The Love of God

Originally posted by @rajk999
You are such a liar. You have spent the last 10 yrs or so bashing everything I have said. You have blindly supported these so-called Christians brother that YOU have. These are not my Christian brothers. These are a bunch of mouth worshiping hypocrites on this site, with a few exceptions. My Christian brothers are all those who regard the teachings of Chri ...[text shortened]... th with their mouth.
Both mean nothing. In the end BOTH PARTIES WILL BE JUDGED BY THEIR WORKS.

And you are a fool.

You cannot read what I post? This hatred of yours towards Christians is, in itself, faithless. Your fawning over atheists (who do not love God, who have NO faith) is appalling. Jesus would ask you how you missed his point so badly.

"Professing with your mouth" IS BETWEEN YOU AND GOD. You cannot pass this Judgement on anyone. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." This is faith. This is not "mouth worship". You are demented if you assume that "all Christians" only have "mouth worship". You are guilty of false witness.

Before I go, try this one on for size.

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men." -- Titus 3:5-8, KJV

We are justified by Grace, according to His mercy. This is Faith.

Faith first. Real faith, not a false faith claim.

Works second.

Originally posted by @suzianne
And you are a fool.

You cannot read what I post? This hatred of yours towards Christians is, in itself, faithless. Your fawning over atheists (who do not love God, who have NO faith) is appalling. Jesus would ask you how you missed his point so badly.

"Professing with your mouth" IS BETWEEN YOU AND GOD. You cannot pass this Judgement on an ...[text shortened]... is mercy. This is Faith.

Faith first. Real faith, not a false faith claim.

Works second.

If I end up needy and on the side of the road in a horrible car crash I would hope that atheists like FMF, GoD, Sonhouse, [and some others as well], or some real Christians [like Divegester .. boy .. I cannot even find a second one ... sad ], or others like ThinkofOne.... stop and help me out... and they will. Its in their nature to do it. Not for personal gain but because they have the love of God in them, and this is the criteria for entry into the Kingdom of God

Those saved Christians like you and Kellyj< djbecker, Sonship, Freaky etc will surely turn up their noses and move away. youall are SAVED !!! LOL ? Fools !

Originally posted by @suzianne
And what is wrong with YOU?

Yes, Christians obtain salvation only by the grace of God. In much the same way, motivation to go out and help people, i.e. 'good works', is obtained through the Holy Spirit.

Works do not bring salvation, they are an outward sign of salvation. Faith -> Repentance -> Grace -> Salvation -> indwelling of the HS -> Charity - ...[text shortened]... t another way for otherwise decent Christians to shirk their responsibility to their fellow man.

And what is wrong with YOU?
I'm doing well; thank you for asking.

Works do not bring salvation, they are an outward sign of salvation.
They are an outward sign of an inner decision.
That decision may be informed by so great a salvation in the sense of an abundance and overflow of the goodness of God.
That decision may be informed by an impulse to give back on account of being given so much.
That decision may be completely unrelated to a saving faith whatsoever, relying instead on any number of colors in the human emotional palette, from guilt to a sense of obligation for fair bartering.
Hard to say, really.
The Lord Jesus Christ warned that many would object to God's judgment of them in light of their impressive-sounding list of good works, so it would be ill-advised to make a determination of affiliation based merely on outward appearance... you know, if the condemnation of judging others in the first place wasn't enough to keep yourself from the temporary ego boost.

Faith -> Repentance -> Grace -> Salvation -> indwelling of the HS -> Charity -> Works.
Just my opinion, but I think a Venn diagram would be just as confusing as this ordering.
Repentance is a changing of the mind, to which (the mind) God is directing the ultimate question: what think ye of the Christ?
As long as we are on this plane, we will continually fall short of the standard.
That doesn't mean we ought to wallow in our stain, since He has provided us with all power and freed us of the draw sin has on us.
The only enemy is me.
Once we change our mind about the Christ, the faith we formerly placed in ourselves can be transferred to faith in Him.
That yields salvation.

This (your argument) is just another way for otherwise decent Christians to shirk their responsibility to their fellow man.
The question of salvation has nothing to do with any responsibility, inwardly or outwardly.
We are not called to be oriented to each other first, but rather to God.
As an indication of our orientation to God, we test ourselves, our motivations by examining our thoughts and behavior toward others.
If I am deficient in my thoughts and actions toward man, I cannot have a free flowing of love between me and God.
That being said, I could (as stated) put the cart before the horse, be super good toward man and yet have a completely blocked heart toward God.

His system wisely puts Him first.

Originally posted by @suzianne
Can you sit back and regard the suffering of man with some kind of self-satisfied smugness that "at least it's not me"?

If you can do this, is even your love for God real, or are you just kidding yourself?

Hint: God knows.

This is WHY we are told that Love for God is first, but a close second is Love for your neighbor. Christ commands us to have BOTH.

Can you sit back and regard the suffering of man with some kind of self-satisfied smugness that "at least it's not me"?
Of course, I could.
Being a free agent, I am able to make decisions about both my thoughts and actions.
Not sure why you're asking?

