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The response God wants is for a person to honor His Son by placing their belief, faith, trust, and confidence in His Son's work on the cross. You say these words indicate a work.
Religion = what mankind practices in order to please the god they think exists. It is a practice of things (works and rituals) they think will please their God and make them acceptable.
In the dictionary the word “religion” is defined as what man does for the God they think exists.
However, true Christianity is about what God has done for mankind. There is nothing in the dictionary that defines “religion” as what God has done for mankind.
Therefore is true Christianity a religion?
What I find so amazing in the Christian religion is that men and women will search out scriptures in one part of the Bible to try and defeat scriptures in another part of the Bible. You see it on all of the forums. Instead of trying to discuss the Scriptures in the original post they interject other Scriptures found in other places that they say make the other Scripture meaningless. --- Religion is what separates men and women today. They don't seem to understand that Jesus (God) has made an end run around religion and made it null and void.
Not many will try to study, in depth, what Paul said in 1 Cor 1:23-31
1 Cor 1:23-31
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
*Because it is what God has done for mankind and not what men and women can do in a religion for themselves.
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
*By doing for mankind what they could not do for themselves God, in His wisdom, has setup a plan of salvation that is not dependant on what men and women do. Since, in religion, men and women feel that THEY must do something, they find God's plan foolish. To religion a plan of salvation in which men and women cannot work for salvation is foolish. In religion every one feels that they must work for what they get. Example, when a person receives a gift they feel that they must give one in return. They do not understand what a free gift is or how to accept it. However, a free gift requires nothing in return except a feeling of gratitude and a thank you.
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
*I believe the above is saying the same things I am saying; the things which are not, the absents of religion, and the things that are, religions, have been brought to nothing.
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
*Men and women glory (take pride) in their religious works they do. They think they will please God and it is hard for them to deny themselves this control of their salvation and give ALL the control to God.
30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God-- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption--
31 that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."
(NKJ)
The work of Jesus Christ on the cross has become all that is necessary for a person's salvation. It is righteousness, sanctification, and redemption for all those that will place ALL their faith, trust, confidence, and hope in what He (God) did on the cross. As you can see God had a plan that removed the work of salvation from mankind and accomplished the work Himself. Yet, men and women WILL NOT accept it, they still feel that THEY must do something too. They cannot accept a plan of salvation that does not give them some control over it.
To many, the history of mankind's religions did not change much with the death and resurrection of Jesus (God). Religions continued to be a system of things (works) that men and women practice for their god.
People in religion today cannot accept the idea that with the death of Jesus, God instituted a hidden plan of salvation that does not depend on mankind's performance and gave it to Paul.
Eph 2:4-10
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
(NKJ)
Notice that in the above it is talking about what God has done for us, not what we do. In verse 10 it says we are His workmanship. He did all the work to make us His.
Eph 3:1-3
1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles--
2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you,
3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already,
(NKJ)
In this dispensation of the grace of God all mankind is required to do is to accept what God has done for their salvation and to deny their control over it. They are required to place ALL their faith, trust, confidence, and hope in what Jesus (God) did on the cross. When they do this they show that they believe what God has done for them.
John 3:18
18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
(NKJ)
Food for thought
John 4:24
24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
NKJV
The above says that God is Spirit. How do men worship a Spirit? Is it by doing physical, tangible activates? Are tangible activities spiritual activities?
tangible = what can be touched, felt by touch, having actual form and substance, physical matter
spirit = breath, courage, vigor, the soul, life, the thinking, motivating, feeling part of man as distinguished from the physical body, the mind; intelligence, regarded as separate from matter.
For your information.
The word "worship" in biblical meaning is "to live accordingly". For example; If you worship Satan, you're living according to all the visible images and thoughts that come into your mind from Satan. If you worship the beast that has humans built false gods with their human hands, you're living according to "materialism". If you worship Christ, then you're living according to the knowledge of God that is eternal. We will all worship Christ in the next generation because Satan and the beast will have been destroyed on the day of the Lord. All the visible images and invisible thoughts we experience will be coming from Christ when we wake up in new bodies on a new earth. Never again will we observe images that appear "good and evil" and cause us fear. We won't get any evil thoughts in our minds either.
Very good question! Yes! What you want is a relationship with God, right? In other words, you want to commune with Him personally .. you do not want the relationship to be a monologue to you from God as is the case with the Bible. You want Him, not just Scripture, to "witness with your spirit that you are a child of God."Are you saying you separate God from His word? How do you do that?
