How Do We Obtain Eternal Life?
- Mormonism: There are 3 degrees of Glory of all of mankind according to Doctrine & Covenants.
- Telestial Kingdom (Third and lowest) - Doctrine & Covenants 76:103
i. The glory of the stars
ii. For liars, adulterers, whore mongers, sorcerers, etc.
- Terrestrial Kingdom (Middle kingdom) - Doctrine & Covenants 76:72-75
i. Inhabited by those who died without the law.
ii. They accepted Jesus in the spirit world
iii. They are the honorable men of earth who were blinded by the craftiness of men.
- Celestial Kingdom (highest kingdom) - Doctrine & Covenants 76:58
i. Where gods are equal in power, might and dominion, even the sons of god.
- Mormons shove Christ's atonement for our sins aside and must adhere to the following works to attain salvation.
i. Keep all 10 of the 10 Commandments
ii. Keep all of the commandments throughout the 3 Mormon books
iii. They must be baptized into the Mormon church
iv. They must tithe
v. They must get married in the Mormon temple
vi. They must obey the word of wisdom
vii. They must be baptized for the dead
viii. They must magnify the church callings
ix. The list goes on and on and on…
- The Bible: There is Heaven and there is hell.
- Heaven
i. Those who are followers of the true Jesus Christ of the Bible… those who repent of their sins and put their trust in Him with their eternity, will be born again; given a new heart with new desires and will begin to be changed into His likeness. The person who is born again will inherit worship God in Heaven for all of eternity.
- Hell
i. Those who die having lived their lives with their backs to Christ will bear the weight of their judgment and will be cast into hell for eternal destruction.
- The Bible says that we are saved through repentance toward God and faith in our LORD Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:21). Our salvation is solely dependant upon the shed blood of Jesus Christ. As soon as we add one ounce of our own work to our salvation, we have perverted the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it becomes a false Gospel with no saving power.
- "For it is by grace we are saved, through faith; it is the Gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." - Ephesians 2:8-9
- The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. - Romans 6:23
- Mormonism: You must keep the 10 Commandments as well as the commandments through out the 3 Mormon books, be baptized into the Mormon church, tithe, get married in the Mormon temple, obey the word of wisdom, be baptized for the dead, magnify the church callings and the list goes on and on and on.
- The Bible: Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
- Mormonism: Joseph Smith claims to hold the keys to heaven. "Verily I say unto you, the keys of this kingdom shall never be taken from you, while thou art in the world, neither in the world to come." - Doctrine and Covenants 90:3
- The Bible: Jesus said, "All authority has been given to Me in Heaven and on earth." - Matthew 28:18
- For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." - 1 Timothy 2:5
- Mormonism: "…that no man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith." - Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, pg. 289
- The Bible: Only faith in Jesus Christ can save us. REPENT and BELIEVE! - Acts 20:21
- Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." - Acts 4:12
- "For it is by faith we are saved, not of works, it is a gift of God, not of ourselves lest any many should boast." - Ephesians 2:8-9
6 comments:
So exactly what is/are the Biblical requirements for salvation?
After visiting various Christian websites it appears to be saved one needs to:
1. Admit that you are a sinner.
2. Be willing to turn from sin (repent).
3. Believe that Jesus Christ died for you, was buried and rose from the dead.
4. Through prayer, invite Jesus into your life to become your personal Savior.
It appears that there is a fair amount of debate on the requirement of water baptism, but is it safe to say that the above list is accurate?
Is there anything outside of that? Most scriptures on salvation seem to be along the lines of this one:
And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:11-13)
Hello "Starting to learn",
The Bible teaches for someone to receive the gift of salvation that they must repent of their sins and believe the Gospel, in other words, trust Jesus Christ.
In order for this to really happen, a person must first SEE their need for God's forgiveness. They must SEE how completely hopeless they are. In order for that to happen they must know what "sin" is. Sin is transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4). To keep it short and simple, one lie any time EVER in your entire life is enough to condemn you to hell for all eternity. That is how holy and just God is.... His requirement is PERFECTION. There is no "I'm sorry, I won't do it again", or "I'm better than my neighbor", "well yeah, but that's been a long time ago, now I'm a good person." The Bible says that there are "none that are good, no not one" (Romans 3:12) Time can not forgive sin.