This is WHY we are told that Love for God is first, but a close second is Love for your neighbor. Christ commands us to have BOTH.
The second command is a test for the first.
Unfortunately, man--- always looking for a loophole--- has shown a propensity for making a fantastic-looking cake-like presentation, whilst beneath the lovely and colorful fondant squirms maggots feeding on the heart unresponsive to any overtures of intimacy from its most loyal and capable Lover.

Originally posted by @rajk999
If I end up needy and on the side of the road in a horrible car crash I would hope that atheists like FMF, GoD, Sonhouse, [and some others as well], or some real Christians [like Divegester .. boy .. I cannot even find a second one ... sad ], or others like ThinkofOne.... stop and help me out... and they will. Its in their nature to do it. Not for personal ...[text shortened]... , Freaky etc will surely turn up their noses and move away. youall are SAVED !!! LOL ? Fools !

Not for personal gain but because they have the love of God in them, and this is the criteria for entry into the Kingdom of God.

While it will likely fall upon deaf ears, this would have been a good place for you to once again put the following in front of them:

John 14
21Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”...“Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

Jesus plainly states His and God's standard for determining who it is that loves Him and God and who doesn't...

It puts the verse from Matthew 22 cited by Suzianne into perspective:
""Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind."
According to Jesus "love" is not about professing faith as Suzianne asserts. It is about obeying and more importantly KEEPing the words that Jesus preached during His ministry.

Originally posted by @thinkofone
[b]Not for personal gain but because they have the love of God in them, and this is the criteria for entry into the Kingdom of God.

While it will likely fall upon deaf ears, this would have been a good place for you to once again put the following in front of them:
[quote]John 14
21Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. ...[text shortened]... is about obeying and more importantly KEEPing the words that Jesus preached during His ministry.[/b]

Those words include the fact that Jesus did not destroy the Law. What was sin then is still sin today.

Jesus further clarrified it was the sinful actions that spring from our heart which is sin. Outward stuff is not sin.

So much of today's Christianity is redefining sin as not sin. As I heard on the radio, if you hear the world saying it today, you will hear it from churches in 7 years.

Originally posted by @eladar
Those words include the fact that Jesus did not destroy the Law. What was sin then is still sin today.

Jesus further clarrified it was the sinful actions that spring from our heart which is sin. Outward stuff is not sin.

So much of today's Christianity is redefining sin as not sin. As I heard on the radio, if you hear the world saying it today, you will hear it from churches in 7 years.

As I pointed out in another thread, Jesus clearly defines the law and the prophets differently than the writers of the OT did. The new law and the prophets, i.e., the new covenant, are contained in the words that Jesus preached during His ministry. These are the commandments that must be obeyed and more importantly KEPT.

Your bigotry has no place in the new covenant.

Originally posted by @thinkofone
As I pointed out in another thread, Jesus clearly defines the law and the prophets differently than the writers of the OT did. The new law and the prophets, i.e., the new covenant, are contained in the words that Jesus preached during His ministry. These are the commandments that must be obeyed and more importantly KEPT.

Your bigotry has no place in the new covenant.

Which is why Jesus instructed people not to sin.

Face it, sin is still sin. All the lies that get spewed here on earth will not put a single name in the book of life.

Originally posted by @eladar
Which is why Jesus instructed people not to sin.

Face it, sin is still sin. All the lies that get spewed here on earth will not put a single name in the book of life.

And as well, all the lies spewed here on earth by those who think themselves righteous by what they do will not remove a single name from the Book of Life. This is God's decision, not the decision of self-righteous zealots, claiming only they have the love of God.

Originally posted by @suzianne
And as well, all the lies spewed here on earth by those who think themselves righteous by what they do will not remove a single name from the Book of Life. This is God's decision, not the decision of self-righteous zealots, claiming only they have the love of God.

I take you are looking in the mirror. You are one of the most self righteous blow hards I have ever run into.

You have no interest in discussing the Bible, only your opinions you believe make you righteous and superior.

Originally posted by @eladar
I take you are looking in the mirror. You are one of the most self righteous blow hards I have ever run into.

You have no interest in discussing the Bible, only your opinions you believe make you righteous and superior.

Oh the irony.

Originally posted by @fmf
Oh the irony.

I don't expect you to recognize the difference between scripture and opinion.

It is a wonder how the non Christians come to the aid of non christians.

Originally posted by @eladar
I take you are looking in the mirror. You are one of the most self righteous blow hards I have ever run into.

You have no interest in discussing the Bible, only your opinions you believe make you righteous and superior.

I guess it is easy to say this to people who don't happen to buy into your abhorrent ideas about God and Jesus.

I do not use the Bible as a weapon. That's you.

Originally posted by @eladar
I don't expect you to recognize the difference between scripture and opinion.

It is a wonder how the non Christians come to the aid of non christians.

What a ridiculous statement!

YOU are the one who constantly conflates his opinion with scripture.

Originally posted by @suzianne
I guess it is easy to say this to people who don't happen to buy into your abhorrent ideas about God and Jesus.

I do not use the Bible as a weapon. That's you.

No, it is easy to see when you know the truth.

You still haven't answered my question....

Do you worship the God who ordered that homosexuals be executed because of their homosexuality?