Sin and Salvation indeed! Wow... I'd be curious to find out how many of us are motivated by the fear of hell, or the blessings of heaven? How much does this motivate you?
And how much of our ethical and moral lives are influenced by our religous beliefs about heaven and hell?
Can a person who IS NOT a Christian, or part of ANY religion for that matter, have a sense of ethic and morals? And if so, how do you think this would be different for a non-religious person... or an atheist?
I recently heard a radio program that had Bart Ehrman on -- a former Born-again evangelical, who went to a pretty prestigious university to become a Greek and Hebrew Scholar to be able to read the bible in its original language. But as he began to grapple with teh inconsistencies and differences in translations, he began, slowly, to lose his faith as he knew it.
Now he calls himself an agnostic... but he says he has felt more liberated - he says hes MORE ethical... maybe in a different way than before... but there is certainly more freedom for him.
Does that sound wierd?
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My Personal Viewpoint on Salvation
Yesterday in Adult Discussion when I asked each of you to describe your own personal view of Salvation, I said I would describe mine last because I did not want to influence anyone. My personal viewpoint on salvation may be summarized NMP.
If we are saved by faith alone, then unless I choose to reject God’s Grace and to do something really nasty, then my salvation is solely God’s decision and its Not My Problem (NMP)!
If my salvation is based partially or solely on my Good Works, then I’m not going to make the cut of Jesus’ example, so it’s still NMP!
If there is Universal Salvation, NMP!
If there is Proprietary Salvation, NMP!
If the rules for Salvation are not fair, and God chooses to save people like Hitler, NMP!
I can’t be bothered with things that are NMP, because I have got my marching orders from Matthew 22:37-39:
“Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
These verses say nothing about salvation, nor about reward, nor about punishment; they just say “Do It!”
When I worked at NSA, we had a saying: “Doing a good job here is like peeing on yourself while wearing dark pants – you will get a warm feeling but no one else will notice.” I think this saying applies to loving God and to loving your neighbor as well.
You don’t do those things to gain your salvation, you do them because that’s the job you were told needs to be done.
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