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Author Thread: Two Essentials of the Faith.........
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Two Essentials of the Faith.........
Posted : 19 Jul, 2010 05:43 PM

I only have two essentials of the faith.



Essentials are the bare minimum of things another person would have to believe before you would consider them a brother or sister in the faith.



I only have two, and I know these two presuppose a lot more, like believing the Bible, etc, but here are the central two:



1. Repent



have a change of heart, and turn from sin as a way of life, and purpose to obey

God with your life.



2. Trust in Christ alone.



To have a reliant trust in Jesus, and what HE did on the cross to have paid for

your sins, and thus make you right (Justified) before God.





Now, I have never had anyone come to me and tell me they are a Christian but

they disagree with repentance, and that repentance is not necessary.



There have been groups in the early church that have said this and taught it,

and they were rejected by Christians for doing so.



I have only met one person who I met briefly who literally told me that because

they "walked the aisle" (made a public profession of faith), that it did not

matter how they lived, etc.



And I have met a couple of people who have made a profession of faith in Jesus,

but continued on being drunk all the time, just like they did before they made a

profession of faith.



I do not accept these people as brothers or sisters in the faith.



I can not, even if I really want to.



Scripture is crystal clear on these very simple, and very repeated ideas.



To become a Christian, one must repent and trust and rely on Jesus to be right

with God.



God has made this simple so that anyone can understand it, and I think that all

true Christians realize these two things from the moment God regenerates them.



I think the minute they are born again, they KNOW that they must turn from sin,

AND that they must trust in Jesus in order that their sins would be paid for by

Him.





A simple faith in Jesus, and then believing that God has saved you, a life of

simply trying to be faithful to what God has called us to, is the center of the

Christian faith.



If anyone says that you don't have to turn from sin as a way of life, then you

are not a Christian.



If anyone says that trusting in what Jesus did, is not enough to make you

justified before God, then you are not a Christian.



And in closing I would like to rip off Martin Luther:



Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident

reason-for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, nor people on yahoo

groups with strange private interpretations, as it is clear that they have erred

repeatedly and contradicted themselves-I consider myself convicted by the

testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the

Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's

conscience is neither safe nor sound. Here I stand, God help me. Amen.





In Christ,



James

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DontHitThatMark

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Two Essentials of the Faith.........
Posted : 20 Jul, 2010 09:01 AM

So in order to be a christian we must turn from sin? Isn't this the famous legalism everyone is talking about? What is sin? How do we know what sin is?





:peace::peace:

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Two Essentials of the Faith.........
Posted : 20 Jul, 2010 09:36 AM

Hello everyone:





Eph 2:8 for by grace ye are having been saved, through faith, and this not of you--of God the gift,

Eph 2:9 not of works, that no one may boast;

Eph 2:10 for of Him we are workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God did before prepare, that in them we may walk.



If there is anything that I need to be doing (Repent then believe) is this not works based salvation,which is not the Salvation of GOD.



Is not Salvation/Faith in Yeshua, just as it is written: Grace through Faith.

Even Faith and Grace are gifts of GOD.

Both Grace and Faith do not have their origins in man,Rather,these have and will always be of GOD.



Do I repent,then believe unto Salvation=Works

Do I Faith/Believe then repent=Salvation



Is Faith in Yeshua the outgrowth of repentance;

Or is repentance the outgrowth of Faith in Yesuha?



One is works,the Other is Grace.



Agape' and Charis

St.George

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Two Essentials of the Faith.........
Posted : 20 Jul, 2010 09:37 AM

Its not Legalisim...I remember Jesus Christ Him self said to a women...yer Sins have been forgiven...go an Sin no more...meanin...turn from sin...He was tellin her to ( Sin no more )...purty simple...xo

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Two Essentials of the Faith.........
Posted : 20 Jul, 2010 11:19 AM

James, how many times are you going to post the same thread about the essentials of faith. Sounds like you're not too sure of what faith is all about to be a Christian.:excited:

You just ran this same thread a couple of weeks ago ...duh:toomuch:



And so... what else about being a Christian that is important?:zzzz::yay:

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Two Essentials of the Faith.........
Posted : 20 Jul, 2010 11:24 AM

ETcallhome,





I think it is almost impossible to talk about justification by faith alone, too often.



Perhaps, maybe we could talk about the trustworthyness of the Bible?



How canon was chosen?



What true faith looks like?



Heaven?



Hell?



I know! The Puritans!





In Christ,



James

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Two Essentials of the Faith.........
Posted : 21 Jul, 2010 05:54 AM

Jesus gave us just two commandments.

Love God with your whole heart and love others as you love yourself.

Follow these and everything else falls into place.

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