Unsaved

[Giaour]

Oh kitty my sweet.

Do you see ME giving up my convictions and beliefs because I attend a baptist church?

When Jesus comes back, do you think He's going to say "OK all Methodists come with me, the rest of you are just out of time".

Of course not.

There are both believers and unbelievers in EVERY single different denomination of religion.

All believers will go with Jesus, regardless of which local body they belong to.

I can try and find you some verses that show ALL who believe are members of the Body of Christ.

All denominational barriers do is either keep people in or keep people out.

Totally divisive.

House divided against itself can not stand.

Can you imagine the strength and power that Christianity would have in this world if we broke down these barriers?

If all Christians united as one regardless of which denomination they were.

The core basic belief that all "Christians" must share is the Father Son and Holy Spirit are 1,

that Jesus was a sacrifice for our sins and noone can be saved without Jesus.

Seems to me that everything after that is not as important.

Some worship on sunday, others saturday.

Some believe you must be baptised, others not.

Some believe in pre-trib, some post-trib.

All of that is not nearly as important as belief in Jesus Christ.

[Guest Tom-Lane]

I hear a lot of people saying that so and so is unsaved.

How do we really know the status of anyones heart.

So shouldnt we really say that we dont know the status of their heart instead of saying they are unsaved?

Giaour, I believe there is an easy answer to your question as to how a believer in Christ can tell most of the time if they are saved or not.

Of course the first thing that comes to mind is:

:MATTHEW 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

MATTHEW 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Lets examine what is fruit of an unsaved person as opposes a saved soul?

Fruit of an unsaved can range from having no understanding of scripture, being religious with no spiritual value as found in scripture, hating Christ by either avoiding Him by getting into a sect or cult; because sects and cults deny the Deity of Christ. Some other ways to know if a person is unsaved is when a believer, who is born again with God's Holy Spirit will have love for the other person if they are saved, if no genuine love exists then concern for their soul will replace brotherly love.

JOHN 13:35 By this shall all [men] know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

We are commanded to try the spirit to see if the be of God or not. This also applies to knowing whither a person is saved or not. Of course there are times when it is impossible to know if a person is saved because of their carnality.

1JOHN 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Of course if a saved person is walking in the spirit then they will exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. Be care though many go by what they consider gifts of the spirit and since we only worship God in spirit and truth, we must use His word wisely so we can tell what is fruit and what may be carnal flesh that is posing as spiritual gifts.

PHILIPPIANS 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

1JOHN 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

1JOHN 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

Galations 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

So beautiful are fruits of the spirit that they will bring peace and joy into one's life and then our life that is hid in Christ will be contentment and a close and loving relationship with the Lord and the rest of the family.

This is to be only found in Christ and will not be found within the sectarian walls of man's religions.

Tom Lane

[kittylover0991]

Alright, I dug myself a hole on the denominational thing.. I can't help it

The best thing to do - don't focus on others, focus on Jesus!

God bless.

Esther

I understand where you are coming from, but Jesus didn't come to say "Look at me!" He said, "The feilds are white already to harvest".. "the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few"... he said "Feed my sheep". Jesus cared about people and I just heard an amazing message tonight about benig spared another year Jesus came to die, and he told us to spread his gospel... "On some have compassion, making a difference"... Jesus's ministry was people... People getting saved..

Crystal