Kidd!

Optional question: How would you categorize yourself?

My concern centers on the issue of how God judges people and on what basis He determines where they will spend eternity.

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus teaches that God will separate people into two groups, the sheep (the righteous) and the goats (the unrighteous). The distinction is based on how they treated people in this life. Here is the entire text (English Standard Version):

31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' 37Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' 40And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'

41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' 44Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' 45Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Another scripture passage touching on this subject is Matthew 7:21-23:

21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' 23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'

Verse 21 says that only those who DO the will of God will go to heaven.

Up to this point, apparently Jesus places greater stock in right behavior rather than in right belief.

However, the Apostle Paul teaches the importance of right belief concerning the gospel as is recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11:

1Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you believed in vain.

3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Belief appears to be emphasized here by the Paul.

Perhaps salvation involves a combination of right behavior AND right belief!.

This brings us back to my opening question...Do I have to BELIEVE that Jesus is God in order to go to heaven when I die? If so, what Scripture says that I have to believe this teaching in order for me to be considered a Christian?

How do you get around saying "Jesus died for your sins"? As shown below, one of the key points of the gospel is Christ's atonement for "our" sins:

"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures." (1 Corinthians 15:3, ESV).

As a 5-point Calvinist, I believe that Scripture clearly teaches that Christ died to atone for the sins of the "elect" only. My conviction is that they are the "our" in the verse above. Isaiah 53:11 says, "Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities." The Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, clears the accounts of the elect and declares them righteous because He died on the cross for their sins, and theirs alone.

My concern is that I cannot with conviction say to a person, "Jesus died for YOU."

Specifically, what do you say when you preach the gospel to unsaved people?

Why is this important to me? It affects how I preach the gospel. Should I tell my audience "Jesus died for you?"

I believe that Jesus died to secure the salvation of the elect only. He died for His sheep, not the goats. In his prayer in John 17 on the eve of his crucifixion, he said he was not praying for the world, "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours" (John 17:6-9, ESV)

Why would Jesus die for people he refused to pray for?

To those of you who hold to the "Limited Atonement" position, how do you present the death of Christ to your hearers if you do not say, "Christ died for you."

I will let the voters decide who will get the Best Answer "award" since you already know where I stand on this issue.

Please provide Scriptural support for your response. Thanks!

For instance, in the passage below, this expression is used...

19Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21

President Obama has been given the socialist label by many people. Is he a socialist? In your opinion, is this good or bad?

Since July 4th falls on a Saturday this year, when is it celebrated (banks closed, etc.)? July 3 or 6?

Both come out as 'the place', but what specifically is the difference between the two?

1Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

2Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

3According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

4Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

5And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

6And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

7And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

8For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

10Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

11For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I created a Calvinist group (which I will not name to make it clear that I am not trying to promote it) on Facebook the other day and one of my friends I invited to join had this to say in a message to me today...

"Sorry (I removed my name from the text) but I won't join that group. I believe John Calvin has it all wrong. I do not believe in limited atonement nor do I believe in total depravity. The Bible teaches in many places that man was "unwilling" to come to the Lord: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling." (Matthew 23:37 NASB) Here Jesus makes two things very clear. The first being that Jesus said that He wanted to gather them together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, thus indicating Jesus wanted them to come unto Him but they were "unwilling."

Second, Jesus said they were "unwilling" to come indicating they had a choice or free will. If a person has the ability to be unwilling they also have the ability to be willing, that is just common sense. In the King James version, Matthew 23:37 says "ye would not", proving that there is a free will. Jesus did not say "you could not" but rather He said, "you would not."

The doctrine of Total Depravity teaches that man either rejects God or chooses God because of His predestined plan of who will be saved and who will not be saved. In the book of Acts, Stephen is before the religious Jews preaching the message of Jesus Christ to them, and Stephen indicates that they resisted the Holy Spirit. "You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did." (Acts 7:51 NASB) Stephen states here that they resisted the Holy Spirit, thus indicating they were unwilling to accept the message of Jesus Christ.

In John 16:7-15 Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit would come and testify about Him, but it does not say, "the Holy Spirit would force people to believe." The point is if we are able to be "unwilling to come to Christ" and able "to resist the Holy Spirit" then we have a free will. In the book of Joshua the teaching of free will is clearly there: "15 "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." 16 The people answered and said, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; 17 for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of , and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. 18 "The LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God." 19 Then Joshua said to the people, "You will not be able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins. 20 "If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you." 21 The people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve the LORD." 22 Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the LORD, to serve Him." And they said, "We are witnesses." (Joshua 24:15-22 NASB)

In these verses there are four "proofs" that total depravity is not accurate. First, this is before the work of the cross and the regenerating of the Holy Spirit. Calvinism teaches that a person cannot receive Jesus without first being regenerated, known as being born again. People were not born again before the work of the cross; that came after Christ was crucified and resurrected. Secondly, the people were given a "choice" to choose to serve God or to serve false gods. Thirdly, the people made a choice to serve God. Fourthly, Joshua recognized they "have chosen for themselves the LORD, to serve Him", thus indicating they were able to choose the LORD.

Total inability is wrong Biblically, and Total inability is wrong logically. Total inability is wrong Biblically because the Scriptures clearly teach that we have a decision to make based upon us, not God forcing us as

Matthew 23:37, Acts 7:51, and Joshua 24:15-22 demonstrates. Total inability is wrong logically because it compares a person who is dead physically, which then the question would be "can a person who is spiritually dead not sin?" The person who is in a tomb can do nothing, so if a person who is spiritually dead cannot have any ability to choose God, therefore they have no ability to do anything, thus they cannot sin either. This sounds ridiculo

I need some advice.

My supervisor just got a Facebook account and I am considering requesting him to become one of my friends. Do you think this would be appropriate? (We are both happily married males for those of you who may be wondering.)

Are the words in the song AMAZING GRACE correct where they say...

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That SAVED a wretch like me.

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see." (emphasis added)