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

1stCenturyLady said:

You must also repent; so repent and ask.

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MatthewG said:

Those who were disobedient were those who rejected the chief cornerstone. @1stCenturyLady

and I’m not here to fight and bicker over this.

I too believe that all it takes is faith in the Gospel of Christ and that God himself will work on an individuals heart. That will hopefully lead them into a life devoted to God but if they do not over come the things of the flesh that doesn’t exclude them because of their faith.

So please keep that in mind.

Its about faith and love.

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BloodBought1953 said:

In regard to Salvation, “ repent” ( metanoia ) means to “ change your mind” ....If you reject Paul’s Gospel Of Grace , Found In 1 Cir15:1-4 and then change your mind about it and actually put your total Trust in that Gospel to Save you.....you have “ Repented unto Salvation”...

The Repentance that you are probably referring to is “ Repenting from Sins” .....NOWHERE in the KJV does it say to “ Repent Of your Sins to be Saved”......I will give you $ 1000 if you can prove me wrong ! If the Bible says “ repent of sins” —- DO IT ! If the Bible says “ Repent Of Sins in order to be Saved” —— DO THAT TOO! Sorry guys.....it just does not Say that.....

Nobody in the Bible ever “ Repented” more that God did ( 19 times at last count) therefore repenting does not always mean repenting of sins.....when you see that word try this.....substitute “ turn to God” instead of “ stop inning”......

Turning from sin will make you more Moral ....it won't save you...

Turning to God ? That WILL Save you.....” TURN TO ME and I will Turn to you”.......” TURN TO ME , with Faith in Christ Jesus and I will Save you to the Uttermost!”

Many people need to Repent about their understanding of Repentance....

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1stCenturyLady said:

Tong2020 said: ↑
This is what Jesus said.

John 3:3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (NET)

He is talking about a person’s being born of the Spirit. And this is what He said.

John 3:8 The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. (NET)

It is not of the will of man, but of God.

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Are you saying that we don't have to repent first? That is sort of Calvinistic.

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MatthewG said:

@BloodBought1953 are doing okay today brother ? I know sometimes talking in forums can be kind of heavy… I had it happen to me today… I really hate that feeling of trying to get a point across or someone else and it’s all different perspectives and it’s just really stressful sometimes.

The only thing that calmed me down personally was writing down prayer to God to help me relax. Don’t know why sometimes I’ll get worked up over some of the encounters on forums.

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MatthewG said:

@BloodBought1953 are doing okay today brother ? I know sometimes talking in forums can be kind of heavy… I had it happen to me today… I really hate that feeling of trying to get a point across or someone else and it’s all different perspectives and it’s just really stressful sometimes.

The only thing that calmed me down personally was writing down prayer to God to help me relax. Don’t know why sometimes I’ll get worked up over some of the encounters on forums.

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1stCenturyLady said:

BB, you're 68, and frankly I have to wonder if you even care if you sin or not. Why wouldn't you want to purify yourself if you actually want to go to heaven. 1 John 3:2-3.

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MatthewG said:

When it comes to being a Christian.

From what has been taught in the scripture you cannot have faith without love.

Remember God is faithful even if we are not.

Jesus said the works of God was to believe on the one whom God had sent. Jesus performed all the works of the law out of love for his father.

Fulfilling the law; If you today have faith Jesus fulfills that old covenant law and makes you right with God because of what Jesus done.

Now you as a believer are doing the works of God by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who’s commandments were to love God and to Love others.

Faith without love is dead. If you have no love in the first place how can you love God?

As a Christian you can’t have faith without love; because the Holy Spirit/ and the spirit of Christ in you from God will cause you to have love. It won’t cause you to hate, or not have love.

You men and women know this or should at least.


“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5:22-23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

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1stCenturyLady said:

Tong2020 said: ↑
Precisely, Abraham did not live under the Law. James referred to Abraham and Paul as well. They both speak about the work of Abraham and the faith of Abraham. So I asked:

According to Paul, concerning Abraham, was Abraham justified by works?

According to James, concerning Abraham, was Abraham justified by works?

According to Paul, what is accounted for righteousness?

According to James, what is accounted for righteousness?

Are they saying the same thing about justification? Are they speaking of the same justification? Are they making the same argument?

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He obeyed because He had faith in God. His faith was not dead.

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1stCenturyLady said:

BB, you're 68, and frankly I have to wonder if you even care if you sin or not. Why wouldn't you want to purify yourself if you actually want to go to heaven. 1 John 3:2-3.

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1stCenturyLady said:

That was just a drop in a bucket of what I've experience. Instead of water into wine, God spoke to me about a lost diamond ring that I would find when I moved, and a vision of where it would be. (Top drawer of a three drawer dresser across the living room.) I went over there many times searching in that drawer full of pantyhose, and a salvaged brass screw that went to the back of that antique chest of drawers. 15 months later on the day I moved, I packed up that drawer of all those pantyhose, and the brass screw disappeared! There was the diamond ring!

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ve1nhb said:

You really don't have to do anything. As you grow closer to God/Jesus things seem to drop from your life. You will get to a point you don't understand why you like doing them. It is not something the logical part of your mind can understand. God changes your spirit or your core. And you just grow out of those things.

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MatthewG said:

@Tong2020 yes. Faith is not love and love is not faith. Faith is faith a divine persuasion of trusting God. Love is different.

Love is an action out of the result of faith of knowing and learning about God as you had stated.

Here is the definition of Love according to Paul.


“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:1-13‬ ‭NLT‬‬


Love is a verb. Verb is an action. Work is an action ; so faith without action is dead. Faith without love is dead. So you can’t have faith without love in being a believer in Christ.

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