I could never put my faith in religion, and never will. Those who will hear, let me tell you why.
I don't put stock in religion. That is man-made philosophy. Religion did not die on the cross for my sins. Jesus did.
Religion never saved anyone. Religion is dead! Religion, without Christ, is empty. What some have said, is absolutely true. There are fake "followers of Christ" out there that turn my stomach. Those type people have never been saved in the first place and you can tell it by their actions and their words. They are hypocrites, and give the true followers of Christ, a terrible name. But we can't put phony so-called followers in the same barrel with those who do love and follow Christ and are not hypocrites. We can't call that fair. There are just as many phony people of those who are only "religious" or not!
Where are their morals? They don't they treat people any better then those you accuse, and they don't care what they do to other people nor how they treat them. One is just as bad as the other. I have seen what some call pagan and heathen, do some very terrible things, so we can't just focus on "Christians".
There's one appointment, whether one believes in Jesus or not, that every human being on this Earth will keep, and that is when we all stand before Christ and give an account of what we did with our lives, whom we chose to worship, and how we treated people. And people won't go to hell just because they were good or bad. Salvation has absolutely nothing to do with works/performance. It has to do with whether or not people ignored or took care of their own soul and planned for eternity. That's what will count. We're all going to pass one day, whether we like it or not. We have an appointment with death and none of us will get out of it, so it would be wise for every one of us to listen to the one person who loves us and loved us enough to try and save us and knows exactly how to do that.
Nobody else knows exactly how to do that, but Christ. Christ has been on both sides of eternity. He came from eternity to let us know how to be saved and then He went back to His Father in heaven. Who else would know better than HE, how to SAVE US? No one. Not one of us.
God the Father appointed Jesus, just for that purpose. But don't mistake that. God did not force his son to die on the cross and pay for our sins. Jesus volunteered! Out of his great love for us. No one will ever love you like that, friend. So all the good works in the world, will mean nothing if we have not prepared our souls for eternity, because up there, people will not be judged by what they did or didn't do, except for WHAT THEY DID to prepare their own soul for eternity. Their final destination, is strictly decided on whom they decided to believe in. If they rejected the only plan of salvation that could save them, then no... They cannot expect to walk into heaven with sin on their heels.
God said hey...I've got a plan of salvation here, to save you from the condemnation that sin placed on you....(on all of us), if you will come to Me and allow Me to save you. So what do you think He can do, if we're so stubborn that we just say, "NO, God? I don't want any part of you or your plan of salvation?" What is he supposed to do with that?
That's why we have choice. Not everyone wants to follow Christ or believe in His plan to save us, so they curse him and want nothing to do with him and tell him to get lost. Now, with their own decision, and by their own mouth, they have refused the only plan and person that could saved them and that is through Jesus Christ. If that's what they chose, when they had the opportunity, God will give them the desire of their heart. That was their choice, not His, because He is not willing that any should perish, but have everlasting life in heaven with him.
Jesus is straight up with us. He tells us exactly what to do so we won't miss heaven. But because not everyone believes him or wants anything to do with him, they have to let him know their decision. Their own decision shall determine where they spend eternity. We get to decide. God is fair. Sin is not. We cannot expect to drag our sins into a holy heaven. It wouldn't even be heaven, if that was the case. Here, God wants to save us, and people are saying "No no! I don't want any part of that." That's okay and that will break God's heart, but they just sent their own soul to hell by refusing Jesus's lifeline, so He could save them.
If you're out on the sea and you're drowning because your boat capsized, and you can't swim, and I come by and offer you to take hold of my oar and you refuse to allow me to save you, what do you think will happen? Of course, you'll drown and that was because of your own unwise decision. Same way, same principle, for salvation. People can laugh, mock, and curse God all they want, but in the end, the fact still remains that Jesus is the only person that can save you. That's one decision that we cannot afford to get wrong.
God never HAS been out to hurt us or send us to hell. He proved that on the cross. He's only out to save us....IF we will allow Him to. And that decision is the most important decision we'll ever make in our entire lives, because it determines where we'll spend eternity. Think about it. That's an awfully long time, should we get it wrong, just because of our ego or stubbornness. Salvation is never determined by our performance. It is determined by the promise of Christ to save us from hell, if we'll believe him and allow him to do that. If we go to hell, it will not be because Christ did not provide a way to escape it.
Sin always keeps us separated from God.... UNTIL we go to Jesus and ask him to forgive us of our sins and invite him into our hearts and lives as our Savior. There's not one other thing in this universe that can match that.
