So WHERE can in that MEMORIZED CREED is anything about establishing a REAL Personal Relationship with JESUS or anything about being BORN AGAIN? ? ?
John 3:2-7 (HCSB)
[SUP]2 [/SUP] This man came to Him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one could perform these signs You do unless God were with him.”
[SUP]3 [/SUP] Jesus replied, “I assure you: Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
[SUP]4 [/SUP] “But how can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked Him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”
[SUP]5 [/SUP] Jesus answered, “I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
[SUP]6 [/SUP] Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.
[SUP]7 [/SUP] Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again.
Where in that CREED is that absolute necessity to see the Kingdom of GOD? ? ?
Let's see the verses that DESCRIBE hot to be BORN AGAIN:
Psalm 51:17 (HCSB)
[SUP]17 [/SUP] The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit {mourning over your sinfulness}. God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart.
Nope Your CREED has nothing about mourning over your sinfulness.
1 John 1:9 (HCSB)
[SUP]9 [/SUP] If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
OH MY, there is nothing about Confessing our sins, how did they leave that one out?
John 1:12-13 (HCSB)
[SUP]12 [/SUP] But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name,
[SUP]13 [/SUP] who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
OH MY, your CREED does not even have anything about Receiving JESUS CHRIST.
RECEIVE HIM AS WHAT? ? ?
Colossians 2:6 (NIV)
[SUP]6 [/SUP] So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord {which means MASTER}, continue to live in him,
Once again, their is NOTHING about RECEIVING JESUS AS LORD.
Romans 10:9 (NASB)
[SUP]9 [/SUP] that if you confess {It says CONFESS, not merely Profess} with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
I guarantee you that IF YOU DID NOT WITH YOUR HUMAN SPIRIT RECEIVE JESUS AS LORD, IT IS STILL REMAINS AS ONLY A PROFESSION, and NOT a CONFESSING, which HAS TO BE SOMETHING THAT IS TOTALLY TRUE ABOUT YOUR SELF, before you can say it AS A CONFESSING. I use to be Volunteer Protestant Chaplain, in one of the Biggest super-max prisons in the country. AND EVERY INMATE UNDERSTOOD WHAT A CONFESSION IS. I would ask "I you say you robbed a bank in NEW YORK CITY", and you have never been in NEW YORK CITY in your LIFE, is that A PROFESSION or a CONFESSION. EVERY INMATE GOT THAT QUESTION ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. SO how come, when you read that verse think it is a Confession when you have NEVER RECEIVED JESUS spiritually in your HEART prior to CONFESSING IT ? ? ?
THAT IS WHAT TRUE FAITH IS ALL ABOUT, and not some memorized lists, that does not include the REAL plan of Salvation. Genuine Saving FAITH is NOT just an intellectual acknowledgement about the facts, IT IS A REAL PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST.
John 17:23 (HCSB)
[SUP]23 [/SUP] I am in them and You are in Me. May they be made completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Galatians 2:20 (ESV)
[SUP]20 [/SUP] I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.