I'm a sinner, but I'm a good person too.

[other one]

So can I accept Christ knowing I've sinned, but not feel guilty and still have many questions? Or must I find all the answers first?

Kiwi, when you tell me that you accept Christ, what do you mean?

The Bible tells us that we should confess with our mouths that Jesus is our lord, and believe that the Father raised him from the dead. Is Jesus your Lord?"""" and don't take that question likely.

If you have actually made him your Lord (which means you will follow his instructions) and tell us so and believe the Father raised him from the dead, you are or will be saved..

If you do not believe, or you have not made him your Lord and/or not willing to tell everyone that you have....., then you are not saved....... no matter what. If you have done things that you know are wrong, I don't understand how you can not feel any guilt at all, that is not normal human behavior..... saved or not.

I mean accepting Christ for salvation - forgiveness of sins. You don't have to accept Him as your lord - that'd be adding works to salvation. Salvation will produce fruit though and when someone genuinely accepts Christ they usually end up making Him their Lord too, but it all doesn't have to happen in one day.

I think that is your problem Kiwi. It doesn't seem to me that you have made him your Lord, and I do really differ in your opinion which tells me that your salvation is in great danger...... and I think deep down you have that same feeling or you would not keep coming back trying to get people to tell you that you're in an ok spot when in fact you are not and deep down you know it.

I know people who had parents that abused alcohol and a certain drug that pretty much left their kids without the ability to feel guilt. If you are among that group, life can be really really tricky...... But if you declare this day that Jesus is your lord and really mean it by following his instructions, then you "will" be saved as long as you believe the Father raised him from the dead.

Once you reach that point the Holy Spirit wil come to you and you'll stop having all these doubts every day. Reading the Bible in it's entirety is something you really need to do also if you have not.

Out of love I say that you need to take a weekend and do some serious by yourself praying.....

[Nyoka]

I mean accepting Christ for salvation - forgiveness of sins. You don't have to accept Him as your lord - that'd be adding works to salvation. Salvation will produce fruit though and when someone genuinely accepts Christ they usually end up making Him their Lord too, but it all doesn't have to happen in one day.

Yes the bible does link confessing Jesus as Lord with our salvation: Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. The reason we do this is shown clearly in the next verse: Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Read that underlined piece very carefully. It is telling us that when we confess Jesus is Lord and believe Jesus was raised from the dead then we also are showing our salvation. Also there will come a day when everyone will confess Jesus is Lord: Php 2:9 Therefore God has highly exalted Him, and has given Him a name which is above every name, Php 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly ones, and of earthly ones, and of ones under the earth; Php 2:11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So we see it is very important to God that we confess Jesus as our Lord. If He is not your Lord then you have no reason to follow Him or listen to Him.

[swsavedbygrace]

Out of love I say that you need to take a weekend and do some serious by yourself praying.....

I agree friend.

[Jos4]

Remember that you have been saved by grace, not by works. Reading the bible and spending a long time praying are great to help you in your relationship with God but they make no difference to how he sees you. Don't worry about coming to him in a different way from other people.

[nebula]

I mean accepting Christ for salvation - forgiveness of sins. You don't have to accept Him as your lord - that'd be adding works to salvation. Salvation will produce fruit though and when someone genuinely accepts Christ they usually end up making Him their Lord too, but it all doesn't have to happen in one day.

No, it is not "adding works".

Firstly, making Jesus your Lord does not mean you instantly become perfect. It just means you are making a commitment.

Think of it this way. To ask Jesus for salvation without choosing to make Him you Lord is like a bride asking a man to be her provider and romancer, but not committing to be his wife. "I want the goodies but not the responsibility."

I agree that this is the reason you doubt your salvation. What I hear you saying is that you want Jesus as "fire insurance," but you have no desire to be in fellowship with Him.

"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments," Jesus said. (John 14:15)

If you do not want to make Him your Lord, this means your desire is to live for yourself.

14 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write : The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this :

15 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot ; I wish that you were cold or hot.

16 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.

17 'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,

18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed ; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

19 'Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline ; therefore be zealous and repent.

20 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock ; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

21 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

22 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' "

(Rev. 13)

I'll be praying for you, because your pride needs to is keeping you from salvation.

[Matthitjah]

Bless you kiwi,

I read this with great interest this morning;

Ge 22:16

And said, By myself have I sworn, says the LORD, for because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son:

God commended and blessed Abraham because Abraham's actions denoted that God was the Lord of his life.

Peace,

Dave

[enoob57]

Ok so idk if I'm saved. I know that Jesus died for everyone on the cross so we could go to heaven. I also understand that we are all sinners. I just don't feel like a bad person though. I'll admit that Ive sinned but I'm not a bad person.

You do understand that when you raise your reasoning up before God and disagree with His assessment of things you have become a god unto yourself! It is no different than how satan began... We know by James 2:10 that the least infraction of sin- little tiny itty bitty discoloration of the truth and that person is guilty of all sin for He reveals the understanding here

1 Cor 5:6-8

6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

NKJV

You say I have sinned but I am not that bad! Where do you get the authority for judgment of this? People by their own will can think whatever they like but it is the One who is in authority over the reality that exists in all things this is the one who says. Perhaps you feel this way ... I say no to myself a lot and that makes me a good person because I could be doing this or that like those around me who are rotten to the bone? Now you have not only become an authority within yourself but also a judge of others and their wrongness! The leaven in yourself now has spread out to others...

