And why is that difference important? Remember that "no unclean person can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven"
SO many great answers. It will be hard to choose best answer. Many of you are hitting the nail on the head and expounding the scriptures on this important point.
Anonymous
Favorite Answer
He can't save us "in" our sins.
Sins are like a spiritual debt that we incur every time we do something wrong. He can take those sins away from us so that we are not charged with them because He's already paid the price for them. View Him as a spiritual mediator separating us from our sins by aligning ourselves with Him.
EDIT: The answers below mine advocate a gospel without striving for righteousness as if sin doesn't exist once someone merely has faith in Christ. To believe such is to rob the meaning and effect of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and negate His holy words in the bible.
We're told that not all who call on His name will be brought into heaven but those who do His works as well.
If one had to choose between faith and works faith would obviously be the better choice; but you don't need to choose! You can declare Christ your personal Savior by striving to be like Him and thus feeling that closeness to Him you're sanctified from your sins.
I find it so sad to think that people actually believe that once you accept Christ in word you are not required to accept Him in deed. People's actions speak so much louder than lips and never lie.
I'm not sure why I'm getting thumbs down for actually repeating God's command to follow Him that those who love Him will keep His commandments.
Yoda's Duck
As you point out, no unclean thing can enter Father's presence. Hence the need for Christ's grace/payment for our sins.....
But remember- the word "conversion" means a change (electrical converter?). If we are to be truly converted to Christ, it requires a change within us- a second birth (Nicodemus asked about it). We must become new people and leave the old things- like sins- behind.
At the same time, I think it's a life-long process to become the person Jesus and our Father know we can become (via Jesus' grace/payment for our sins). We must overcome our sins and weaknesses by not doing them anymore. Once we have overcome our own foibles and habits, then Jesus will measure out the payment, like an insurance policy won't pay out till the total balance is known.
He saves us from our sins.
odd duck
Saying that we are saved in our sins implies that God doesn't hold us in very high regard, and that He is willing to tolerate sin.
Since we know neither is true (Ps. 82: 6; 1 Cor. 6:9-20), I would say that we are saved from our sins.
We are going to sin as long as we are living, so there will always be a need for repentance. To say that you are saved no matter what you do in this life once you say you believe in Christ means that you cheapen what the atonement meant to Christ. To say that none of your sins matter after saying a little prayer means that the murderer, rapist or child abuser will be forgiven of their sins after death, as long as they said the prayer, no matter what they did after they said it. So, if they said it before they committed the crime, then that crime doesn't matter in the long run.
Also, Christ has said time and again that you have to repent to enter the kingdom of heaven. I don't think that repentance is a one time thing. I think that because we are continually sinning, we have to repent continually.
In a way, I think we have a hand in our own salvation. We are the ones who choose to repent and we are the ones who accept the grace that Christ has provided for us.
lightgiver
Would you as a parent allow your child to do anything he wishes with no consequences? Would that be in his best interest? How would you help your child to learn what behavior will help him to be most happy?
If you answer in this way: No, I would not allow my child to do anything he wishes to do, I would help him to learn to make good choices. No, letting him get away with anything he wanted to do would not be in his best interest. Yes, I would help him to learn to choose the things that would make him ultimately the most happy by:
Giving him choices with rewards and punishments. Being there for him when he needed my help. Not always rushing in to rescue him, and providing a way for him to return to me if he fails. Always loving him no matter what.
Then, you can begin to see how God loves us his children, how it doesn't make logical sense that he would allow us to say just "I believe" and have everything be OK. How he has set up rewards and punishments for our actions. How he has set rules, laws, and commandments for us to keep. How he doesn't jump in and rescue us every time we get ourselves in a scrap. How no matter what, he is there when we turn to him. How he even allowed his only begotten son in the flesh to die for us.
This does not negate or water down what Jesus did for us in any way. When we truly repent of our sins and come to God again, our sins are washed clean through the atoning blood of our Savior Jesus Christ. Thus paying for the consequences of our sin and meeting the demands of justice, and applying the wonderful gift of mercy because we were willing to repent and to follow his example.
Because of the eternal principles of Justice and fairness, the law and commandments that God has established must have consequences and also rewards. He is not fickle or inconsistent as we sometimes are. Once a law or commandment has been established he will not revoke it.
That is why the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was so incredible. He did for us what we could never do for ourselves. Once we have done all we can, repented and made amends for the things we have done wrong, and our hearts are in the right place, he makes up the difference. If our hearts are pure and we have truly repented of our sins, then we are clean and will be accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven.
There are some great scriptures on this subject. Look up lds.org and go to scriptures. Type in the Attonement, or Justice or Mercy and all sorts of scriptural references and actual verses will pop up.
Hope this helps.
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I incredibly have some thing you need to locate exciting. I form of figured alongside the comparable traces as you probably did while i became into interpreting the bible. I examine over John 3:sixteen some cases and located that it in simple terms did no longer make any experience. As there are different areas of the bible that contradict it. ok so then i concept, what do i think of that is going to be. I got here to the top it would make extra experience that Jesus became into telling his disciples to believe him, no longer us needless to say by way of fact he became into conversing to them. Then I regarded up substitute translations to John 3:sixteen. This one is straight away from Wikipedia. this may well be translated actually as: For in this style God enjoyed the international: that he gave the unique son, so as that one and all of those trusting in him does not perish, yet have eternal existence. extra like trusting him, and believing his teachings have been the fact. no longer believing that he existed, by way of fact his disciples already knew that. i've got stumbled on it some different places too. i'm no longer saying I/you're top approximately this. I in simple terms have self assurance that Jesus became right into a customary individual. yet i'm nevertheless a Christian, pass parent.