***Very good question! Yes! What you want is a relationship with God, right? In other words, you want to commune with Him personally .. you do not want the relationship to be a monologue to you from God as is the case with the Bible. You want Him, not just Scripture, to "witness with your spirit that you are a child of God."
Well there is a very significant witness from God, Himself, that is given to us when we are saved. "… joy unspeakable and full of glory, Receiving the salvation of your souls." (1Pet 1:8-9) Because so many Calvinists "dodge" the sinner's prayer of repentance asking God to save them (they call it a "work" and so dismiss it), they can never have this joyful witness of the Spirit.
skypair
Yup .. you misunderstand repentance. The repentance you are talking about is 2Cor 7:9-11 -- "change of behavior" repentance where we quit committing a specific sin. This is for sanctification of the saint.I have a problem with your statement concerning the "sinner's prayer of repentance asking God to save them" ... But for those that have, their sins have already been atoned for and there is no need to continually repent and ask for forgiveness. Jesus shed His blood on the cross one time for all.
True .. but the saved person doesn't have to worry about losing their salvation .. they just have to worry about the worldly consequences of sin.As for joy, there is no joy in the idea that a person has to continually worry over their sins of the flesh.
***Yup .. you misunderstand repentance. The repentance you are talking about is 2Cor 7:9-11 -- "change of behavior" repentance where we quit committing a specific sin. This is for sanctification of the saint.
I am talking about the "change of heart" repentance (Acts 2:38, 3:19, 17:30, 26:20) that leads to justification of the unsaved. There is no such thing as someone who is saved just because they believe or "trust" in Christ. Why not? Because they have not obeyed the gospel.
True .. but the saved person doesn't have to worry about losing their salvation .. they just have to worry about the worldly consequences of sin.
skypair
Religion = what mankind practices in order to please the god they think exists. It is a practice of things (works and rituals) they think will please their God and make them acceptable.
In the dictionary the word “religion” is defined as what man does for the God they think exists.
However, true Christianity is about what God has done for mankind. There is nothing in the dictionary that defines “religion” as what God has done for mankind.
Therefore is true Christianity a religion?
What I find so amazing in the Christian religion is that men and women will search out scriptures in one part of the Bible to try and defeat scriptures in another part of the Bible. You see it on all of the forums. Instead of trying to discuss the Scriptures in the original post they interject other Scriptures found in other places that they say make the other Scripture meaningless. --- Religion is what separates men and women today. They don't seem to understand that Jesus (God) has made an end run around religion and made it null and void.
Not many will try to study, in depth, what Paul said in 1 Cor 1:23-31
1 Cor 1:23-31
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
*Because it is what God has done for mankind and not what men and women can do in a religion for themselves.
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
*By doing for mankind what they could not do for themselves God, in His wisdom, has setup a plan of salvation that is not dependant on what men and women do. Since, in religion, men and women feel that THEY must do something, they find God's plan foolish. To religion a plan of salvation in which men and women cannot work for salvation is foolish. In religion every one feels that they must work for what they get. Example, when a person receives a gift they feel that they must give one in return. They do not understand what a free gift is or how to accept it. However, a free gift requires nothing in return except a feeling of gratitude and a thank you.
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
*I believe the above is saying the same things I am saying; the things which are not, the absents of religion, and the things that are, religions, have been brought to nothing.
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
*Men and women glory (take pride) in their religious works they do. They think they will please God and it is hard for them to deny themselves this control of their salvation and give ALL the control to God.
30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God-- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption--
31 that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."
(NKJ)
The work of Jesus Christ on the cross has become all that is necessary for a person's salvation. It is righteousness, sanctification, and redemption for all those that will place ALL their faith, trust, confidence, and hope in what He (God) did on the cross. As you can see God had a plan that removed the work of salvation from mankind and accomplished the work Himself. Yet, men and women WILL NOT accept it, they still feel that THEY must do something too. They cannot accept a plan of salvation that does not give them some control over it.
To many, the history of mankind's religions did not change much with the death and resurrection of Jesus (God). Religions continued to be a system of things (works) that men and women practice for their god.
People in religion today cannot accept the idea that with the death of Jesus, God instituted a hidden plan of salvation that does not depend on mankind's performance and gave it to Paul.
Eph 2:4-10
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
(NKJ)
Notice that in the above it is talking about what God has done for us, not what we do. In verse 10 it says we are His workmanship. He did all the work to make us His.
Eph 3:1-3
1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles--
2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you,
3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already,
(NKJ)
In this dispensation of the grace of God all mankind is required to do is to accept what God has done for their salvation and to deny their control over it. They are required to place ALL their faith, trust, confidence, and hope in what Jesus (God) did on the cross. When they do this they show that they believe what God has done for them.
