Not By Works

i never start threads myself. i got nothing to offer and dont know what to say or how to host a thread.

That's why if i have a question i come to this thread because its the most popular.

I do not want to quit. But if I keep coming in every morning and the only posts are 2 or 3 people arguing with he same 2 knuckleheads, I am done, because the room has lost its effectiveness. If you notice, there are only a few people posting anymore. I am quite sure thats why

Think about how much slack, mercy, leeway, and grace we extend to our children because we love them.....

True, and the love of God knows no bounds.

36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment
for every careless word they have spoken.
37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned
Matt 12

10 For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.
11 It is written: "'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will confess to God.'"
12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Rom 14

There are some people who claim because they hold faith in Jesus they will not
stand before the judgement seat of God. Here is Paul saying we will stand
before God and give account.

Grace is in giving Christ on the cross and forgiveness of our sins, but not grace
to continue in sin and claim righteous walking is impossible, and those who
aim to walk this way are enemies of the gospel.

To abide in sin wilfully is to rebel against God. Sin is that which is written in the law,
written in our hearts and stands in our consciences as we dwell in Christ.

This is not ocd perfectionism, or running oneself down for every failure to meet ones
own expectations or goals. Such people need to spend time seeing who God accepts
and how gentle and kind He is to all who come to Him.

I agree with you. We will all stand before the judgement seat and just because God is love is not to say we can do as we like.

Amen.

Some do not believe this.
Equally some do not believe in Christ we overcome evil with good, we can walk
with a purified heart and do righteous deeds in Christ and through Christ.

My understanding is they have closed their hearts to Christ and refuse to resolved
deep emotional issues of betrayal and hurt, which they insist on holding on to.
They appear to willing abide in sinful behaviour, and compromise all the principles
and aspirations held in the sermon on the mount.

What I rejoice in, is everyday, by searching out Gods will and ways, I find more scriptures
that show His way and His truth. Praise the Lord love overcomes all in Christ Jesus and
the cross. Amen

The question is how do we overcome evil with good? Take for example the Christians who were murdered in church this Easter. How do you think we should react?

Thanks for your kind response.

I totally agree with what you have said above.
It's a no brainer.

So as you said "We must be better than this" Loving each other.

That's why I asked "How can we better than this?

But you decide to attack instead.

Was your response being like Jesus?

If you want my opinion we can be better than this.
Loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us.

As I said I totally agree with what you say.
But alas

Fair enough, but I don't think it was an "attack" really, but I did misunderstand your intent admittedly, sorry for that. For the record I didn't mean my comment as an "attack" either, although I did word things pretty strongly, I didn't attack you. I just gave my honest reaction to what you said, and asked a couple questions to better clarify your very vague comment. Now you have, I did take it completely wrong, and I also apologize if my comment offended you. I just get straight to the point and in text I know it comes off completely wrong sometimes. Just like I mistook yours. But "THIS" is how we do better, and if I was attacking you with my comment what is this,
"But you decide to attack instead.

Was your response being like Jesus?"

What exactly are you saying here? Which part of what I said is unChrist like? I simply conveyed how I took your comment, and then ended with a question for you to clarify exactly what you meant. Asking questions to better understand you. I did, you answered, now I do understand better. Again where have I been unChrist like? If you don't mind.

Really? You have no clue what on earth what I could possibly mean by this? To be honest it's kind of scary if you can't possibly fathom a better way for Christians to treat each other than this splitting into camps and setting up and attacking straw men day after day after day.

This is a good example.
I answer this on different levels.

Those individually involved can forgive those who committed the deeds driven by sin
and delusion. In the face of such evil, forgiveness, prayer, humbleness and love overcomes.

On a civil level, those involved have to be brought to justice and pay for their crimes.

On a christian community scale we can pray for those driven by such hatred, and share
about our common humanity and desire to bring love to the world and the best for all
concerned.

On a preventative scale showing love for others security measures can be taken to protect
large gatherings so at least the effects can be minimised, showing a duty of care to all
who partake in such meetings.

That is a good Christian response. On another Christian forum I was on, a lot of the members carried guns and wouldn't have hesitated to use them. I don't go on there any more.

Hi Jimbone

The following is what irked me a little bit.



Maybe I overreacted and if I did and offended you then please accept my apology.

I thought my question was obvious but obviously I needed to clarify the intent.

As I said I totally agreed with what you were saying.

There we go, now we understand each other. That simple. I don't believe we would have had any misunderstanding face to face, because we would have know exactly how we meant everything. I think this could serve as a good example of "how" we do better. Also please know that you didn't offend me at all, in any way. I appreciate the way you handled the whole thing, and I'm sorry for misunderstanding a awesome question the first time, I could also try to soften my language a bit too. I truly hope you have a great day man, and thank you for the conversation.

Which forum was that?

It is strange. This particular thread makes the point that we are not saved by works as some would claim. I just had the thought that maybe our works might bar us from salvation, were it not for the grace of God.

We owe it all to Him.

Yes we owe it all to him.
Without him we are nothing.

I would say that the only thing that bars is from heaven is unbelief in Jesus, the Son of God who died and rose again for the forgiveness of our sins in order to reconcile us to the Father.

When we place faith in him then we will want to be like him.
We will bear fruit and do good works as a result of that fruit.

We will have good works and bad works.
Such works will be judged yet we will still be saved.