In Acts 2, when the men of Israel came to the realization that they had put to death the Son of God, the cried out, "What shall we do?" Similarly, the Philippian jailer in Acts 16 asked, "What must I do to be saved?" This is one of the most important questions in scripture -- what does a man need to do to be saved?
In our increasingly secular, yet loosely "Christian", society the answer seems to be "not much". When a public figure dies, if anything is said at all about the home of their eternal spirit, everyone seems to assume the departed has gone to heaven. Have they? I don't mean to be heartless about this, but the question is too important to trust to presumption and wishful thinking. In this series of posts I want to examine what the scriptures say about this subject. This first post will explore some common ideas about the subject. In the following posts we will look at what the scriptures have to say.
Many hold the idea that if you live a good moral life, God, who is merciful, will welcome you into heaven. Hell is reserved for the truly evil, like Hitler or Osama Bin Laden (maybe). But we face the problem that we are all guilty of evil according to God's standard (see post Good People). None of us will be saved by our own righteousness. So if we are all evil, how will God decide who is saved and who is lost?
Another view is that, while we have all sinned, God is merciful. God is love. How could a loving God send souls to eternal torment? So then, God will forgive. Yes, God is love, but God is also just. And yes, God will forgive. But we need to understand the basis and conditions upon which that forgiveness is given.
Finally, many have the understanding that the question "What must I do to be saved?" is misguided. You can't do anything to be saved. Salvation is a gift of God. It is done entirely on God's part. You have nothing to do with it. God chooses who will be saved and the Holy Spirit comes upon them and saves them. Once they are saved, there is nothing they can do to change that unalterable act of God. They are saved no matter what they do. Yes, believers are to live sanctified lives, in gratitude to the God who saved them. But such behavior is not strictly necessary for salvation. Is this what scripture teaches?
Stay tuned.
- PG
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stay tuned? :) Very good, Dad.
ReplyDeleteAnd what the world says about how God chooses who will be saved ....it sort of contradicts what they believe in other ways...like that God is so loving that what we do has nothing to do with it....wouldn't He just choose to save EVERYONE regardless of their actions....even Hitler and Osama? or is that what they believe? And if God just chooses who is saved, it makes Matthew 28:19-20 meaningless, because if God has already saved everyone who will be saved, we don't have to try to convert them.