Sin separates us from God and has ever since "the fall" in the Garden of Eden. At that point in time, the God of the Bible proclaimed the death sentence on mankind.
People hear all the time that God is a God of love, but He is also a God of wrath and hates the wicked. (Psalm 5:5). He is angry with the wicked (Psalm 7:11) who will be punished with everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).
Not everyone is a child of God. Those who reject Jesus Christ are referred to in the Bible as Children of Wrath and they store up wrath that will be revealed to them on the Day of Judgment.
Here's where the Gospel truly is "good news". This is where God's "LOVE" comes in. He loved us so much that He sent is only Son to bear our sins and suffer and die in our place. Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, lived the perfect life that we couldn't live, and paid our sin debt for us.
Romans 6:23 says that the "wages of sin is death, but the GIFT of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our LORD!"
The debt has been paid, the "gift" is ours, if we will reach out and receive it. To receive the gift, we must recognize our hopelessness and our wickedness before God, repent (turn from) our sins, and surrender our life to Jesus Christ and TRUST Him with our eternity like we would a parachute. You wouldn't jump from a plane "believing" in a parachute, you would PUT IT ON and the Bible says that we are to put on the LORD Jesus Christ! (Romans 13:14).
Once we repent and trust Christ we will then receive the Holy Spirit, who seals us until the day of redemption. (2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5). This is God putting His spirit within us, giving us a "new nature" with "new desires". We begin hating what we used to love (the lusts of the flesh) and begin to love that which we once hated (God, His Son, His Word, righteousness...). This is the new birth, this is being born again. Salvation is not stepping out of the line going to hell and into the line going to heaven. It's a supernatural occurrence that takes place by God, not by the will of man, where God changes you. (John 3:3)
One last thing... baptism does not save you. Baptism is symbolic of the death and resurrection. Death of the old you, the spiritually dead you, and resurrection of the new creature in Christ. The thief on the cross with Christ was not baptized, but He believed Christ was LORD and was told He would be with Him in paradise, which is Heaven.
Luke 23:42-43 - Then he said to Jesus, “Lord,remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Thank you for your reply. After reading it I have a couple of questions.
When you say, "repent (turn from) our sins, and surrender our life to Jesus Christ and TRUST Him with our eternity"
How long does someone need to turn from their sins? Just a few moments? A lifetime? What if someone goes through the steps that you outline and then goes back to their sins and perhaps even turns from God? Are they still saved? Were they ever saved?
Repentance is life long. That's one of the misconceptions about Christianity. People often say, "I'm saved because when I was 8 I said the "sinner's prayer" and repented. Well, that's great, but the question that you should ask yourself is are you still repenting even until today are you still seeking after God? Since being a "true" Christian means that a person is "born again", that means that you are no longer the same person you were, you not only have a new relationship with God, but you have a new relationship with sin. If a person is truly saved, but is determined to remain in his sin God will come after him. He will chasten Him (Hebrews 12:6) and draw him back to Himself. A true Christian is sensitive to the sin in their life and will be completely miserable inside if they are resisting the conviction brought on by the Holy Spirit and living out the lusts of their flesh. One thing to point out is that after you are saved you are not by any means sinless from then on out, you have been forgiven for all sin, past, present and future, but the temptation to sin still remains. As Christ was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, so are we tempted. The unmistakable difference from sinning as a non-Christian and sinning as a Christian is conviction! A true Christian will be broken over the sin in their life. God will point out sin later in your walk that He didn't point out early on... we go through a process of sanctification where we are being transformed into the image of Christ... it definitely doesn't happen all at once, but the DESIRE to KNOW Him and to KNOW His Word and to walk as He walks burns inside of the Christian.
I believe the Bible, unmistakably teaches eternal security (sometimes referred to as "perseverance of the saints"). So the question is as you put it... if I return to my sin am I still save, was I ever saved?
