What part of “Ye must be born again” and “Seek ye first the kingdom of God” don’t you understand? And let’s not forget the very pronounced but never mentioned “Ye must become perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect.”

Common, I stand before the Father and Son every single day of my existence. If you’re waiting until death to do it, then you’ve lost again. Look at all the time you’re wasting by waiting for something you can do right here, right now, even as we speak.

The one God of us all is everywhere we are – all times and places. And if this is not part of your Christian beliefs, then you have absolutely nothing.

And since we know (or should know) that God is anywhere we are as the only eternity there has ever been or ever will be (since only God has always existed), then anywhere we are becomes His church at the precise instant we turn our hearts, minds, and souls to Him.

And since Jesus told us to love the Lord with all our hearts, minds, and souls and DO unto others as we would have others DO unto us, then actions ARE a requirement for salvation, plain and simple.

Your heart is in the right place, sir, but it’s time to let it grow and move on past your watered-down (weak) theology. Point the whole of yourself to God, as Jesus said do, and learn to think inclusively.

Since we know God loves everyone, then we’re to love everyone as well by following His Golden Rule and doing it for God alone, not ourselves. We came from God our creator and into God we must return. And since God is everywhere we are without end, then so is His eternity.

But here we sit as Christians, waiting to die so we can go be with Him “forever and ever,” never realizing, of course, that forever and ever is everywhere we are, waiting for us to finally understand His true teachings.

Your Christianity is very materialistic, but since God has no limits of any kind, there’s nothing material about the Father. This means, sir, His Kingdom is a spiritual one – a kingdom no words can ever describe (since words belong only to the material world).

And to say it again, sir: The way to his Kingdom is through love – love of God and love of one another. This is what Jesus taught (“The Kingdom of God is at hand”), this is what Jesus proved, and this is how those of us believing in Him must live for eternal life.

We all have the freedom (as part of the creation) to live as we wish, but for those of us “with ears” and who are ready for the truth, Jesus was born, taught, lived, suffered and died to show us the way.

And yes, since he lived what He taught to absolute perfection, he was “The Way,” but that hardly translates into our needing to say we believe in Him, then declining to do hardly anything that He told us we must do.

Actions are important, sir, for they mean we’re trying. And when we’re trying, the Father will always be “there” to help us go as far as we can, but the effort belongs to us, not Him. We must be willing to be led “as little children, ” but the payoff is worth all of it and more – a never-ending “more.”

Remember, sir, that God is where eternity is, and God is right here, right now without end. Understand this and you have the basis for the real Christianity taught by Jesus.

And hate no one, sir. As God doesn’t hate, we are not to hate either. And when you’ve learned to do everything you do in a loving way for God alone, you’re on the straight-and-narrow path to His kingdom and His perfection as well.

Believe as you wish, my friend, for no one can ever deny you that right. But wherever you go, I pray God’s peace will be with you always. It’s much, much closer than even you might think!

You speak of “things required for salvation” …………….

Salvation/Eternal Life is by faith in Christ and His blood atonement alone ………… nothing else ………….. including ANY other religion. Not baptism (the thief on the cross), not church membership in any particular denomination and certainly no amount of good works.

Good works are what we do in thankfulness for our salvation ……… not something we do to earn it (Ephensians 2:8&9). It is through God’s grace alone and even then He gives us the pull of the Holy Spirit that convicts and draws us to Him.

Any other false teaching is APOSTACY and blasphemes the name of Christ. Paul (and Peter) was quite clear on that.

If we can’t agree on the above ……….. then so be it. I am prepared to stand before my Lord on His grace for me alone.

If you’re the messenger, Common, then why do you continue misrepresenting His teachings? But there’s a lot of that these days. Look around at all the Christian denominations and sects worldwide. But while they all claim to represent Christ, they each disagree with each other and with Christ himself on even basic points. So how do you know who’s correct, sir? What’s the tip-off in your mentality of who’s right and who’s wrong?

Let me try again, sir: If you’ve accepted Jesus as Savior, then you’ve accepted His teachings. If you’ve accepted His teachings, then you’ve accepted that there are things required of all believers for salvation.

