questions for christians

K

kidsun

Registered Senior Member
"That is why we read the Bible - to find out how and why we are saved, and what it means in practice, not just in theory."
-jenyar

dear jenyar, christians, and fellow posters/interested parties,

1) how do you define being "saved" ?
(as someone who has never belonged to any religion, has only been to church a handful of times, and has never been baptized, i've never really been clear on this term.)

2) how are we "saved"?

3) why are we "saved"?

4) how does this translate into practice?

i am particulary interested in these questions because it seems to me that many people focus on the idea that jesus "died for our sins" so we can sin and rest assured through the belief that we will be forgiven (as long as we've been baptized, that is.) to me, this focus is faulty and can lead to missing much of what needs to be experienced and understood on a spiritual level

for example, there is no getting around consequences for your actions. to me, god is "merciful" in that you are given comfort (love, insight, and so on) during periods of time that you are "reaping what you sow," but you are still very much going to "reap what you sow."

i appreciate all your thoughts and feedback on these questions.
k
 
p.s. i would very much appreciate it if you could please try to answer in your own words, as biblical quotations are often confounding, vague, and open for interpretation. thanks in advance.
 
Ill attempt to answer this
1 I define being saved as being converted,justified,and santicified
by Jesus Christ.
2 belive and depend on Jesus Christ as your savior from sin
3 We are saved by God so that he can glorify himself through our redemption
4I think my answer to your question is ,It translates into practice by living a holy life(which if you are a true Christian is not impossible) and wittensing to others.

Also your right on how some people look at Christians redemption from sin as a way to sin and feel ok with it. The book of Jude in the Bible in the first three verses deals with this issue.I suggest you look at it if you really want to know.
 
Tough questions, but I'll try to answer anyway in a more round-about way.
First to be 'saved' means to be rescued from the punishment we deserve for our sins. It means that when Jesus died for our sins he paid the price required for forgivness, kind of like paying a fine for parking illigally. We were the ones who parked illiagally, and we deserve to have to pay the fine, but then Jesus comes along and says I have more money than you, I'll pay it for you if you'll let me! So to be saved you need to say 'yes Jesus, I parked illigally (sinned) and I accept you and your payment. Its a free gift to you, you dont have to pay it back and you cant earn it, but you can show your appreciation by doing what is pleasing to God.
How are we saved? by accepting Jesus as our saviour (the person who took our punishment for us) the punishment for sinning is death, when you accept Jesus as paying for that (by dying and coming back) then you are given life in heaven (hell is death, heaven is life).
We are saved because God created us and loves us, its like how we love our child even tho they cant do anything and just make a mess of everything. God loves us unconditionally and so rather than lose us to death He came (in the form of Jesus) and paid that price so that we could live with Him and be His children again!
This translates into practice (at least for me) in that I am so grateful for this gift that I WANT to do what is pleasing to God (ie follow the commandments) and once you accept this gift (in my chruch) we believe that you enter into a personal relationship with God (He's my best friend) and its a wonderful experience.

It is very true that people believe that this idea that you are forgiven means that you can sin and not worry about it, but there are two parts to forgivness, The asking to be forgiven AND trying to do better next time (repentance). So that means if I went and had premarital sex and asked for forgivness, but I went and continued doing that over and over again I would not be forgiven. If I did that and came to God with a sorry heart and a desire to change and really tried not to do it again I would indeed be forgiven. God knows a persons heart and knows if they are using His gift as justification for sin or if they are truely seeking to become more like Jesus.

Well, I hope that answers some and let me know if you want some clarification on some of it! Good luck in your searching!
 
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Sounds like a virus,something that infects certain people under certain circumstances and stays there till you can get rid of it.

This virus then seems to ask you somehow to spread it onto other people.

Whatever it is it causes you to depend on spreading it,for survival of the virus,or survival of what you believe to need surviving.

You see when you are young you will believe anything you are told,a computer gets a virus cos it believes anything it is told
ask anyone in programming and they will tell you that if you program a computer to believe it it will not see otherwise.

Somehow if your mind is programmed young it can work the same way,thus the programming will interupt anything against what you believe.

A contagious information pattern that replicates by symbiotically infecting human minds and altering their behavior, causing them to propagate the pattern.

if the above is true i fear we can all get infected,as i ellaborated

it is a particular "information pattern" over a series of different circumstances,so anyone,even an atheist could get it.
 
thank you snow, new life, and doom. you've each offered unique perspectives. i'll sleep on them and get back with you.
 
Glad to help Kidsun........Doom, I came to faith at a time when I was fully capable of filtering the information I was hearing and evaluating it against everything I knew and coming to an informed, thought out decision. I grew up with absolutly no religious teachings so there is more to it than having been taught this when I was a young child and extremely impressionable, as have most of the christians I know.

I want to 'spread the virus' because of the wonderful changes in my life and the great joy I now have and I want to share the secret of it with everyone! Sure I know my God will be disappointed if I dont go spread the word, but I mostly do it for the people I"m talking to so they can evaluate it for themselves and decide if its right for them.

If you ever get the chance watch this video series called "Quest" by the Vancouver YFC with Phil Cann, its amazing for answering these questions and not forcing anything down your throat.
 
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