Billiards Ball

Thank you for your concern--but as someone who has overcome addiction, I see the need to promote the de-emphasis on willpower in overcoming. Just as trust in Jesus, not behavior and works, saves, so does trust in Jesus and the love of Christ help overcome addiction--while effort is a noose that creates a horrible binge-purge-shame cycle of addiction.

If you want to take a break from cleaning, then taking a break could just be the right thing to do (Sabbath principle). Basically, if you have faith to do or not do something, work through that faith/trust.

Please IGNORE any statements above, including mine, that suggest you can overcome a brain-wired addiction by willpower. "How much do you want to overcome?" is not the issue! You need help from Christ and others to find success. Please follow what I laid out in a prior post. Thanks!

First, eternal damnation is avoided by TRUSTING JESUS, not YOURSELF, for salvation. Do a "heart check" and let's make sure you're trusted Jesus Christ for eternal life, not yourself! Salvation and overcoming porn have this in common: neither is by works/deeds/efforts, in fact, trying to overcome porn by self-will, reading the Bible, praying more, is a noose that tightens itself around you in an addiction-binge-purge cycle. Just like no one can say, "I swear I'll never sin again, I'll be perfect!" to try to get to Heaven, people also epic-ly fail doing the same thing with porn. Send me a PM if you want help, accountability, to talk--we can support each other in this cause! Porn is not a moral problem--it starts out that way--its a brain problem. You need to retrain your mind. Instead of "I will try so hard not to do this again!", when you are tempted to view porn, tell yourself "Jesus loves me!" and focus on the love of Christ. The love of Christ/power of Christ will save your soul AND help you with porn addiction. THE VERY BEST resource I've seen to overcome porn in decades is at: https://conquerseries.com

Man didn't invent logic--God did, and God is never illogical. Many fine Christians affirm eternal security. Many fine Christians believe a Christian may lose salvation, then repent to find it again--although I would say repentance moves someone towards salvation and is not salvation. I say the Christian has eternal security. But your belief that a Christian who slips up not only is lost but can only go to Hell and never find grace a second time is illogical and against all we know about the kindness and mercy of God. How can you read something like the parable of the prodigal son and believe that kind of nonsense?

Simply ask, "Are you absolutely sure all truth is relative?" Of course: yes = one truth, "all truth is relative" is always true, therefore, some truth is NOT relative no = they need to believe truth can be objective

What kind of companionship are you struggling with? The opposite sex or making friends of the same sex? The former is solvable with difficulty, the later can be easy to solve, painless!

How can "no more sacrifice remains" apply to born agains? That would logically mean that a Christian, having then lost salvation, CAN NEVER BE SAVED AGAIN, BECAUSE NO MORE SACRIFICE REMAINS FOR THEIR SINS. Is this your stance, "People can be saved, then lose salvation, but never repent and get saved again"? Do you see one of the (many) problems with "losing salvation" as a doctrine?

Those who God says are saved in the Bible, have the same rule/measure/restriction, in both testaments, "Trust God (not self)". We, you and I, born again, are not "sinners" but "saints", but saints . . . sin. When teaching salvation sermons, I'll ask the congregation to raise hands for all those who are completely yielded to God continually in every aspect of their lives, their thought life and actions, pure from all sin. No hands are ever, ever raised. When I see a hand raised I'll know I'm seeing the heresy known as sinless perfectionism. Sinners (and saints) aren't saved by sometimes obeying God, and they aren't saved by always obeying God, either. They are saved because of Christ's death and resurrection. When Billiards Ball stopped trusting BB, when BB trusted Christ instead, THAT WAS SALVATION. "What God says for us to do to be saved", as you put it, is "Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, then you will be saved, and your household (members who trust Christ will be saved, too)."

I have decades in the Word, lots of time, and I'm "hearing" what 150 plain, clear verses have to say. Do you ask a pastor for MORE than 150 verses to prove a doctrine? And logic (as well as the scriptures, which say all people sin, and all are liars except God), tells us NO ONE walks CONTINUALLY (ALWAYS, EVERY SECOND) in faithfulness. I need the Savior!

I'm not trying to hassle you. You are saying "obey" has to do with demons under authority, it looks like. Thanks for clarifying.

You know a born again Christian who walks and obeys CONTINUALLY?

Sinners (who sometimes disobey God) are not saved by sometimes obeying God.

I AM quoting the "whole Bible". When the Bible tells us something 150 times, should we obey it? The Bible says over 150 times, some variation of "Trust Jesus = Eternal Life". There are NO Bible verses in context that says we have to prove something about our walk for salvation. But a lot gets into typical Christian jargon, here are some more things the Bible NEVER says equals salvation: * Make Jesus Lord * Honor Shabbos * Keep the "big 10" commandments * Persevere/endure personally * Be baptized in water * Etc.

Heaven is a place where you have power to obey that inner voice. Thus, you are yourself, but empowered to no longer sin.

How did you get that from the Greek? The word MEANS "trust". "Trust" in Jesus is trust in another, not in my own obedience. And how did you get from the Bible that "the conditions of eternal life cannot be expressed in one sentence"? Would you like verses on the universality of the gospel and how it is "not too difficult" to get for oneself? There are over 150 NT statements of "Trust Jesus".

Today or then? Both figures are documented.

School was invented, worldwide, to teach, to indoctrinate, and to give parents a break (from the little rats)!

To keep the little rats away from home?

In America? Is that what you're asking? AMERICAN SCHOOLS WERE CREATED TO TEACH THE BIBLE TO ALL. In Colonial times, there was 99% literacy. Today, 90%.

In the Greek, it's "whoever has trusted, will trust or is trusting right now". Salvation is assured, salvation is a one-time transfer of trust from self to Jesus Christ.

It is recommended when someone slaps you and insults you, to overlook the fault (what kings do!). It is not a sin when someone is shooting at you to shoot back, if that is better for self-protection then flight.

It is not a sin to train physically in a sport. It is not a sin to protect yourself when being assaulted. It is not a sin to train in boxing if you fear assault and have been assaulted. It is not smart to spend years boxing and doing karate and marksmanship, if you haven't been assaulted, but want to be "super-ready" to harm others when they attack you (he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword).

YES, if by "belief", you mean, "trust Jesus, not yourself, for salvation". No one disagrees with the gospel’s logic of perfection vs. imperfection: 1) Ask someone, “Are you, like me, morally imperfect, and you disobey your inner voice?” 2) After their “Sure!” say “If there’s a Heaven or utopia [long pause] we can’t go! If I hurt your feelings in Heaven or vice versa, it’s not Heaven. How can imperfect people get to Heaven?” People usually respond, “Do you have a solution?” 3) Say “The solution is a person. The Bible explains that Jesus Christ, being God, innocent and perfect, switched places with us on the cross. He died a horrible death by torture to take our sin, guilt and shame, our imperfection. He then rose from the dead, and as the Bible says, “God loved the world in this way--He gave His Son [I hold one hand up], so whoever trusts Him [I raise my other hand] shall not perish but has eternal life [I fold the fingers of my hands together].” (Trust is clearer than “believe” for John 3:16.) Put another way, “God made Jesus, who was perfect, to be imperfect [I cross my arms over each other] for us, that we who are imperfect might become as perfect as God.”” (2 Corinthians 5:2)

I think you are referring to the future state of the church, when the tares are burned, but yes, we are ONE.