When did/do you get saved?

[Heneni]

On Judgment Day, each one will have to give an account for his actions, taking personal responsibility for what he has done.

Thats an interesting perspective. I give god the credit for the good things that i do. I cant take the credit for it. Will he then judge me for the wrong things that i have done? Or has he forgiven me for them. Love keeps no score of the wrong things done.

 

[Riverwolf]

but for a Christian, salvation comes not from what one does or understands, but from the gift of One sent by God and of God, a unique and Living Saviour, sent by God to teach us and save us. His perspective and understanding surpasses anything i could have attampted to grasp, however earnestly or open-mindedly, is i'd have moved through life.

I think I understand.

I certainly feel that being "saved" had not so much to do with the death and resurrection, but the teachings. The teachings which would help those who would listen learn about themselves, and each other, while living a full and complete life.

 

[Katzpur]

Thats an interesting perspective. I give god the credit for the good things that i do. I cant take the credit for it. Will he then judge me for the wrong things that i have done? Or has he forgiven me for them. Love keeps no score of the wrong things done.

I sort of get what you're saying, but I do see a problem with that way of looking at it. If you give Him the credit for the good things you do, there is no such thing as obedience. What good are your good acts if they are not a result of your choice to obey? Or am I misunderstanding you?

 

[sojourner]

Maybe "obedience" is our choice, but the good works that arise from the obedience are the fruit of God working in us -- indicators of our obedience, but not "rewardable" in and of themselves.

 

[blackout]

I was "saved"
literally my Self was saved from oblivian
the day I stopped listening to others
and took my life back
and started authoring it mySelf again.
(or... if you prefer...
co-authoring it... ALONE...
with the LivingSentientUniverse )

You have no idea how far I've come in 5 years.
the world, religion, and marriage almost killed me.
If you saw me then...
you would not recognize me.
Living by other's rule, authority, & expectation
was the death of my Self.
I lost all my personal style, all my dynamic,
all my personal hopes and dreams,
I gained 60+ lbs, got sick, chronically ill....
and almost fell into depression
over a period of 10 years.
Con-formity to the standards of others
was the near total death of ME.

"Others" will all too easily
steal your soul... your person...
your entire identity...if you let them.

Sooo... 5 years later...
I am still a work in progress...
but at least I am ME again.
MY current version of me...
is actually the most WONDERFUL
version of me that I have ever been before.
The inner one I know I am...
gradually coming into BEing...
manifesting gradually on the outside...
as I truly am... on the inside.

Because I TREASURE who I am
this CREATION of Self...
and because I strive to live
deep in the eternal NOW...
I just assume it is my gift
it is my birthright...
of the Living Sentient Universe
that I have CHOSEN
to keep.
(after all... the eternal NOW, IS eternally now. )

I have gone deep within
and ACTIVELY chosen to "save" my essence of Self...
with the "right" to "upgrade" my "version"...
out into eternity. :rainbow1:

I know that others feel we are supposed to "lose" the Self.
(in the ONE Great BEing)
and this perhaps is what they choose.
But I rather like.... BEing me.
I think it would nice to be able to enter into either experience of BEing... at will.

BTW... if read ALONE...
I do believe everything I have said here
stands up to Y'shua's Kingdom Teachings.
(according to interpretation of course. )

 

[Weddy]

There is the premise that somebody gets saved when they say the sinners prayer. Do you believe that is when you are saved?

If not...why not
If yes...why yes.

Heneni

I got saved when I was 8 years old. I was by myself in my room, and I prayed to accept Jesus as my Saviour. I repented of my sins. I acknowledged that Jesus died on the cross and suffered for my sins and rose on the third day. I asked Jesus to live in my heart and save me from hell.

At the age of 8 my prayer wasn't as fancy sounding as an adult's prayer might be, but it didn't need to be. I didn't repeat the "sinner's prayer", although that is fine to do if you believe it in your heart.

