pious Christian than to be a bad Jew. Of course this is only his opinion, and not without controversy for sure.

But it kind of summarizes how I think: We are better off being pious and truthful about our views concering the Bible (whether Jewish or Christian) than treating religion as a mere social affiliation.

Kol tov,
Fremen

I think I agree with that.
I admire the Chasidic Jews who I met at the Chabad and those who are truely seeking the Lord through the Jewish religion in the best way that they know how to do. I think that if one is going to be Jewish they should do it right and truely seek the Lord and love Him with all of their heart.
I did not ever learn that in Reform Judaism nor did I know anyone in Reform Judaism who did that and I did not get to know the Lord in that religion.
I do believe, however that it was a good beginning for me and it is where the Lord put me and it did help me to eventually seek Him and I found Him as Christ when I became a born again Christian.
To be a nominal member of either religion is useless to the Lord and to oneself.

 

[fremen]

I think I agree with that.
I admire the Chasidic Jews who I met at the Chabad and those who are truely seeking the Lord through the Jewish religion in the best way that they know how to do. I think that if one is going to be Jewish they should do it right and truely seek the Lord and love Him with all of their heart.
I did not ever learn that in Reform Judaism nor did I know anyone in Reform Judaism who did that and I did not get to know the Lord in that religion.
I do believe, however that it was a good beginning for me and it is where the Lord put me and it did help me to eventually seek Him and I found Him as Christ when I became a born again Christian.
To be a nominal member of either religion is useless to the Lord and to oneself.

My experience with Reform Judaism is also horrible. Whereas in theory I'd have more in common with them, not being a frum guy myself, I find that Reform Judaism has very little emphasis on the "religion" within Judaism. I get really tired (and bored) of hearing about ethics every sermon. I want religion to address things such as hope, fear, joy, dealing with loss, struggling even with Hashem Himself, etc. And yet all we get is a watered-down Jewish version of those oh-so-beautiful but oh-so-shallow ecumenical speeches about how we should all be ethical, embrace each other and sing "we are the world". I think religion should be far richer than that. This is why even those who are not very religious would much rather go to an Orthodox shul.

Kol tov,
Fremen

 

[Codger]

Hello! I was hoping we could have a discussion on your thoughts about this issue.

I was talking with my brother recently who does not want me to convert to Judaism because he is worried about the afterlife. This is completely understandable and I adore my brother. But it got me thinking. His point was basically "why not". Why not just keep believing because believing in Jesus is a sure way to Heaven, basically.

What are your thoughts? Is it ok for someone to be a Christian in name just for the security of it?

My personal feeling on the matter is that it wouldn't fly to do so. God knows what is in our hearts. I can't profess to believe something I do not just to keep the peace or just to be safe. Faith of any kind takes courage, I think.

Thoughts?

The book of Hebrews was specifically written to Messianic Christians who were reverting back to Judiasm because of the persecution of Nero for burning Rome. There is no better argument than Hebrews.