If you’ve accepted this, then you know there are actions required for living His truth. And if you’ve accepted this as well, then you know we can tell Christians from non-Christians “by what they do.” It’s like Jesus said, “Ye shall know them by what they do.”

But you don’t believe this, sir. And the whole of your argument in all these many posts now is that actions are not required for salvation, when Jesus said that this is how we shall know them. Not only that, sir, but you continue using the Bible to try and refute one of His most amazingly simple principles of all.

Common, if the devil is in this conversation (and anywhere else in Christendom), he will be the one saying, teaching, and proclaiming from the mountain tops that Christians don’t need to act like Christians, that Christ was a good man, but you don’t need to do what “ye must do” for any reason, even salvation.

And you say that the devil can masquerade as an “angel of the light,” and I agree. He will be the one telling you (and me) to be yourself as a “believer” and do whatever you want to do. But whatever you choose to do, he says, don’t believe that actions have anything to do with Christ’s message of love and eternal life. You will be saved without them.

And why would he take this approach, sir? It’s because if he’s got you doing evil while saying you believe good, then he wins, plain and simple. What’s more common sense than this, Common Sense? (And I can’t believe you still want to go on with this false argument of yours. I feel like I’m beating up an armless man, and I don’t like it at all.)

But this is the difference between the two of us, sir. I can recognize the influence of the devil whenever I encounter it, but I can also recognize the influence of Christ by what they say and do. And who taught me how to do this? Why Jesus did, sir. So who taught you how to ignore Him whenever you feel like it?

I know the answer to that, but like everything else we’ve talked about, you won’t like it either. But I still love you, sir, and I’m praying for you always! NEXT….

Kind of odd then that Jesus, (God in the flesh) told the Jewish spiritual leaders of His day that unless they believed in Him (the Messiah) they were “of their father the devil”.

Hummmmmm …………. let’s see now, they believed in and worshipped and scrificed to “Jehovah” but were “of their father the devil”. Odd indeed. Even “good” Nicodemus needed salvation in Christ ……….. “ye must be born again” as his Jewish faith by itself was NOT ENOUGH.

And by the way ………. Islam (or any false religion) was hatched by Satan himself …………. “even Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light.”

“He that believeth in Me is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the only begotton Son of God.”

………….. and don’t forget the “Great Commission”. No need to send missionaries anywhere if there are ways other than through the blood atonement of Christ.

Now, if there are any others still reading this post other than brother “Peter” you may be offended by some of my words. My response is that I am only the messenger. One must take it up with the Author.

I love you, man, but I think we have a problem with who you think Christ is. Your view of Him is one of the most radically limited I’ve ever seen, even for a Baptist.

There are those who think Christ is one with the all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present creator of the universe (“I and the Father are one,” He said), and there are those who have a much more limited view of Him. Common, I belong to the first group. I believe Christ is God. Can you say this?

I also think that many of those of the second group think that God hates some and loves others, but Common, God hates no one. God IS love, don’t you agree? Or do you?

If we can agree on these two, then we’ve just recognized the all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present creator in every major religion, including Islam. There’s only one unlimited God, Common, and He’s the ultimate object and goal of every single one of them. And since there can only be one of these unlimited Gods – period, we’re down to what we call Him. Jesus? The Father? Allah? Jehovah? You decide. In fact, everybody who loves God gets to decide this.

And since the essence of every religion is to recognize the supremacy of this God (“Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and soul”) and to return good for evil (not evil for evil or evil for good), then we have the consciousness of Christ at the pinnacle of each and every major religion on earth.

Now we’re down to the proper way to address Him, Common. Christians love to call him Christ, Jesus, Savior, and so on (He most often referred to himself as the “Son of Man”), but other traditions have their names as well, like “Allah.”

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what we call Him as long as we understand the magnitude of who He is and what He taught us for eternal life. These are what all major religions have in common, Common. The only real differences between and among them are the names given to God. But these are very superficial differences, for the core of every religion is what He told us to do – how He taught us to live – and in this, all major religions have their very essences in common with all others.

