How were you saved?

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Josho

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Aiy, lets get this testimonial forum rolling on a bit more. And here is the one topic most of us should be able to share a testimony of salvation. It would be wonderful if most of you could participate in this thread. As it may help a lot of others who are at that crossroad now, looking for an answer to their life, they may not be members of this forum, but visitors, I'm sure there are a number of guests who come past this forum searching for Jesus, and it would be wonderful for them to come past this thread and see Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! :D

How were you saved? Tells us about when, where, how, what stage of your life were you at before you were saved.

I will start of.

I'm sure i have already posted this somewhere, but I was born and raised in a loving Christian home by 2 wonderful strong Christian parents, I was pretty much dedicated to Christ in my mother's womb, she prayed and prayed over me while i was in her womb. I was saved at an early age, when I 4 or 5 or maybe even 6, i made my own decision, and asked Jesus into my heart, but have always heard Jesus stuff in the house since the day i was born, healings, salvations, everything, whether if i was too young to understand or not, I'm sure it did the spirit some good having that kind of environment around me. I was baptized in the bathtub at about 8, I recieved my 1st baptism of the Holy when i was 10 maybe? Mum was praying for me in the bed, and all of a sudden i started speaking in tongues, that was it for a while though, and then i received this uncontrollable joy, when it hit me, i just couldn't stop smiling what fun was it! And i would tap other people in Church and they would start laughing uncontrollably. LOL.

Then i drifted of into the world a bit when i was 14, 15, at 16-17 i started getting back onto track, God opened my eyes, i started to realize it was not Christlike being involved in crude worldly conversations, i stopped communicating with my old friends, when i left school in the middle of grade 12, they were not a good influence around me, I was glad to get out of school. And the last 4-5 years have been good for me, I re-discovered the gift of praying in tongues again, started spending more time with God, started seeing more good dreams, and started seeing a bit more of the spiritual realm.

I still live with my parents today, I'm 21, and I'm living a blessed life. :D
 

lforrest

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Twenty four years ago the Holy Spirit convicted me of my sins during a particular sermon where the reverend preached Christ crucified for our sins. Before then I was inattentive to the sermons because of my age, preferring to make paper airplanes out of the bulletin. But that one was different and i was drawn in; that is how it started.
 
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Josho

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lforrest said:
Twenty four years ago the Holy Spirit convicted me of my sins during a particular sermon where the reverend preached Christ crucified for our sins. Before then I was inattentive to the sermons because of my age, preferring to make paper airplanes out of the bulletin. But that one was different and i was drawn in; that is how it started.
I got excited and thought i saw 21, but 24 years it is, anyway that's great mate. Born again at an early age and have known Jesus for all 21 years of my life here. Paper airplanes in church? :p I'm guessing you were brought up in a Christian family too?
 

lforrest

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Josho said:
I got excited and thought i saw 21, but 24 years it is, anyway that's great mate. Born again at an early age and have known Jesus for all 21 years of my life here. Paper airplanes in church? :p I'm guessing you were brought up in a Christian family too?
Three years ago it would have been 21 years:)

Yep, I was taught values but little in the way of theology. I think I was fortunate in that respect.
 

BreadOfLife

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[SIZE=12pt]The Bible says that I am being saved (1 Cor. 1:8, 2 Cor. 2:15, 7:1, Phil. 2:12, Heb 12:14).
This is Ongoing Sanctification – God is sanctifying us throughout our life as we cooperate with his grace.
[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Because of this, I have the hope that I will be saved (Matt. 24:13, Rom. 5:9–10, 1 Cor. 3:12–15).
This is Final Sanctification/Salvation – We die and go to heaven having endured to the end.
[/SIZE]
 

Wormwood

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BreadOfLife said:
[SIZE=12pt]The Bible says that I am being saved (1 Cor. 1:8, 2 Cor. 2:15, 7:1, Phil. 2:12, Heb 12:14).
This is Ongoing Sanctification – God is sanctifying us throughout our life as we cooperate with his grace.
[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Because of this, I have the hope that I will be saved (Matt. 24:13, Rom. 5:9–10, 1 Cor. 3:12–15).
This is Final Sanctification/Salvation – We die and go to heaven having endured to the end.
[/SIZE]
I agree with you somewhat, but not entirely. Certainly salvation is an event that takes place when Christ rescues us from the coming wrath of God (which has not happened yet). However, in my opinion, salvation is a person, not merely an event. If a person is "in Christ" then they belong among the redeemed, saved, justified, etc.

Paul uses both future tense and past tense when he speaks of salvation...

“even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—” (Ephesians 2:5, ESV)

“who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,” (2 Timothy 1:9, ESV)

“he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” (Titus 3:5, ESV)

Here are some of the past tense references. Obviously there are many future tense and present tense references as well. So, I agree with you that salvation is a future event and we must remain in Christ to ultimately experience that salvation. Yet the moment a person comes to Christ they are no longer under God's wrath and are counted among the "saved" because justification is applied immediately to those who believe.
 

BreadOfLife

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Wormwood said:
I agree with you somewhat, but not entirely. Certainly salvation is an event that takes place when Christ rescues us from the coming wrath of God (which has not happened yet). However, in my opinion, salvation is a person, not merely an event. If a person is "in Christ" then they belong among the redeemed, saved, justified, etc.

Paul uses both future tense and past tense when he speaks of salvation...