 

[ayani]

i agree, in some ways. i think we're saying and thinking similar things, but phrasing it differently.

yes, it's the teachings that Jesus brings. yet uniquely, because God chose to teach us , not with a book but with His Son's life, the Person of Jesus is Himself the Message. and one can have the teachings right in front of one's self and admire them, but if one does not, in faith, live out Christ's message and person in one's own life, then there's no conversion, no new life, no second birth.

it's interesting to reread Jesus' interactions with the men and women He healed. e.g. the blind men in Matthew 20:30-34. in faith, they cry out to Him for help and healing, knowing, somehow, that this unique Man has the Spirit of God in Him, to heal and rescue. Jesus asks them what they would like Him to do for them. now, Jesus knew darn well they we'ren't going to say "O Jesus! i have this hangnail that's really bothering me!" He knew, of course, that they wanted to see. but their faith in Him, and their consent in His healing them are significant. in faith, in admitting one's need, and in asking this One Man to step in and make them whole, something new happens.

I think I understand.

I certainly feel that being "saved" had not so much to do with the death and resurrection, but the teachings. The teachings which would help those who would listen learn about themselves, and each other, while living a full and complete life.

 

[Heneni]

Saying...OK i accept Jesus...would imply that Jesus is in some way on offer. But i dont think that is what is going on. I believe i was saved on the cross. When god decided it was time, he drew me too him, to get to know him, not to get saved.

 

[ayani]

Heneni ~

well, i'd say that it works both ways... God is the Master of the Universe, after all and yes, His hand is in events and meeting, drawing the human heart closer to the person of His Son. the offer is always there, being held out. God's will and guidance has to happen (e.g. the individual and the end of their ropes winding up in a hotel room with a Bible), and the individual needs to take that prayerful step of asking / surrender. there are many other cases, too, when the same thing is revealed to the person miraculously, without their asking.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Being saved is not something I can Do or Chose, It is something God Does.
I am not even sure what " being Saved" means.
We do not become Christians to gain a reward.

Christ taught us many things. His teachings that survive today are probably only a fraction of those he gave us during his time on earth.

For this reason It is necessary to live our lives in a way that compliments the ethos of those teachings,rather than limit ourselves to those teachings that survive.

We are all undoubtedly the children of God, but we are also in danger of being cast out along with our sins, but for the Grace of God.

Are we, and am I Saved?..... That will be decided by the total of our life's choices, that might be summed up in "our Faith".... God's mercy is assured.

 

[ayani]

well, i'm thinking more along the lines of a conversion experience.

i was raised in the Lutheran church... but nothing much of it stuck. i enjoyed the services and the music, and admired Christ in a general way, but had no living faith, nothing much of Christianity beyond sunday mornings.

so in my case, i had to do a lot of wandering. through many faiths and then, finally, simply asking God what is true about Jesus, and where that would leave me in relation to Him. so in this case "being saved" is related to a willful conversion to Christianity. from an old way of life, to deciding to live as a follower of Jesus Christ. it's a decsion that comes about through God's grace, guidance, and Holy Spirit, and the fruits of that conversion result in a more Christ-like nature, fomo the inside out. not to say that one is perfect- there's still sin, still human mistakes, still disobedience and imperfection. but because, as Christ promised, the Holy Spirit is with and within the believer, that walk becomes easier, and Spirit-lead.

for a Christian, one can choose to water that seed of faith- in fellowship, reading the scriptures, spending time alone with God day to day, praying on certain challenges and issues, and asking God's help in loving and serving one's neighbors more fruitfully. or one can kind of let that seed grow dark and dormant, for a short time or for a while. devotion and living one's faith need to be a part of it, too. it's about sincere discipleship, not simply about a single event that leaves one free to live as one pleases in the aftermath.

this is what i have seen at least, in my own life, and the lives of close friends.

 

[doppelganger]

One is "saved" when it enters one's reality that "salvation" has arrived. For some people, that occurred when they said the sinner's prayer and experienced a change in the way they felt about themselves. For others, it occurred at baptism and re-affirmed through confirmation and participation in sacramental rituals ordained by holy tradition.

Some people who say the sinner's prayer and feel saved, later decide that that wasn't really what "salvation" means. Others profess the "right" words and never look back.

It largely depends on what one thinks about what it is one needs salvation from. No matter how one slices the cosmology, the christology or the theology of the matter, DallasApple has hit upon the real issue in her post at the top of this thread. Ultimately, any salvation one needs is from one's own thoughts about separation, judgment and damnation.

If an avatar projected outside of thought to enhance the appearance of power in one's words is what is required to disentangle from the reality of one's own judgments, then a sinner's prayer might be just the thing to solve a very real psychological problem where a person can't acknowledge that power within his or her self.

