Believers and non believers; what's the difference?

"Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness."

It is impossible to be righteous without faith

Wow thanks for sharing that. I have a bunch of questions

So you spent over 40 years in the church before you were actually saved?
What happened at 56, what changed?
How did you know you were saved at 56?

I too considered myself Christian as a teen but was not actually saved until 38.

The New Birth distinguishes those who are true believers from those who are only professors of their faith. The children of God have received the Holy Spirit and been born again. AND YOU ARE NOT THE JUDGE. Only God knows His true children.

This misses the entire point of what salvation is , how its appropriated and the components of it . It sounds like you think we're saved by ' ' concentrating '

Can you love God if your not saved ?

Multiple things were different before that day in my 56th year.

I started writing my answer to you, and it turned into a book, so I just moved it to my diary and wrote the following:

1. I deeply loved Father, a Christian minister in our church, and hated Mother, a professed witch who was very active in that church. The hatred, not the love, affected everything in my life.
2. The pastor we had from my birth delighted in raging and snarling from the pulpit until his face literally turned purple and his neck turned deep red. He unnerved me, as did the church's use of "tongues."
3. In spite of my love for Father, there was no stability, nothing to trust in, at home, school, or church, but there Mother's abuse at home. Abuse for all of us.
4. Regardless, I started thinking about G_D at 14 and decided I wanted to be a believer because maybe G_D could make me nice. As I had been told to do, I went to their altar to pray, but when I heard Mother's voice, I claimed I was "saved," got up and left.
5. I did, however, start being interested in the Bible and asked one of the ministers (what I see now as a very simple question) about several verses in Genesis, and he acted like he'd never seen them, then said he didn't know the answer. Putting a lot of things together, I realized the leaders were completely biblically uneducated.
6. Three married pastors were inappropriate with me, increasing my disgust and distrust.

What set me up for being a believer was that the church kicked me out for refusing to remove my wedding ring, so I started attending a place I had already investigated and attended a few times over about 3 years. One night, during a class, I suddenly realized how filthy I was in spite of my confession. I nearly passed out on the floor, but with great effort, kept my seat and kept my face away from the other attendees. But I was changed. Completely. I felt like I lived the next weeks with my mouth hanging open, in shock, at the "new me": my attitudes, my responses, my thoughts!

What's your story?

Hey, Brat! (You're cute!) You probably didn't think about this, but the H Spirit is introduced in Genesis 1.2.

Yes! Yes, yes! For some of us, we fight the One and Only Who can insert the saving grace into our needy lives. That's clearly not an intelligent move, is it?

Thank You and I was aware.

Let me ask you a question here. When we think about the [WORD]. The Word was God, is God, with God. The WORD was [made] flesh.

So, what do you think the Word was before being made flesh?
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

I think the WORD was Spirit before being made flesh.

What do you think?

I believe that our G_D, as His Trinity, always existed as The Three In One and that our Messiah always was the Word Who spoke and created. I believe that The Three always had their specific "jobs."

I recently did my deepest study of just Genesis 1 and 2 -- deeper than I had ever done before, and, of course, These came up. Sure wish I knew everything, but I don't.

I have started keeping an alphabetical five-volume "diary" of such studies. Loving that. I no longer teach, but I have two children that I think of while studying. But reality is that for now, I am doing this for myself.

Good day, Luigi!

The clue to understanding why Jesus will say "I never knew you," is found right in the context. Below is the scripture:

"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ "

When they find out that they cannot enter into the kingdom, their response will be "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in you name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?"

Their own response reveals why they won't be able to enter in, which is because they will have been trusting in their own works for salvation. They demonstrate this by saying "Did we not." The will of the Father is for us to believe in His Son. We are saved by grace through faith and this not by our own efforts. The right answer would be "Lord, Lord, did you not shed your blood for us?" Of course, if they believed that, then Jesus would be saying to them to depart from Him.

Therefore, if anyone is trusting in anything other than the shed blood of Christ as means of obtaining eternal life, they will not be able to enter in.

That's wonderful! I love it that you have such a desire to gain from God's Word. I hope your mind becomes a magnet picking things up [that God] desires you to see through "His viewpoint."

The angels will do it eventually, but not while the two are growing together. There comes a point when the Lord considers the growth sufficient to commence the harvest. We see the wheat harvest being first in Revelation 14, while the tares are second. In the Olivet discourse we see the tares in family members turning in family members who are wheat unto their deaths (Mark 13:12), thereby corroborating the first harvest is that of the faithful.

There are many who claim they have received the Holy Spirit and are born again, who in truth are they in Matthew 7:23 to whom the Lord will profess never having known.
If we love one another, the Lord who is love, then knows us.

Many will say to Jesus,: "Lord, Lord..." (Matthew 7:21), to whom Jesus will reply never having known them (Matthew 7:23). Only those who do Gods will shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. And what is to do the will of God who is love? The will of God is for us to love God and our fellow man. Those doing so, even if they have never heard of Jesus (like the Samaritan in Luke 10), shall inherit the kingdom of heaven (also like those who believed in loving their neighbors in Matthew 25:33-40).

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.

God is love (1 John 4:7-8 & 16). If you love, you are saved; just like the Samaritan in Luke 10, and those in Matthew 25:33-40, who were unaware of their faith in loving their neighbor, representing love for God.
They who believe IN Jesus in John 3:16, include the Samaritan in Luke 10 who never heard of the name Jesus, along with those in Matthew 25:33-40, who also were unaware of their faith in loving their neighbor, representing believing IN God and His Christ who is Love.

And what does Romans 10.9+10 say the will of God is for everyone today ?

No this is not how someone is saved today. Like not even close . I don't think any response to the question " what must I do to be saved ?" was ever met with " love God " .