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Originally posted by Taciturn:
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Originally posted by bluefishbeagle: I've had many people tell me that they had a right to interpret the bible the way they wanted.
If you go to a dozen church's, you will get a dozen interpretation's of the bible. 
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I would like to share with you where I stand on this issue. Jesus said if you love me, keep my commandments. He said that His sheep know His voice and they follow Him, and that He will not lose one of His own. He did not say if you are my child, you will know all the answers. He did not say, if you are my child, you will agree on everything. It is possible for the child of God to be very confused and tormented with that confusion, but still very much be a child of God. It is possible for the child of God to lose his or her peace and confidence over misinterpretation of the scriptures, and still remain a child of God. It is possible for the child of God to be deceived into thinking that he or she can do anything and totally disregard what Jesus would want. That is a dangerous concept that implies that you can be a child of God and never be changed and continue to go your own way. However, even those who believe this concept can be saved, because if they are truly saved, they will follow Jesus. If they are truly saved, they will not forsake the one who gave His life for them. Love will pull on their heart, and love will direct their steps.
The one thing that must be required for you to be a child of God is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and understand that Jesus gave His life on the cross as payment in full for your sins. You should also believe that Jesus rose again. This was prophesied of Jesus years before His coming, and His resurrection was also witnessed and testified of by many of His followers who walked with Him before and after His death and resurrection. These who witnessed these things were willing to die for their testimony. They would have been fools to die if they were lying. Any child of God must have at some point in time become aware that he or she is a sinner and needed forgiveness and mercy. Anyone who feels they are morally acceptable in the eyes of God and who feel they need no Savior, will remain in their sins, and remain lost. There are many in this world that will remain lost, because they justify themselves in their sins. They look at those around them and determine that they are as good as the next person, and so Jesus would surely accept them as worthy to enter the gates of heaven. A person must first realize they are lost before they can be saved.
I believe that the child of God will continue to put their trust in Jesus as Savior, and will also continue to listen to His voice and follow Him. They may stray or fail from time to time, and they may trip all over their feet as they learn to walk, but they will eventually turn again and follow the Savior. A true child of God will not continue to go their own way or continue to disregard what Jesus would want them to do. They will not survive by their own strength or ability, but by the grace of God. They may sin from time to time, and they may not even understand all that sin is or that sin is not according to the word of God. They may not completely understand the word of God, but the Holy Spirit will convict them and lead them in the proper direction. The child of God is not a child of God by what they know, as much as by whom they know and trust. Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and from their heart accept Him as both Lord and Savior of their lives, are saved from their sins and born into the family of God. That is the simple plan of God. God is not trying to confuse anybody. He made it so simple that many can’t accept its simplicity, and constantly try to reinvent it. I have been a victim in the past of such reinventions. It doesn’t take rocket science to be a child of God. You don’t’ have to understand the entire word, or even an entire chapter of the bible in order to know enough to be saved. The plan of salvation is so simple that a little child can understand it. All it takes is a person with a willing heart to believe in Jesus and trust Him to be their Savior, and to accept Him as their Lord. God is our creator, and those who trust in Him will be changed, and recreated in the image of Jesus Christ our Savior.
I have gone through much confusion in my life. I have spent hour after hour in the word of God seeking for answers to my many questions. I have on occasions in my past grown frustrated in my endeavor to know the truth and have at times grown impatient and exhausted. I have in at least one point in my past given up on salvation because I thought it was beyond my capability. It is in this confusion and great despair that I sought God the hardest. It is also in that despair that I studied and learned much concerning the word. The Holy Spirit was my teacher, because I could not trust what man would tell me. Man had misled me once. It was only God and His word that I would put my trust in. I sought God in prayer and fasting and used what little faith I had. I held to one verse of scripture and it was in this that I did not give up. Seek and ye shall find. In my seeking I found, and it was the Holy Spirit that revealed the truth to me. I have grown to know that God is real through my struggles, because He has so graciously intervened in my life. I’m so grateful that He is a God that is faithful and merciful. God has revealed His truth to me, but first He had to bring me to trust Him that He is the Savior and not I. God still has much work to do in me, and I still am learning and growing. But it is good to know that he doesn’t require me to know it all, or to even be deserving of His grace. The grace and mercy of God leads the sinner to repentance, and it draws the child of God closer to His heart. The blood of Jesus cleanses and makes me whole. It is Jesus that both saves and who keeps me. My works cannot save me, but it is expected of me to serve my Father in heaven as His child. However, after I have done all that is reasonably expected of me, I still cannot say that I deserve or earn a thing. Salvation remains a gift that cannot be earned or deserved. What I do for Christ is simply my reasonable duty as a child of God. No matter what a person is asked to do or give of himself or herself for God, they can never out give Him. How can we earn or deserve the death of Jesus Christ?
No denomination has all the answers or has the only handle on salvation. Jesus is the answer. Jesus is the way. Those who trust Him completely for their salvation will be willing to follow Him as their Lord. Those who are not willing to accept Jesus as Lord have never known Him as Savior. The more you trust Him, the less you fear, and the greater is your peace. If you are willing to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord, then He is more than willing to receive you as His child. That is what He died for. There is nothing more important to Him than for you to become His child. There is nothing more precious to Him than His children. If you have a child, then you should know what you mean to Him.