“even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—” (Ephesians 2:5, ESV)

“who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,” (2 Timothy 1:9, ESV)

“he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” (Titus 3:5, ESV)

Here are some of the past tense references. Obviously there are many future tense and present tense references as well. So, I agree with you that salvation is a future event and we must remain in Christ to ultimately experience that salvation. Yet the moment a person comes to Christ they are no longer under God's wrath and are counted among the "saved" because justification is applied immediately to those who believe.
And the Catholic Church, for the most part, agrees with this position.

The only problem that stands in the way with many (not all) Protestant views on salvation is the doctrine of Eternal Security (OSAS). The Bible is clear that our initial salvation can be lost by our falling away and not remaining faithful ([SIZE=10pt]Matt. 5:13, Matt. 7:21, Rom. 11:22, Heb. 10:26-27, 2 Peter 2:20-22, 2 Peter 3:17, Rev. 3:5, Rev. 22:19)[/SIZE].

Many Protestant denominations – especially Calvinists – are fond of saying that those people were “never saved” to begin with because of their adherence to OSAS.
 

Wormwood

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BreadOfLife said:
And the Catholic Church, for the most part, agrees with this position.

The only problem that stands in the way with many (not all) Protestant views on salvation is the doctrine of Eternal Security (OSAS). The Bible is clear that our initial salvation can be lost by our falling away and not remaining faithful ([SIZE=10pt]Matt. 5:13, Matt. 7:21, Rom. 11:22, Heb. 10:26-27, 2 Peter 2:20-22, 2 Peter 3:17, Rev. 3:5, Rev. 22:19)[/SIZE].

Many Protestant denominations – especially Calvinists – are fond of saying that those people were “never saved” to begin with because of their adherence to OSAS.
True. I am not a Calvinist and I strongly dislike OSAS teachings. However, as far as this discussion is concerned, it is safe to say from either position that salvation can be described as a present status and a person can declare they are "saved." In fact, the notion that salvation can be lost is entirely dependent on the idea that salvation can be a present status of an individual.

In defense of Calvinists (which is difficult for me to do since I am strongly non-Calvinistic), their doctrine still does not try to lend itself to taking salvation for granted...as they will simply say that those who do not persist in God's grace had only the appearance of faith but not genuine saving faith. I guess my point is, whether you are a Calvinist or non-Calvinist, I think both sides (when properly understood) will argue for the importance of ongoing sanctification. The non-Calvinist will simply say, "Yes, you were saved but you didn't endure to the end" (although a few odd non-Calvinists strangely hold to OSAS :)) and the Calvinist will say, "Well you thought you were saved, but your lack of perseverance in the faith revealed you really were never saved." Either way, both sides claim a person must endure. Whether a person does so to become one of the foreknown elect (non-Calvinist) or whether a person does so to prove they were among the predetermined elect (Calvinist), both kinda get you to the same place. They just have different perceptions of God in the road that leads to salvation. I hope that makes sense...its late. Ha
 

BreadOfLife

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Wormwood said:
True. I am not a Calvinist and I strongly dislike OSAS teachings. However, as far as this discussion is concerned, it is safe to say from either position that salvation can be described as a present status and a person can declare they are "saved." In fact, the notion that salvation can be lost is entirely dependent on the idea that salvation can be a present status of an individual.

In defense of Calvinists (which is difficult for me to do since I am strongly non-Calvinistic), their doctrine still does not try to lend itself to taking salvation for granted...as they will simply say that those who do not persist in God's grace had only the appearance of faith but not genuine saving faith. I guess my point is, whether you are a Calvinist or non-Calvinist, I think both sides (when properly understood) will argue for the importance of ongoing sanctification. The non-Calvinist will simply say, "Yes, you were saved but you didn't endure to the end" (although a few odd non-Calvinists strangely hold to OSAS :)) and the Calvinist will say, "Well you thought you were saved, but your lack of perseverance in the faith revealed you really were never saved." Either way, both sides claim a person must endure. Whether a person does so to become one of the foreknown elect (non-Calvinist) or whether a person does so to prove they were among the predetermined elect (Calvinist), both kinda get you to the same place. They just have different perceptions of God in the road that leads to salvation. I hope that makes sense...its late. Ha
It makes sense.
I have several siblings who are Calvinist, which has made for some "lively" conversations.

The false perception of the Catholic view on salvation is that we have absolutely NO assurance of our salvation. This is untrue.
We have a moral certitude of our salvation, provided that we remain faithful. What we don't believe in, is that we have a guarantee that once we have "accepted" Jesus into our lives, we cannot lose our secure place - even though Peter says the exact opposite (2 Pet. 3:17).

Many are still under the false impression that salvation is a one-time, slam-dunk event.
 

Wormwood

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BreadOfLife said:
It makes sense.
I have several siblings who are Calvinist, which has made for some "lively" conversations.

The false perception of the Catholic view on salvation is that we have absolutely NO assurance of our salvation. This is untrue.
We have a moral certitude of our salvation, provided that we remain faithful. What we don't believe in, is that we have a guarantee that once we have "accepted" Jesus into our lives, we cannot lose our secure place - even though Peter says the exact opposite (2 Pet. 3:17).

Many are still under the false impression that salvation is a one-time, slam-dunk event.
Well, you won't get any argument from me. Though I am not a Catholic, I strongly agree with that position. It seems to me there are hosts of Scriptures warning believers about the importance of perseverance and even that Paul, himself, did not take his own salvation for granted. In fact, it seems to me that this is the primary thrust of the book of Revelation. Yet I know there are some very intelligent Calvinists who see things differently.