Sgt. Pepper
All you need is love.
I believe the Bible is factual.
I believe Jews do not have the Holy Spirit to guide them into the truth.
It doesn't appear to me that the Holy Spirit is guiding the smorgasbord of Christians into the truth either, considering how divided they are about what the Bible says and teaches. Oddly enough, some Christians claim that their interpretation of the Bible and church doctrines is solely correct while adamantly insisting that other Christians who don't uphold the same church doctrines and scriptural interpretation are clearly wrong in their beliefs because of their church doctrines and interpretation of the Bible. In my opinion, it stands to reason that the Bible isn't clear enough for Christians to interpret it correctly, which is why Christianity is divided into a plethora of diverse sects made up of Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Messianic Jews, Orthodox Christians (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox), and a vast smorgasbord of Protestants: Baptists, Methodists, Nazarenes, Lutherans, Pentecostals, Mennonites, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists, and so many other Protestants attending churches with very distinctive official doctrines and interpretations of the Bible. As a matter of fact, the division among Christians is as old as Christianity itself (1 Corinthians 1:10–17).
I realize that I'm stating the obvious about how Christians believe and adhere to diverse biblical interpretations and church doctrines, such as Calvinism vs. Arminianism (unconditional salvation vs. conditional salvation), properly baptizing believers (fully immersed in water vs. sprinkled with water), whether it is biblical for women to be pastors or not, the alleged end times and determining whether or not there would be a rapture of Christians, as well as when it will occur (pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, post-tribulation), and the persistent dispute over which Christians are actually genuine followers of Jesus and which ones are not (i.e., Who are the Jehovah’s Witnesses and what are their beliefs?). And the list goes on. Why can't Christians agree with each other?
So, Muffled, in your opinion, which of these Christian sects I listed or any of the others I didn't mention are being led into the truth by the Holy Spirit? I'm sure that all of these Christians believe that they are saved, guided by the Holy Spirit, and are genuine followers of Jesus. According to Romans 10:8–13, whoever declares with their mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believes in their heart that God raised him from the dead will be saved. Not only that, but they are justified by the belief in their heart and the profession of their faith in Jesus, and they won't be put to shame. In fact, verse 13 states, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." However, there appear to be obvious loopholes in this seemingly hopeful biblical promise, such as the implication that a person could still be stripped of their salvation if they don't follow God's will. I'm referring to Jesus' parable of the sheep and goats (Matthew 25:31–46) and his clear warning: "Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). In my opinion, these scriptures demonstrate that even though a person has repented and asked God to forgive them of their sins, they could still lose their salvation if they don't follow God's will. Herein lies another inconsistent message in the Bible, in my opinion, as Romans 10:8–13 plainly states that a person will be saved if they declare with their mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in their heart that God raised Jesus from the dead.
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