Unsure - Has it ever occurred to you that if the Jesus story is true then Jesus already died for you, me and everyone, the "price" has been paid, you don't need to be saved you already are and always have been. Religion sells conditional "salvation" because they want to keep you donating money and being enslaved to them.
Do I have to believe in Jesus to be saved?
by unsure 119 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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unsure
@sparrowdown
I sure hope so. It's always the preachers who say you must believe to be saved that make me wonder if they are right and other views are not. It's also being an ex JW where your salvation was mostly conditional.
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Chook
Ask the next Judical committee do I only have to believe in Jesus then your will hear about the works based salvation that has only men judging fellow humans.
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hooberus
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6
"Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
11This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
12Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12
30"And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Acts 16:30-31
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hooberus
At the moment of belief you permanently receive the imputed righteousness of God and the free gift of Eternal life which can never be lost or forfeited.
21"But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:" Romans 3:21-24
47Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. John 6:47
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
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tepidpoultry
What makes you believe that you'll be saved either way? Maybe what you're believing isn't real, Religion for the most part originated and developed as a product of fear, that's the prime motivator, now if you take the Bible for instance and examine it rationally against physical evidence over what you WANT to believe.. THEN ask the question: Must I believe in order to be saved,
:0)
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unsure
The issue is I want to believe. I pray for whatever is out there to reveal themselves to me.
However a "feeling" does not prove anything. An event that is pure coincidence that many would say is Divine does not prove anything. A vision, dream or illusion does not prove anything. These could be psychological tricks. I want that feeling that some have that they are truly convinced they have been saved. Even still, whats to stop that feeling from being a psychological trick? That is my problem with having to have 100% unquestionable faith. As others have said, God could easily use skywriting, or have one of each of his myriads of angels appear in front of every human, then there would be no doubt.
Even scholars debate the existence of Jesus outside the context of the Bible.
How am I supposed to ignore logical explanations and information and deny it and attribute it to the Divine?
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tepidpoultry
How do you put aside your own desires for an objective analysis? You can't, the closest you can come to that is by listening to diametrically opposed points of view, you've heard all about Theism, have you heard from expert Atheists like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris etc? But here's a question for you: Why is the Almighty, someone who loves you, making this so difficult for you? -
jp1692
Now we're getting somewhere! We can put your first question together with your updated answer to mine and come up with a more complete question:
- "Do I have to believe in Jesus to be saved from Adamic sin?"
This is obviously only a question that followers of the three Abrahamic religions--Judaism, Christianity and Islam--would be concerned with. Jews and Muslims would emphatically answer, "No, you do not need to believe in Jesus." In fact, their concepts of Adamic sin and its consequences are very different than Christians', but they would want you to join their synagogue or mosque.
Of course, Christians (and I'm speaking very generally here) would almost universally say that you need to "believe in Jesus" (whatever that means) to be saved. That's their hook. Churches all have some kind of exclusivity that requires you belong to them, otherwise: what's the point?
And of course, if you asked a Hindu or a Buddhist, you'd get a completely take on the subject as they don't believe the Genesis/Garden of Eden account at all.
All of that being said, I would like you to consider a different way of looking at the question, one based on actual evidence and not religious guesswork.
Consider this: our best scientific knowledge is that anatomically modern humans have been on this planet for 100,000 to 300,000 years. Our study of evolutionary also helps us to understand that there was in fact no first human.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdWLhXi24Mo
Although studies of mitochondrial DNA indicate that we all descended from one mother, it does not follow that we all had the same father. Either way, there was not Adam. And since there was no "Adam" there cannot have been "Adamic sin."
This whole idea of original sin was invented to make us feel bad about ourselves and eternally indebted to a God. The key point is that there has always been some priestly class that acts as intercessor on our behalf. This is how they maintain authority and control.
But the key point is: it's all a fiction.
You do not need "saving." You are human. You are what you are and that's fine. Learn to accept that and be the best version of yourself you can, but don't worry about living up to some impossibly high, unreachable standard that always keeps you feeling bad about yourself.
Repeat: You do not need saving. YOU DO NOT NEED SAVING.
You're fine just the way you are.