In my own experience, both personally and in interacting with others, I find that faith professions, and other magic word and magic ritual approaches to enlightenment/salvation, tend to increase feelings of division and separation ultimately, though they can have a more local and immediate effect on enhancing a sense of community among like practitioners by creating an insider vs. outsider mentality. They aren't a solution, but magical practices (including faith professions and participation in magic rituals) may bring a sense of comfort from anxiety by holding one's inner demons at bay during particularly rough times. They frequently (usually) become a barrier to understanding and grace, placing the dictates of the magical practices above the spirituality of love and compassion - essentially confusing the signs for the thing signified.

It's a trade off that many people have to make though in order to cope. And everybody (myself included) makes that trade off to some extent.

 

[UnTheist]

I haven't been saved yet. Maybe in a year or so.

 

[Heneni]

You were saved when you were spiritually 'rebooted'. The rebooting happened on the cross. Old things then are there passed away...and behold the new had come.

While we are on this earth we testify to the fact that we have been rebooted. Our spirits have already been renewed. It might not look like it, because until we come to god we are as filthy rags...the flesh trips us up. But we are drawn to god to learn how to overcome the flesh. Such things are not possible for those who have not been 'rebooted'. Their flesh rules their spirit. When we were rebooted, your spirit was given the ability to rule the flesh. You have been crucified to the world. The old operating system useless....and you have been given a new operating system. One that works with your spirit. You understand spiritual matters with your new spiritual operating system. . The things of god is no longer foolishness because your new operating system, can process spiritual matters.

Heneni

 

[Heneni]

Oh...i forgot to add...the spiritual rebooting happened on the cross.

You were translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light. What you are on this earth to do...is testify to that. And be a witness to the fact!

If jesus did not rise from the dead...neither did you. He switched you off! And if he did not come back to life....neither did you.

Heneni

 

[sojourner]

Oh...i forgot to add...the spiritual rebooting happened on the cross.

Did it? That theological stance is still up for debate (after 2000+ years) in Christendom.

 

[Riverwolf]

If jesus did not rise from the dead...neither did you. He switched you off! And if he did not come back to life....neither did you.

That's really a philosophy that I've always had a problem with.

I feel that this philosophy of the death and resurrection of Jesus, when put in front of all his other aspects, can take away the value of what he actually said while he was alive. I'm not saying the death and resurrection of Jesus isn't important in general, as if nothing else, it's very important to the story of Jesus that he gets crucified and rises again after three days; it's just not an aspect that I particularly take much interest in.

Then again, I'm more inclined towards Jesus the Sage rather than Jesus the Messiah. But that's my opinion.

 

[Godslove]

There is the premise that somebody gets saved when they say the sinners prayer. Do you believe that is when you are saved?

If not...why not
If yes...why yes.

Heneni

Those that are saved are they that have not the law of God. Those that have the law must keep all of Gods commandments and endure to the end in order to be saved Amen

 

[Peace]

Thats an interesting perspective. I give god the credit for the good things that i do. I cant take the credit for it. Will he then judge me for the wrong things that i have done? Or has he forgiven me for them. Love keeps no score of the wrong things done.

If the scale of one's good deeds overweight the scale of bad deeds then the person is saved.
God has created within everyone of us good and evil, and gave us freewill to follow the path we want. So we are responsible for our actions and for the outcome of our deeds.

Peace

 

[Heneni]

If the scale of one's good deeds overweight the scale of bad deeds then the person is saved.
God has created within everyone of us good and evil, and gave us freewill to follow the path we want. So we are responsible for our actions and for the outcome of our deeds.

Peace

Thats called reaping what you sow. And since god is the sower in the life of a christian, the result is a harvest of righteousness. Perhaps what you are describing is more how god will judge the world. Their good works vs. their bad works. And since man cannot out of himself sow righteousness, he cannot in any way reap righteousness. So any works that is done not out of faith, but out of self-righteousness, is not going to be of any use, and that mans works will be burnt up. Even a christians works that are not as a result of faith, but out of self-righteousness will be burnt up, though he himself will be saved.


Our (christians) good works outweighing our bad works is not going to determine whether you are saved or not. It is rather as sign that you are/are not.

We (christians) were saved...FOR good works.

We (christians) are not saved...BY good works.