Originally posted by BChristianK
Wickwoman said:
1. The son was saved, no questions asked. He did not ask to be saved. He planned to be a servant. His father didn't ask him what he wanted, he just bestowed his "sonhood" on him again.
He went back to his father in humility and repentance and asked to be demoted to the status of servant. Insofar as he took the first step back toward home he “asked to be saved.”
2. Nobody was sacrificed. The father didn't sacrifice the older, more responsible brother on the younger son's behalf.
Is this a joke?
This is a parable, not a doctrinal dissertation. This parables isn’t about the need for a sacrifice.
3. The son didn't do any good works to be accepted back into the father's home. For that matter, he was an irresponsible idiot.
Yup, just like the rest of us. This is a parable about repentance.
The sheep and the goats is not about salvation by grace, it's about salvation by works - feeding and clothing "the least of these."
Its about receiving Christ’s deciples and His message. Its not about salvation by works.
BeanieBoy said:
Let's say a guy is athiest.
He is the kind of guy that says, "Let me get the door for you," and doesn't think twice about it.
He sees a kid crying at an amusement park, because he's lost his mom, and picks the kid up and comforts him until his mom arrives.
He volunteers, because he likes to help his community.
Now, if Jesus or God doesn't live inside him, then how is it that he can be good?
This argument is based on a false premise. It assumes that only those in whom Christ lives can be philanthropic. Jesus never claimed that.
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
Mat 5:46-47
Is it good to be philanthropic to those who love you? Yup. Do you have to have Christ living in you to do so? Not according to Jesus. Same is true of greeting only your brothers.
So let me answer your question with a question, Lets say an atheist comes to your door and says. “Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I open doors for grey haired old ladies and I comfort crying children at amusement parks, although I pretty much can’t stand you, Can I come live in your house for eternity?”
What would be your response?
And if he is good without God and Jesus, what is the point of Jesus or God?
What do you mean, “what is the point”? God doesn’t exist to pat “nice folk” on the back. He exists for His own glory. And you and I exist to glorify God as well. If we refuse to bring glory to God regardless of how “nice” we are, God is perfectly just in letting us burn.
Often, people say that "God is working on you." Then God is following me around, or better, working from the inside - filling me with thoughts, with longing for God, etc.
That doesn’t mean God has an indwelling relationship with you. God can work
on you without dwelling
in you.
But you are saying that God is not within us.
That’s right, not in everyone.
but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
1Jo 4:2-3
The part of us that says, "I really shouldn't be doing this" is not God.
No, that would be your conscience. Your conscience testifies
to God and is
from God but it is not God.
And if we have our own compasses, we don't really need God.
Nope, if your destination is eternal destruction, you are right, you don’t really need God. You can get there all by your self.