John 3:18
18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
(NKJ)
Food for thought
Wrong .. WE repent -- God justifies. Why? Because He commanded us to repent and promised He would save us if we do!So we justify ourselves by repenting, right? It is something we do, right?
Sure, HR. The gospel of Jesus Christ is given in Acts 2:36-40. Acts 2:36 mirrors Jn 16:8 convicting those present (and us) of sin and of righteousness. In 2:37, having believed what Peter just preached, they asked what they should do.What do you see as obeying the gospel? Explain your idea of what the gospel entails? Just saying obeying the gospel doesn't mean much since many believe the gospel to be what Jesus taught the Jews who were under the Law of Moses where others believe Paul's teachings where we are not under the Law of Moses.
Wrong .. WE repent -- God justifies. Why? Because He commanded us to repent and promised He would save us if we do!
Sure, HR. The gospel of Jesus Christ is given in Acts 2:36-40. Acts 2:36 mirrors Jn 16:8 convicting those present (and us) of sin and of righteousness. In 2:37, having believed what Peter just preached, they asked what they should do.
And here comes God's, the BIBLE'S, command (2:38, 17:30, 26:20, Job 33:26-27, Isa 55:7) .. "Repent, and be baptized" by the Holy Spirit. If anyone needs to know what repentance is .. well, look at Job 33:26-27 above or Isa 55:7 -- "If the wicked will turn from his ways and the unrighteous from his thoughts, the Lord will have mercy and abundantly pardon." Whether under the law or under grace .. same thing.
skypair
***Richard,
Words take on meaning in a context, and can have different implications depending on how you use them. The semantic domain of a word can be very large in any given language. For my chosen word 'tangible', this is how I was using it:
Tangible:
• clear and definite; real: the emphasis is now on tangible results.
Yes spiritual activities can be tangible, and in the case of faith I would hope all who claim to have it had a tangible faith.
I am not using the word incorrectly...***
faith in what is seen (tangible) is not faith. You are using the word incorrectly.
John 3:7-8
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'
8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
NKJV
I prefer Jesus' example of spirit and it certainly isn't tangible.
I am not using the word incorrectly...
Tangible
adjective
1.
capable of being touched; discernible by the touch; material or substantial.
2.
real or actual, rather than imaginary or visionary:
the tangible benefits of sunshine.
3.
definite; not vague or elusive:
no tangible grounds for suspicion.
4.
(of an asset) having actual physical existence, asreal estate or chattels, and therefore capable ofbeing assigned a value in monetary terms.
noun
5.
something tangible, especially a tangible asset.
c.f. #2 and #3
Now you have switched the topic to Spirit rather than faith. Your argument is nonsensical and intangible (c.f. #2)
intangible |inˈtanjəb(ə)l| adjective
1. unable to be touched or grasped; not having physical presence: my companions do not care about cyberspace or anything else so intangible.
2. • difficult or impossible to define or understand; vague and abstract: the rose symbolized something intangible about their relationship.
3. • (of an asset or benefit) not constituting or represented by a physical object and of a value not precisely measurable: intangible business property like trademarks and patents.
So we have a "mid-Acts GOSPEL" believer here, eh? Oh, my. So do you suppose that those Jews that converted at Pentecost were not part of the church?Who asked "what should they do??? Was it the Gentiles or Jews?? Jesus was never sent to the Gentiles so how could the Gentiles repent??
No, we are all under the law post-resurrection and only come under grace through repentance of sin calling on the name of the Lord.so you think what Peter preached on the day of Pentecost was for those under grace.
It was the same one Peter preached .. Acts 17:29-30, 26:20, etc. You were just expecting to find it in his epistles .. where it is NOT.The gospel of grace given to Paul for the world is not found in the 4 gospels nor in anything Peter taught.
And it didn't matter anyway. We were all to be added to the same church .. "To the Jews first and then to the Gentiles." Do you suppose Peter preached a different gospel to Cornelius?Use common sense, if Peter was preaching to the Gentiles too at Pentecost he sure didn't know it.
***So we have a "mid-Acts GOSPEL" believer here, eh? Oh, my. So do you suppose that those Jews that converted at Pentecost were not part of the church?
No, we are all under the law post-resurrection and only come under grace through repentance of sin calling on the name of the Lord.
It was the same one Peter preached .. Acts 17:29-30, 26:20, etc. You were just expecting to find it in his epistles .. where it is NOT.
And it didn't matter anyway. We were all to be added to the same church .. "To the Jews first and then to the Gentiles." Do you suppose Peter preached a different gospel to Cornelius?
skypair