For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3: 23)
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5: 8)
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (Romans 3: 10)
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (I John 1: 8-10)
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10: 9)
It is difficult for good people to be saved; it is also difficult for religious people to be saved.
Many people in this world are good people, and many people in this world are religious people.
Good people and religious people are like-minded: they believe that they are not bad enough to go to a place called hell, and therefore they justify their own behaviour by learned behaviours: they have learned how to be good people, and they have also learned how to be religious people.
From their environment, they learn how to be good kids, good parents, good employees. They work hard, they help their neighbors, and they can be friendly and nice to other people. See?
People can also be bad people: their environment teaches them to be rude and crude to others, from which they can also learn to be thieves, robbers, and even killers of fellow humans.
In which environment were you born? Were you born in an environment that taught you how to be good, or were you born in an environment that taught you how to be bad?
Good people, therefore, can easily believe that it is bad people in need of salvation, for good people can not think of themselves as bad people. And when you mix good with religion, people have a double-edged swords in their minds that war against God.
It is often said---which many people believe---that only the good die young. But if you take a look at statistics, many bad people die young, too!
Heaven is the House of God. Even in our own world (as good people) do we not wait to be invited before entering another person's home? Then why do good people think they can go to the House of God without an invitation? Do we not think it is rude just to walk in another person's home without an invitation to come in? Why do we knock at doors?
In like manner, the Holy Spirit knocks at the doors of our hearts with an invitation to know Christ, who is the Door of Heaven!
Compared to God's holiness, our goodness is as filthy rags! For all of the goodness we know we have learned from this world and not from the world of God!
A child can be taught to be a good person, and a child can also be taught to be a religious person. You can teach a child where to sit in church, how to sit, when to stand, when to sing, how to pray and say amen. You can also baptize a baby, but does anyone ever ask the baby if he or she wants to be baptized? No! We make that decision for the child. Yet, accepting baptism and accepting religion is not the same as accepting God. We tend to think that they are one in the same because of the teachers in our own environment. Therefore, we are deceived in our own minds because of the things we do, which are the things we have been taught to do, which are learned behaviours.
For it is not difficult to teach a child religion. But the longer we live and the older we get, the more difficult it is for a person to accept Christ as his or her Saviour because we hang on to our religious minds and will not let go, for religion becomes a person's security blanket: and they are afraid to let go of their security blankets and trust in Christ by faith.
To be saved by Christ, however, we must let go of everything we cling to, from everything we have learned from this world, for even this world we live in is against God---even religion---for religion is by sight and God is by faith.
Christ is not by sight, but by faith.
Please read the Scriptures at the top of this page for a second time.
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5: 8)
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (Romans 3: 10)
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (I John 1: 8-10)
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10: 9)
It is difficult for good people to be saved; it is also difficult for religious people to be saved.
Many people in this world are good people, and many people in this world are religious people.
Good people and religious people are like-minded: they believe that they are not bad enough to go to a place called hell, and therefore they justify their own behaviour by learned behaviours: they have learned how to be good people, and they have also learned how to be religious people.
From their environment, they learn how to be good kids, good parents, good employees. They work hard, they help their neighbors, and they can be friendly and nice to other people. See?
People can also be bad people: their environment teaches them to be rude and crude to others, from which they can also learn to be thieves, robbers, and even killers of fellow humans.
In which environment were you born? Were you born in an environment that taught you how to be good, or were you born in an environment that taught you how to be bad?
Good people, therefore, can easily believe that it is bad people in need of salvation, for good people can not think of themselves as bad people. And when you mix good with religion, people have a double-edged swords in their minds that war against God.
It is often said---which many people believe---that only the good die young. But if you take a look at statistics, many bad people die young, too!
Heaven is the House of God. Even in our own world (as good people) do we not wait to be invited before entering another person's home? Then why do good people think they can go to the House of God without an invitation? Do we not think it is rude just to walk in another person's home without an invitation to come in? Why do we knock at doors?
In like manner, the Holy Spirit knocks at the doors of our hearts with an invitation to know Christ, who is the Door of Heaven!
Compared to God's holiness, our goodness is as filthy rags! For all of the goodness we know we have learned from this world and not from the world of God!
A child can be taught to be a good person, and a child can also be taught to be a religious person. You can teach a child where to sit in church, how to sit, when to stand, when to sing, how to pray and say amen. You can also baptize a baby, but does anyone ever ask the baby if he or she wants to be baptized? No! We make that decision for the child. Yet, accepting baptism and accepting religion is not the same as accepting God. We tend to think that they are one in the same because of the teachers in our own environment. Therefore, we are deceived in our own minds because of the things we do, which are the things we have been taught to do, which are learned behaviours.
For it is not difficult to teach a child religion. But the longer we live and the older we get, the more difficult it is for a person to accept Christ as his or her Saviour because we hang on to our religious minds and will not let go, for religion becomes a person's security blanket: and they are afraid to let go of their security blankets and trust in Christ by faith.
To be saved by Christ, however, we must let go of everything we cling to, from everything we have learned from this world, for even this world we live in is against God---even religion---for religion is by sight and God is by faith.
Christ is not by sight, but by faith.
Please read the Scriptures at the top of this page for a second time.
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