Christian Liberals & Progressive People of Faith
In reply to the discussion: No Christian loves their neighbor as they love themselves or loves God with all their heart [View all]standingtall
(2,993 posts)Last edited Mon Jul 8, 2019, 05:20 PM - Edit history (2)
neighbor as he loved himself. Christ not only died for his sheep he lived for them too and he lived the perfect life something no one beside him could possibly do and his righteousness is imputed to his sheep.
Luke 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord
Jesus fulfilled loving his neighbor as he loved himself.
Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Jesus already fulfilled this one too.
James 2:14 17 14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to them, Go in peace; keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
James is typically one of the first places people go when they want to argue for works especially James 2:24, but he also said
James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
So if you chose to measure yourself by the law such as loving your neighbor as you love yourself or loving God with all your heart. Then you will fail and will be found guilty of everything because your not Jesus. Or you can chose to accept that Christ has fulfilled the entire law of behalf of his sheep.
"I agree that in Christ we can do and not just try. We can do all things through Him, but we must be doing. The concept of being satisfied with sitting with our nose in the corner and praising Jesus is anti-Christian. We praise Him by doing Good Works. We don't do them to be seen of men but we DO them. We shine like the stars in a dark world. God demands that."
No you cannot Jesus was fully God and fully man which is why he could do what he did and you can't. The righteousness of Christ is imputed or accredited not infused into you there is a big difference. Denying his finish work on the cross is anti-Christ. He came here in the role of savior not as a helper or an assistant. Your arguing that Jesus built a bridge and left it up to us to do the rest. Or he ran into the 4th floor of a burning building and carried you to the first floor and left it up to you from there. Nah Jesus is an absolute savior. His mission was to fulfill the law and atone for our sins.
"The problem was not trusting in their own works. All Christians know not to do that. The problem is that they left out LOVE. Paul said that without love the greatest faith is useless. Right? It makes total sense."
Nothing in this passage suggest they weren't loving enough they obviously thought they were boasting of casting out demons.
Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
They reason reason Jesus said he never knew wasn't because they weren't loving enough but because they did not do his father will.
The will of the Father is this John 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
The will is you belief on the Son.
"Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord."
All Christians will see the Lord,because Christ is Holy and his Holiness belongs to them.
"Look at all of the New Testament written to Chrisians and to sermons given to non-believers. I think that eternal torment would have been a prominent warning. Destruction is talked about. The Jewish system was about to be wiped away by the Romans. Those who were not in Christ were going to be destroyed, etc. Eternal torment is not spoken of in clear understandable terms anywhere.
Eternal life is. That is the good news. We have that chance. All others will be done. (This is a very deep subject but just look at Paul's sermons to pagans. What does he say about eternal torment, etc?"
I don't think Paul would disagree with Jesus so an argument from silence is of no effect Galatians 1:11-12 11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
I honestly don't believe going to the grave for all eternity is much of an improvement unless your a universalist and you belief everyone will be saved, if your a universalist why are you debating for works sense they wont matter anyway?
"What we do (apart from believing, repenting, etc.) does not matter to BEING SAVED. We are saved by grace (no matter what) through faith, or the faith. But we will be judged on what we DO as Christians. We can fall away. We can become lost. Many examples and all of the warnings to do this and not do that. All is summed up in loving others and growing and abounding in that love, and faith, and good works."
I agree Christians can fall away, but only for a time and not for a lack of good works, but by not staying in faith and sense God has objective unconditional love for the sheep of Christ he will bring them back.
"Philippians 2:12 - 12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyednot only in my presence, but now much more in my absencecontinue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
14Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. c Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.
The concept of doing things is clear in the verses given. So that you may become blameless is eyecatching. He is writing to Christians. We must be faithful to the Law of Christ if we are hoping to be found blameless and inherit eternal life at the judgment."
The salvation of Christians has already been worked out on the cross of Calvary. That fact that Paul uses the the words fear and trembling could easily be understood as a warning against trying to work out your own salvation especially sense it goes on to say For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Clearly predestinarian.
You don't do good works by looking for good works to do. Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
"This is a bizarre interpretation. We must see the need and do the Good Works. "
Not a bizarre interpretation at all again this is a clearly predestinarian. God has already ordained those works so they are going to happen regardless unless you belief an all powerful God's plan can fail.
"Of course they knew what they did. They just did not realize that when they did good to the least of these they were doing it to Jesus and when they did evil to the least of these they were doing evil to Jesus. We, as a culture, should know this. We have no excuse today. Judgment was determined by what they had done and by what they had left undone while claiming Jesus as Lord. Shooting abortion doctors is not a good thing although some, no doubt, claim that it is. Depriving people of healthcare is a bad thing."
Shooting abortion doctors and taking healthcare away are horrible.things Anti-abortion people do these things partly, because their works religionist. Which is why I don't fancy any form of works religion including trying to be more loving.