Why do you feel it is so hard to be good?

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Ferris Bueller

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Some people were saying that Jesus was dead or his resurrection was merely metaphorical. “Believe that,” said Paul, “And your faith is useless. You are believing in vain.” In contrast, the gospel that Paul preached revealed a resurrected Jesus.
Exactly right, but you're coming to the wrong conclusion. And I think you arrive at that wrong conclusion because you're skipping past the fact that Paul reminds them they did indeed get saved when he preached the real gospel to them. And he tells them they are saved if they hold fast in faith to the gospel he preached to them and were saved by. And that they aren't if they don't hold fast to the gospel he preached to them. Salvation is indeed conditioned on continued believing in the real gospel.
 

Ferris Bueller

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God knows your Heart....He does not need to see anything external so that you can prove your Faith to Him.
And, yet, he will judge each of us according to what we have done.
Saving faith is measured by what it does, not by what it says. That's why each of us has to know if we have real faith and are ready to meet Jesus when he comes back. We know that by how we live. That's why we are told to make our calling and election sure by doing things. If you find you can't live a righteous life then you know that you are not saved and are not ready to meet Jesus when he comes back. The Bible tells us this for our sake.
 
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Ferris Bueller

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justbyfaithplusluckyrepentance preached a False, Perverted Gospel Of “ Lucky Repentance” like you do and you won’t admit it.
He said you had to confess and repent of every single sin before you die. I'm saying you have to continue to believe as evidenced by not living in willful sin before you die. Write that down so you won't confuse the two arguments ever again.
 
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Ferris Bueller

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Paul Ridiculed The Legalists Of His day, those that we’re obsessed about Circumcision —- “ Why don't you just go ahead and cut the WHOLE THING off!
Are you just purposely choosing to not believe that Paul was not ridiculing them and that he was wanting them to do something that, according to their own beliefs about the law they pushed on the church, would put them out of the congregation and sever their influence within the church? He wasn't making a middle school Adam Sandler type joke about their penises.
 

post

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BE GOOD AND DO GOOD has become my slogan on this forum.
I feel like the Johnny Appleseed of be good.
Why has it come to this on this forum?.
Probably one of the most worth while discussion we could have.
I CONTEND THAT IT IS NOT THAT HARD TO BE GOOD!
I CONTEND THAT IT IS NOT THAT HARD TO LIVE A NEARLY SINLESS LIFE!
NOW PROVE ME WRONG!

The truth will set you free! Be honest.

The lower your standards are, the easier it is to achieve them.
 

Tong2020

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They were falling away to another gospel, one Paul did not preach to them and the one which saved them. In this case it was a false gospel of a savior that did not rise from the dead. He says they are not saved if they deviate and no longer believe the gospel he preached to them. It is indeed a condition: You have to continue to believe in the gospel by which you were saved to remain saved.

That is different from what the scriptures says.

The passage quoted was:

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. (1 Cor 15:1-2)

The “if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you” is not a condition that one must satisfy to be saved, but is the reality that they have been saved by the gospel, the gospel that Paul preached to them.

R4357
 
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Ferris Bueller

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Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. (1 Cor 15:1-2)

The “if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you” is not a condition that one must satisfy to be saved, but is the reality that they have been saved by the gospel, the gospel that Paul preached to them.
Now explain how believing in vain changes it so that you do not have to hold firmly to the word to be saved. As you can see, it doesn't. You have to hold firmly to the gospel you heard in order to be saved. John says the same thing in 1 John 2:24. The condition for Christ and the Father to remain in you is that you remain in them in faith.

You being more in line with Calvinist thought on this matter should explain to BB...I mean, GB...that a person can not depart from believing in the gospel and still be saved. I know you agree with that. You just believe that a person can not stop believing and will, therefore, always remain in Christ.
 

marks

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What is predestined is what those who will believe are destined to become.
How efficacious is God's predestination?

I'd say that what God predestines to be, will in fact be. No uncertainty. What is you idea on that?

Much love!
 

Grailhunter

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Sin is transgression of the law—1 John 3:4

Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness as well. Indeed, sin is lawlessness."

If you want to know what sin is you look at the law. Which you should agree with since it is the law that exposes and magnifies our sin and, thus, our need for a savior. There are plenty of instances of the NT writers expounding on what the law says we should and should not be doing.

The laws people invent and add on to the law to help us not break the law.