Religion never saved anyone. Religion is dead! Religion, without Christ, is empty. What some have said, is absolutely true. There are fake "followers of Christ" out there that turn my stomach. Those type people have never been saved in the first place and you can tell it by their actions and their words. They are hypocrites, and give the true followers of Christ, a terrible name. But we can't put phony so-called followers in the same barrel with those who do love and follow Christ and are not hypocrites. We can't call that fair. There are just as many phony people of those who are only "religious" or not!
Where are their morals? They don't they treat people any better then those you accuse, and they don't care what they do to other people nor how they treat them. One is just as bad as the other. I have seen what some call pagan and heathen, do some very terrible things, so we can't just focus on "Christians".
There's one appointment, whether one believes in Jesus or not, that every human being on this Earth will keep, and that is when we all stand before Christ and give an account of what we did with our lives, whom we chose to worship, and how we treated people. And people won't go to hell just because they were good or bad. Salvation has absolutely nothing to do with works/performance. It has to do with whether or not people ignored or took care of their own soul and planned for eternity. That's what will count. We're all going to pass one day, whether we like it or not. We have an appointment with death and none of us will get out of it, so it would be wise for every one of us to listen to the one person who loves us and loved us enough to try and save us and knows exactly how to do that.
Nobody else knows exactly how to do that, but Christ. Christ has been on both sides of eternity. He came from eternity to let us know how to be saved and then He went back to His Father in heaven. Who else would know better than HE, how to SAVE US? No one. Not one of us.
God the Father appointed Jesus, just for that purpose. But don't mistake that. God did not force his son to die on the cross and pay for our sins. Jesus volunteered! Out of his great love for us. No one will ever love you like that, friend. So all the good works in the world, will mean nothing if we have not prepared our souls for eternity, because up there, people will not be judged by what they did or didn't do, except for WHAT THEY DID to prepare their own soul for eternity. Their final destination, is strictly decided on whom they decided to believe in. If they rejected the only plan of salvation that could save them, then no... They cannot expect to walk into heaven with sin on their heels.
God said hey...I've got a plan of salvation here, to save you from the condemnation that sin placed on you....(on all of us), if you will come to Me and allow Me to save you. So what do you think He can do, if we're so stubborn that we just say, "NO, God? I don't want any part of you or your plan of salvation?" What is he supposed to do with that?
That's why we have choice. Not everyone wants to follow Christ or believe in His plan to save us, so they curse him and want nothing to do with him and tell him to get lost. Now, with their own decision, and by their own mouth, they have refused the only plan and person that could saved them and that is through Jesus Christ. If that's what they chose, when they had the opportunity, God will give them the desire of their heart. That was their choice, not His, because He is not willing that any should perish, but have everlasting life in heaven with him.
Jesus is straight up with us. He tells us exactly what to do so we won't miss heaven. But because not everyone believes him or wants anything to do with him, they have to let him know their decision. Their own decision shall determine where they spend eternity. We get to decide. God is fair. Sin is not. We cannot expect to drag our sins into a holy heaven. It wouldn't even be heaven, if that was the case. Here, God wants to save us, and people are saying "No no! I don't want any part of that." That's okay and that will break God's heart, but they just sent their own soul to hell by refusing Jesus's lifeline, so He could save them.
If you're out on the sea and you're drowning because your boat capsized, and you can't swim, and I come by and offer you to take hold of my oar and you refuse to allow me to save you, what do you think will happen? Of course, you'll drown and that was because of your own unwise decision. Same way, same principle, for salvation. People can laugh, mock, and curse God all they want, but in the end, the fact still remains that Jesus is the only person that can save you. That's one decision that we cannot afford to get wrong.
God never HAS been out to hurt us or send us to hell. He proved that on the cross. He's only out to save us....IF we will allow Him to. And that decision is the most important decision we'll ever make in our entire lives, because it determines where we'll spend eternity. Think about it. That's an awfully long time, should we get it wrong, just because of our ego or stubbornness. Salvation is never determined by our performance. It is determined by the promise of Christ to save us from hell, if we'll believe him and allow him to do that. If we go to hell, it will not be because Christ did not provide a way to escape it.
Sin always keeps us separated from God.... UNTIL we go to Jesus and ask him to forgive us of our sins and invite him into our hearts and lives as our Savior. There's not one other thing in this universe that can match that.
