[cg81]

Post taken from thread "Just wondering"

Originally Posted by GCSTroop

Can I point something out, cg81? And no I'm not trying to be snarky or callous, but I am seriously trying to point this out because I do not get it and I never have. Referring to your bolded posts above it seems that less emphasis is put on living a Christ-like lifestyle and more emphasis is put on accepting Jesus whether it be at the very end of your life or very early in life.

The emphasis is on repentence. True repentence. It takes the same thing for everyone, whether they have a long sinful life behind them, or if they are young and you would say they were at the start of life. You need to repent and give everything over to God to be saved.

Do you not see how this might be confusing for someone like me? I have repeatedly been told that it matters not only if you have accepted Jesus into your heart but also how your actions reflect that in terms of trying to live a Christ-like lifestyle. Now I do have a point in all of this:

In essence, I could live my life how I wanted to in the same fashion that I am and always have been doing. I'll drink a little here and there, I'll smoke a few cigarettes, look at a little porn, advocate gay marriage, not take a really big stance on abortion, and so on and so forth - most of these things are often seen as un-Christlike by many and questionable to others, right? What you're telling me is that I can do all of this until I'm 62 years old (smokers typically die young) and right as I feel my heart giving out I can switch teams and then I'll be in heaven.

I touched on this in a previous post in this thread.. but to go over some of this again, it's not just a matter of saying, "well, it looks like it's probably time to switch over to God's team". It takes a true repentance, remorse, feeling sorry for your sins.. and someone who is simply wanting to take advantage of life, time and grace will probably find out that they should not have waited. Grace is extended to us in GOD's time, not ours. We have no promise that we will receive another call before we die.. we need to answer the call now.

On the flip side, does this not also mean that someone could be "saved" early in life and yet their actions do not reflect that they are saved? In essence, they live a rather un-Christlike lifestyle. Yet, because they are "saved" does this not allow for a false sense of confidence to pass judgments, do bad things, and act un-Christlike in whatever way we want to think about and yet still grant them entry into heaven?

Like you say, this is a false sense of confidence. God looks at the heart and knows if we are truly saved. Being "saved" is not only a one-time event, a free pass to heaven. It is a "state". If we are not following God, we can not trust in a one-time salvation prayer to grant us entry into heaven. "Many shall say Lord, Lord, etc."

Because I get the feeling that what you're saying is that you know God's word and that word is that if you're saved you will go to heaven. Again, I get the part about God being the authority, but surely you see my point? How can we assert that being saved AND actions are the way to heaven but then turn around and say that merely being saved is the way to heaven regardless of how late or early in life we commit to it?

I hope I answered your questions above.. feel free to ask if you have more.

BTW.. Actions are not the way to heaven, but actions tell where your heart is. If I truly repent at whatever stage in my life I am at, my actions from that point on will be different... and if I continue in this, I will reach heaven some day.