Sincere question for Christians

by sir82 51 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  abbagail

  Sir82 had written:

  The Bible tells us that the judgment is solely based on whether one accepted Jesus Christ as his savior, "believe on him and ye shall be saved".

  The first couple of respondents above have highlighted at least 2 areas where the judgment is based onsomething else, but did not specify what that "something else" is.

  The post from sammieswife seems to indicate, as well, a judgment based on "something else".

  What is this extra-Biblical "something else"? Or where do I find it in the Bible, if it is not "Believe on the lord Jesus and ye shall be saved"?

  You had it right the first time, there is nothing else "required," you have it covered.... Please check out this article, glorious! http://withchrist.org/MJS/paul.htm . Here is a quote from it:

  "If the great Luther, with his stirring message of justification by faith, had with Paul moved on from Romans 5 to Romans 6 with its amazing declarations concerning the now justified sinner's position of identification with his crucified, risen, and ascended Lord, would not a stifled, law-burdened Church be on higher ground today?" (F.J. Huegel, The Cross of Christ, p. 84).

  The confusion people seem to be having is mixing up what Jesus said to Israel BEFORE his sacrificial death, and what He says LATER, after his ascension, to/through the Apostle Paul for the Gentile Church Age believers.

  Rightly Dividing

  the Word of Truth

  Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

  "...rightly dividing the Word of Truth--the word "rightly dividing" literally means "to rightly cut, to cut straight."

  

  [...]

  That full article is here: http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/dispen/rightlydi.htm

  And going back to the first article I mentioned -- only because Miles Stanford writes more succinctly and clearly than I ever could -- here's a few more precious quotes that will remove a whole lotta confusion when one gets the sense of it:

  "All Scripture is ... profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16) , but all Scripture is of primary application to a particular person or class of persons which the Bible designates as such. All Scripture is not for the angels, nor is it all for the Gentiles. In like manner, not all Scripture is addressed to the Jew, nor is it all addressed to the Christian (Dispensationalism, p. 417).

  [...]

  A Christian cannot pick up his Bible and read just anywhere and find direction for his feet. If he does not read discerningly, he may think it his duty to help rebuild a temple in Jerusalem today, or do any of thousands of things that would be totally inconsistent with his position as a Christian, whose life, commonwealth, and hopes are in heaven (Col. 3:1-3).

  [...]

  I hope everyone will at least check out this one article by Stanford... it is so lofty what Christ has bestowed upon the Grace Age believer, and Miles elicites the beauty of it all further down in the article, after clearing up the confusion between Israel and the Church... full article here:

  PAULINE DISPENSATIONALISM

  Miles J. Stanford

  http://withchrist.org/MJS/paul.htm
• 

  abbagail

  Paul McCartney , I mean Leaving WT wrote:

  That sounds pretty good. People being judged on their works.

  Which law are you referring to?

  I should have put that in caps, Law, as in OT Law. And hold on, give me a minute to esplain...

  The "Kingdom Hope" for Israel went into "Temporary Suspension" when it became clear she, as a Nation, would not accept Jesus as her Messiah (even after His death Stephen, Peter, Paul, etc. still focused on the ruling bodies of Israel to bring them to salvation, as you know, but over that time period throughout Acts it became clear they, as a Nation, would not accept their Messiah).

  So the Lord then unfolded His plan for salvation of the Gentiles when He appeared to Paul, and thereafter for three years in Arabia giving Paul revelations for the Grace Age believer, that salvation comes by GRACE and FAITH ALONE, not by Works. So, the "Kingdom Hope" (the earthly one) for Israel was now "SUSPENDED" and the GRACE AGE became "ACTIVE."

  To this day we are still in the GRACE AGE. It won't end until the "fullness of the Gentiles has come in" - Romans 11:25 I think.

  THEN, the "Kingdom Hope" will be taken off of its long "SUSPENSION," and God's attention/focus will again turn from the Gentile Church/Grace Age (which will have been completed in its fullness), back to Israel-as-a-whole and its Kingdom. This will begin on/around the same time the seven-year Tribulation begins, and during this time, all the people on the planet who did not accept Salvation by Grace during the Church Age, will by default come under the LAW again. Those who want (even if by default) to live by the Law will be judged by the Law.

  Even during Christ's 1,000 year reign (which begins at the end of the seven-year Trib), He will "rule the nations with a rod of iron" -- which sounds like Law to me anyway, which is why I say at the end of those 1,000 years, when the "rest of the dead" are resurrected, they will be judged by Law.

  Below chart re: Kingdom Suspended during Gentile/Grace Age (if it shows up, if not see here): http://www.withchrist.org/kingdom-suspended.htm

  

  I'm definitely taking a wait and see approach. I am not capable of being dogmatic on matters of faith, thanks to my cult experience.

  Very wise, and I agree. Nobody knows everything, and everybody is at different stages of their learning, so I just enjoy learning whatever I learn and even though I do love to share, I don't fret over it near as much as I did when I was a JW and feeling like **I** had to do something to MAKE the other person believe the same thing.

  Another neat chart with the outline of Law/Kingdom vs. Grace, etc: http://www.e-grace.net/chart.html . I'd post it here but it's too wide/long I think.