As long as we talk, sir, I will continue putting the emphasis on how we act, not on what we say we believe or in whom (which name of God). For this, sir, is the only way to know anything about the true nature of one’s soul. The murderer, murders, and this is how we can tell him or her from one who doesn’t. The liar, lies, and this is the way we know him or her. And the believer, believes, and the only way we can know this one is through his or her actions.

This is just common sense, sir, and when you stop and think about all the wars, hatred, and violence perpetrated in the name of such superficial differences among religions, especially when it means folks ignoring the basic teachings of each in the process, then you get where I’m coming from.

It’s what people do that’s the chief indicator of a person’s soul and whether or not they’re believers in any religion at all. Jesus said this, I believe this, and I don’t understand why you continue having a problem with it. Do you not believe you’re responsible for doing what Christ said and teaching others to do the same? Wow!

Yes, President Obama is a real Christian, for I can see (and feel) his heart, and the fact that you can’t is amazing. It’s George Bush who was/is the impostor, and anyone should be able to tell this as well, except those more politically motivated than spiritual.

I think President Bush tried hard, hard to be a good president, but he didn’t even come close. In my opinion, he wasn’t his own man and only paid lip-service to his religious beliefs anyway. But did you support George Bush’s presidency all eight years? If you will, sir, please tell me why.

Like I said, I love you, man, but I’ve long since stopped being a Baptist. The beginning of the end for me was during the struggle for Civil Rights. When I saw my church elders stand in the door of Christ’s church every Sunday morning and turn away black folks wanting to worship, I knew they were wrong.

There’s nothing Christ taught that would have supported this behavior, certainly not the Golden Rule. And since it’s one of the two basic rules of Christian life, upon which all the law and the prophets are based, well, you get the picture!

First: I never said Obama was a Muslim. I said he “claimed” to be a Christian but only God knows the heart. He may be a Christian – he may be an imposter. “YOU” are the one who claims to know what is in his heart (which is in direct violation of Matthew 7:21-23). I assume you know to interpret scripture in its proper context. In other words, a text out of context is no text.

Read Matthew Chapter 7 in its entirety (and context). You will find “know them by their fruits” (that you quote above) comes just before the words of the Lord when He says there are those who have called Him Lord, have preached in His Name, have done miracles in His Name and He still doesn’t know them and NEVER did. Why you choose to ignore that clear passage is beyond me?

Paul

P.S.

By the way, are you a “universalist”? By that I mean, do you believe there are other ways to heaven other than through Christ?

Common, I’m just following the teaching as you should be doing. You’ll probably always be able to find something in the Bible to twist or take out of context to say Jesus is wrong if you really try, but that would always be a mistake in my opinion. It just seems so obvious, for He spoke so clearly to all the ages.

I can’t figure out why you refuse to accept what he taught if you’re a real Christian and indeed saved. To me, whatever anyone else might say to refute the teachings of our Savior cannot be correct if we’re who we claim to be – believers. But you’re right, sir, we’ll just have to continuing disagreeing, probably even more so the next time we talk.

But this whole thing started with Joan claiming to know with certainty that President Obama is a Muslim. Then she claimed that he said so with his own mouth, which he didn’t do and never has done. After that, someone on this blog told her she was insane, but we won’t go there. Then I said what I said.

Then after that, you jumped in to defend Joan by saying you don’t know either but God does. Why then, Common, did Jesus tell us: “Ye shall know them by what they do.” Was He wrong like you think I am and gave us bogus information to believe that you don’t think is true? I told you, you would find a way around it.

It just gets better and better, sir, but like I said: You’re responsible for who you are, even for whether or not you can accept what Jesus taught. But in my opinion, if you haven’t accepted what He taught, then you haven’t accepted Jesus. But if you think you have, then go for it. Maybe He’ll lead you to the right path before it’s too late. I sincerely hope so, my friend!

…………… and based on your thought patterns you must be a “universalist”. If so, quite sad.

…………… and it’s amazing that you know what Obama really is since only God can see the heart.

…………… and you seem to keep ignoring the passage that even some who preach and perform miracles in “His name” do not belong to Him.

2 Timothy 4

“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

Alas, we are here.

We’ll just have to agree to disagree without being disagreeable. Even Peter & Paul had a big falling out (Peter was wrong) on a serious doctrinal issue.

It happens.