Not to be redundant, so forgive me if I do repeat myself, but for a true Christian (one who has been reborn of the Holy Spirit) to return to their sin, would be very difficult and they would pay the price. Most of the time as a true Believer you will "stumble" into sin, you won't dive into it. A true Christian doesn't wake up on Monday morning and say, "It's Monday, today I will sin!" Although non-Christians won't really say those words, they will plan ahead to make provision of the flesh. (ie. watching porn on the internet, planning revelries (drinking parties), going out drinking, plan on doing drugs, plan on lying to their boss about being sick, and on and on and on.) The true Christian has the Holy Spirit within Him guiding Him. Notice I said "guide" and not "controlling" him like a puppeteer. We still have a "choice" and that choice should always glorify God.
1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."
This means that regardless of the situation you find yourself in, you have a choice. If you're on the internet and a picture comes up with some obscenity that maybe leads to a "tempting" porn site, you have a choice. God has left a way out of that situation. If this area was a problem for you as a non-Christian, you wouldn't think twice about it, click the link and check it out all the while polluting your mind with all the filth you had time for. After becoming a Christian the Holy Spirit will speak to you immediately and you'll know it's wrong. A non-Christian "knows it's wrong" too, but doesn't care. The Christian knows and will be convicted if he ignores the Holy Spirit and continues on in the sin. So, back to the illustration, you now have a choice to make. Close the browser or wallow in your sin and deal with the conviction. Choosing to wallow in your sin will drive a wedge between you and God, distancing you from Him. The closer you are to the LORD the harsher the conviction for sinning against Him. One thing I have learned, once you're truly save you CANNOT GET AWAY FROM GOD!
If God has saved you, God will keep you... if you're born of God you'll never die. If He's begun a good work in you, He'll complete it to that day (Philip. 1:6); if He's
the author of your faith, He'll be the finisher of your faith (Heb. 12:2). He's able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by Him (Heb. 7:25). He's able to keep them from falling and present them faultless before the presence and glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24). Jesus said, "No one will pluck you from my father's hand" (John 10:29).
I hope this has helped. I'll be away for 3 or 4 days, but will answer any more questions as soon as I am able.
Thanks for your thoughtful response, but I have to admit that it still seems quite confusing that a person can say that they know that they're saved but then later in their life they go back to doing the same sins that they supposedly repented of.
I can see where that may seem confusing. You have to remember that just because a person is saved, does not mean they will never sin again. If before being saved I am a habitual liar, then I surrender my life to Christ and repent of my lying... that does not mean that I will never again lie as long as I live. What it does mean though, is that I will be convicted the next time I tell a lie instead of just lying without any regard whatsoever to what the Word of God says. A true Christian will still sin (1 John 1:10), as I said earlier, but there will be a brokeness over that sin that was not there before. The true desire is to be completely Christ-like, but we are hindered by our flesh. There are other sins that are easire to repent of and never return to. In my own personal life it was drinking alcohol. Once the LORD broke my hard, prideful heart and opened my eyes, I surrendered my life to Him and repented of my drunkenness, among other things. That is one thing I have NEVER went back to and NEVER will. Sins like drunkenness, adultery (physically), murder (literally) and so on are things that a true convert will repent of and not return to. The things that seem to require repentance over and over are the sins of the mind, or your thought life. Above I said adultery (phyiscally) and murder (literally) because I was speaking of the phyiscal realm for both. However, God is so holy he sees our thought life, not just our physical actions.
Hebrews 4:13 - Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Matthew 12:36 - But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
He sees looking at another person with lust in your eyes as adultery and He sees hate as murder.
Matthew 5:28 - But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
1 John 3:15 - Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.
It is very easy for us to fall into sin when it deals with "internal" things or our thoughts. Having a perverted thought flash in our mind is not sin, dwelling on that perverted thought is.
James 1:14,15 - But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
It's very easy for people to put on a phony religious outer appearance of righteousness, but if the inside is filthy the outer righeousness is in vain. (Matthew 23:27)
Again, salvation is a supernatural occurence where the Holy Spirit takes up residence within a person and raises their spirit from the dead. They become a new creature with new desires and a love for God they have never had before in their life! It's not about the person gritting his teeth and trying to do what he thinks the Bible says is right, he WILL WANT to follow the Word of God!
Post a Comment