When Christ came into the world He brought truth Jn 18:37 and that truth was seen that He did not come into the world to condemn but to save those who were lost (all that had sinned). In you assessment of sin in yourself you say its not that bad. Either you have not read the Gospels or have not understood... the people that crucified The Lord was those who thought they were righteous enough to condemn Him to death. They were His chosen people, Jews of the religious leadership of that day. They were so sure they were right that they said this

Matt 27:24-26

24 When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it." 25 And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us and on our children." 26 Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.

NKJV

You see sin is in self righteousness and condemnation they believed with their whole being they were right in doing this.... but under the close examination the least of the sins is as bad as the worst of them.

I don't deserve heaven but I don't understand how I deserve hell. I'm scared though b/c I don't want to go to hell and I want to accept Jesus and make sure I'm saved but first I must realize I'm a sinner and Idk if I've done that b/c I know I've sinned but I don't think I'm a bad person. Can someone help me.

You are wise in being afraid of the judgment of God... to bad you are foolish and do not realize that it will be only Him who decides your placement in the eternities. All things are under Him, even your own judgment system, for now it is given for you to think as you wish.... but on the other side of death lies the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth "Christ Jesus Lord of Lords and King of Kings" The Creator of all things and you are in disagreement with His Words... Love Steven

[Rick-Parker]

What words are you looking for? What do you need from the Lord that you are saved that He has not already given you? You play mind games with yourself. You want humans to validate your salvation, that is impossible. Only you and Christ know. But we have given you all the scripture, reassurance and advice that we can. So what if you don't feel guilty when you think that you should? You are doing it to yourself. Do you read God's Word every day? Do you meditate on His Words? Have you done everything that His Word instructs us to do in order to be saved? You say you have accepted Christ's sacrifice on the Cross as payment for your sins. Stop asking over and over to be saved. Christ died once, and for all. Trust in Him, not in yourself. Not your brain. Follow Christ, He tells us everything we need. It is really frustrating when you start thread after thread about your doubt. Why don't you cut and paste the responses that you get and put them in a word processing program such as Word. Then print them out and read them every day. The advice has not changed between all the threads that you have started about this. You are the only one who can choose to control your thoughts and paranoia through Christ. Enough is enough though, my friend.

[kiwi5x]

Ok so idk if I'm saved. I know that Jesus died for everyone on the cross so we could go to heaven. I also understand that we are all sinners. I just don't feel like a bad person though. I'll admit that Ive sinned but I'm not a bad person.

You do understand that when you raise your reasoning up before God and disagree with His assessment of things you have become a god unto yourself! It is no different than how satan began... We know by James 2:10 that the least infraction of sin- little tiny itty bitty discoloration of the truth and that person is guilty of all sin for He reveals the understanding here

1 Cor 5:6-8

6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

NKJV

You say I have sinned but I am not that bad! Where do you get the authority for judgment of this? People by their own will can think whatever they like but it is the One who is in authority over the reality that exists in all things this is the one who says. Perhaps you feel this way ... I say no to myself a lot and that makes me a good person because I could be doing this or that like those around me who are rotten to the bone? Now you have not only become an authority within yourself but also a judge of others and their wrongness! The leaven in yourself now has spread out to others...

When Christ came into the world He brought truth Jn 18:37 and that truth was seen that He did not come into the world to condemn but to save those who were lost (all that had sinned). In you assessment of sin in yourself you say its not that bad. Either you have not read the Gospels or have not understood... the people that crucified The Lord was those who thought they were righteous enough to condemn Him to death. They were His chosen people, Jews of the religious leadership of that day. They were so sure they were right that they said this

Matt 27:24-26

24 When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it." 25 And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us and on our children." 26 Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.

NKJV

You see sin is in self righteousness and condemnation they believed with their whole being they were right in doing this.... but under the close examination the least of the sins is as bad as the worst of them.

I don't deserve heaven but I don't understand how I deserve hell. I'm scared though b/c I don't want to go to hell and I want to accept Jesus and make sure I'm saved but first I must realize I'm a sinner and Idk if I've done that b/c I know I've sinned but I don't think I'm a bad person. Can someone help me.

You are wise in being afraid of the judgment of God... to bad you are foolish and do not realize that it will be only Him who decides your placement in the eternities. All things are under Him, even your own judgment system, for now it is given for you to think as you wish.... but on the other side of death lies the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth "Christ Jesus Lord of Lords and King of Kings" The Creator of all things and you are in disagreement with His Words... Love Steven

ok so you and other people are saying I'm prideful and not wanting to follow Jesus. I do want to follow him, but how do I get rid of my pride and humble myself!? I really don't want to go to hell and I will serve Christ if I settle this matter of my salvation

[Guest man]

ok so you and other people are saying I'm prideful and not wanting to follow Jesus. I do want to follow him, but how do I get rid of my pride and humble myself!? I really don't want to go to hell and I will serve Christ if I settle this matter of my salvation

No one here can tell you whether you're saved or not, that has to come from you. You need to study the Word. You need to find a way to grow closer to God, and that can only come from within yourself. Each individuals relationship with God is different. What drew me to the Lord will not necessarily draw someone else. We're all different.

You need faith. You need to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is real. You need to know and believe that before you can move forward. If you truly want to find God, you have to do the searching yourself. There are no special words or rituals you need to know. All you need is an honest desire. He's not that hard to find........you just have to want too.

You can PM me if you want. We can talk.