Christians no longer judge what is sin by the Law.
For a couple reasons. For one the Law, has nothing to do with Christians .... not our religion.
Two, there is nothing incomplete with Christ...no reason to look to the morality of the Old Testament.

So then I ask again? What are biblical sins?
 

Grailhunter

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The lower your standards are, the easier it is to achieve them.

But you do not place yourself above God. Those that make man-made Laws are playing god....is there a worse sin?
Christ's standard are righteous.
 

Ferris Bueller

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Christians no longer judge what is sin by the Law.
If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” (Leviticus 19:18) you are doing well. But if you show favoritism (Leviticus 19:15), you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors." James 2:8-9

I ask again? What are biblical sins?
See above for examples. ↑↑↑
 
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marks

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Every law can be summarized. Christ did not do away with the 613 Mosaic Laws by summing them up.
You memorize the 613 Mosaic Laws, you write them down, you post them, if it is your intent to obey them...you have brought them into your religion and have abandoned Christ. Convert to Judaism if it is that important to you.

It is sacrilegious to God to divide up the Mosaic Law. Very serious sin that you are putting on yourself... again you are putting yourself in line for that great sin. If you are going to look at the Law....you know them or you have written down, a couple Laws that you are looking at, to obey....for one if you looking to the Mosaic Law to obey....you do not have a choice, you have to obey them all or you are in violation of them all. You will never find a scripture that says it is ok to divide up the Law.
Well said!

No one has the right to carve up God's Law into more palettable pieces. Either you keep all of it, or you have broken it.

Much love!
 

Grailhunter

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If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture,
You need to define fulfill. Is there something you do....that is a fulfill? Or is it kind of like, "I gave at the office."

“Love your neighbor as yourself,” (Leviticus 19:18) you are doing well. But if you show favoritism (Leviticus 19:15), you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors." James 2:8-9

There is a lot more to the morality of the New Testament than this.

So I ask, is this the confusion over Christian morals, it it that people do not know Christian morals?
 

Ferris Bueller

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But you do not place yourself above God. Those that make man-made Laws are playing god....is there a worse sin?
Christ's standard are righteous.
God gives certain men the authority to make rabbinical judgments for the people of God...

"...select capable men from among the people—God-fearing, trustworthy men who are averse to dishonest gain. Appoint them over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. Have these men judge the people at all times. Then they can bring you any major issue, but all minor cases they can judge on their own..." Exodus 18:21-22
We see this order established in the New Covenant in the form of the teaching and administrative gifts. An example is Paul's judgment concerning sex in marriage:

"Do not deprive each other, except by mutual consent and for a time, so you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again, so that Satan will not tempt you through your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. " 1 Corinthians 7:5-6
The concern is to guard the righteous requirement to be sexually pure. Paul made a 'law' that helps keep that requirement. That's how man made laws work. The intent is to guard existing laws and requirements. The Pharisees completely abused that and put the people of God in terrible bondage. Christ delivered us from that by giving each one of us the Spirit of discernment and setting us free from having to rely on them, alone, for spiritual guidance.
Here's another example of man made law created by those in the teaching and administrative gifts in this New Covenant:

"It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not cause trouble for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood." Acts 15:19-20
 

Ferris Bueller

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You need to define fulfill. Is there something you do....that is a fulfill? Or is it kind of like, "I gave at the office."
Fulfill means to satisfy. Or to complete, as in, "I wanted to, then I did." The 'doing' being the completion of the outstanding requirement to do.

The law of love for others is satisfied by, both, doing something and not doing something, depending on the circumstance. For example, perhaps the best way to keep the law of love in this forum is for us to keep our big traps shut when we should, lol. I include myself in that, too, of course. God knows the posts I didn't post but deleted at the last moment for the purpose of not hurting another person (Romans 13:10). And God knows all the times that I did not, lol.
 
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Ferris Bueller

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So I ask, is this the confusion over Christian morals, it it that people do not know Christian morals?
I would say Christians do not know Christian morals. They focus on and know more about works of service/sacrifice than the obedience of godly character according to the fruit of the Spirit.
 

Gospel Believer

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That is true, so thank God we aren't judged as to whether we are saved or not by what's in our hearts right? We are judged by our works. It is our works which testify as to whether we have real faith or not.


I think you have it exactly Backwards——“ For with the Heart, man Believes and is Justified....”