Who is in need of saving?

[SAC]

Sort of a strange question... but I'd love to get the Christian perspective on it.

Say you believed in Jesus when you were in your teenage years. Went to church regularly, accepted Him as your savior, were baptised in His name, and then something happens. In a few years, you decide there is no God, and you reject everything you once believed. You become a total atheist, and deny He even exists. You go as far as to deny Him to anyone who will even listen to you.

Do you think that this person would still go to Heaven? Once saved, always saved?

 

[Alien_Youth]

On this subject. I have accepted Christ and believe that those who do as well and truly live for him have a guarenteed place in heaven. Those who have not heard or accepted Christ would b judged o their actions in life which might make it somewhat harder to gain a place a heaven. However I also believe (and I have seen this) that people who accept Christ then turn away from him later on will never get a place in heaven as they have turned their backs on God. it is written in revelations 3:16 "So because you are neither hot nor cold I shall spit you out of my mouth". This verse implies that those that have accepted Christ must be completely on fire and living for him or be forever rejected.

Just my thoughts,

Alien Youth

God Bless you all

 

[may]

First Timothy 2:3, 4 answers: "[God’s] will is that all sorts of men should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge of truth
This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ."—John 17:3.so we all need to take in accurate knowledge to be saved

 

[preachero62]

People who have never heard of Jeus Christ will not be judged because they have never heard of Jesus Christ. They will be judged because they are sinners. All sinners will have their place in the lake of fire. Works are your proof that you are a Christian. James said faith without works is dead. That means that if you say you have faith, but you have no good works to prove it then your faith is dead. Your works cannot save you. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not by good works lest any man should boast. God has laid out the plan of salvation in the Bible. It is found in John 5:24; Romans 10:9-10, 13; and John 3:16. We don't decide how people can be born again. God already has. No where in the Bible does it say that good people got to heaven. Only born again Christians do.

 

[Squirt]

People who have never heard of Jeus Christ will not be judged because they have never heard of Jesus Christ. They will be judged because they are sinners. All sinners will have their place in the lake of fire. Works are your proof that you are a Christian. James said faith without works is dead. That means that if you say you have faith, but you have no good works to prove it then your faith is dead. Your works cannot save you. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not by good works lest any man should boast. God has laid out the plan of salvation in the Bible. It is found in John 5:24; Romans 10:9-10, 13; and John 3:16. We don't decide how people can be born again. God already has. No where in the Bible does it say that good people got to heaven. Only born again Christians do.

I'm speechless. (Well, almost. I'm never totally speechless.) About all I can say is that I find great comfort in believing in a God who is so much more loving and merciful than the one you have described.

 

[Smoke]

What, no option for "No one needs to be saved"?

 

[Majikthise]

This is a scary place.

 

[Endless]

If you accept the whole Bible as God's word then preachero62 is essentially correct as this is what the Bible teaches. However unless you have the whole picture infront of you this gives you a twisted view of God - a sort of tryant figure perhaps.

Bible states that all have sinned - all have done wrong things, thought wrong things etc. This is what the Bible describes as SIN - which essentially is rebellion against God and what he stands for. The Bible describes God as being a God of love but also as a God of Justness and righteousness. Being a Just God he must punish sin - since that is what sin deserves, a crime cannot go unpunished.
The punishment is separation from God - Bible states that God hates sin, the punishment is separation from God for eternity in a place that is known as hell. People may say at this point that the punishment doesn't fit the crime, but this is not the case, we have not grasped how Holy, pure and awesome God is, we have not grasped the full reality of how serious sin actually is - though one day the Bible teaches we all will understand. God being a Just God we can be sure that if this is the punishment then it fits the crime - we should therefore look at sin in a new light if we are not already.
Because all mankind has sinned (it's our fault and not God's for we made the choice) we were all destined to hell no matter what we did on earth, if God was a tryant who delighted in sending people to hell he would have left things as they are. However God is not like that, he is a God of love and mercy and not wanting anyone to go to hell there was only one thing that he could do to provide a way out. Being a Just God he could not overlook the sin of everyone as it had to be punished, and so being the only one that hadn't sinned he stepped in to take our place and our punishment upon himself, so satisfying the requirement that sin be punished. This is what Jesus did on the cross for us.
Though some people will never accept what Jesus did for them, God showed his love for them by taking the punishment of their sins upon himself through Jesus. There was no condition attached to this - God simply showed how much he loved us by sacrificing everything for us. Does this mean all will be saved because Jesus was punished for the sin of the world? No, because we have to accept Jesus as having taken our punishment - trusting him to have done what he said he had done. If we reject Jesus then we choose to bear our own sin and therefore we will take the punishment due our sins. So the ball is in our court - God has done everything but will not force us to accept Jesus.
There is nothing else that God can now do - the choice remains with each one of us - you and me. So you leave God no choice but to send you to hell if you carry your own sin. Can we turn around and say, God's unconditional love will mean he could never send anyone to hell? If could have been like that do you think God would have died and taken our punishment himself? God is Just - this means he has to punish sin - he cannot leave it unpunished. But his unconditional love for us as sinners is what made him give up everything and take our place - but the one thing that remains is our own choice. God's unconditional love is now of no use, because the choice is our own.
Did you really think God sends you to hell? No, look closer and you'll see that you send yourself there because you leave God no choice - even after he done everything so that all you have to do is say 'yes' - you say no and you'll send yourself to hell.

God himself says:

Eze 18:23 "Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?" says the Lord GOD, "and not that he should turn from his ways and live?

 

[YmirGF]

I have always asked people just what I needed to be save from, and what they thought I was being saved for. Sorry, I do not subscribe to concepts of reward and punishment in spiritual terms and even tend to downplay them in conventional terms. Bribery and the club are not very good motivators.

 

[Darkdale]

What, no option for "No one needs to be saved"?

yeah. That or, "I have no chance of being saved. I'm a freeman." Both would have been good options.

 

[jeffrey]

I think every baseball team needs a good closer. Trevor Hoffman with the Padres is one of the best. He usually averages over 40 'saves' a year. :biglaugh:

 

[jewscout]

this was originally a thread meant for christians but i opened it up to anyone...

wow i can't believe this one came back to life of all my threads lol

 

[Quiddity]

I most certainly do....:help:

 

[hanessah]

Everyone needs to be saved through Christ . This is the New Testament-This is what God as Jesus taught us and why God returned as Jesus to show us the way to be saved. "Believe in ME and thou shalt be saved".