quote: Originally Posted by Quaildog:
Bill, the altar you are referring to is an altar used for animal sacrifice. Christ is already offered. No need for going to any alter to take anything at all. Prayer and being good to the folks is the only offering.
Hi Quail,
The animal sacrifices were precursors of the final, once for all time, for all people, sacrifice which would be considered "paid in full" by the judge, God the Father. Our sin debt was marked "paid in full." Now, all folks have to do to receive eternal life -- is to accept His "paid in full" pardon. If a person does that, by accepting Christ as his/her personal Lord and Savior -- that person had salvation, that person has eternal life in Christ.
Christ was sacrificed for all of us; His altar was the cross. Haven't you ever heard someone say, "Meet you at the cross"?
But, my Friend, when it all boils down -- call it what you like; we go forward to show that we have decided -- by God's grace, through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ -- to turn our lives over to Him, to follow Him for the rest of this mortal life -- and into eternity.
So, you can say that you met Christ at the altar, or at the cross, or, for some, maybe even at Walmart. It does not matter where you met Christ. What is important -- is that you have met Christ and have become a Christ Follower.
If you recall the story I have told before, of the young White Supremacist I met at the Emergency Room. While he was still was a White Supremacist, tattoos, buzz cut hair, muscle shirt, and all -- some devout Christian approached him on the street in Southern California -- witnessed to him about Jesus Christ. And, that day, on the street of Riverside, California -- that White Supremacist became a follower of Jesus Christ. So, what was his altar? It was the city street in Riverside.
As I said, call it what you like -- but, do not neglect to point folks toward Jesus Christ -- no matter where you happen to be.
Just curious. Where was your altar? Mine was the home of Christian Friends where we held Bible studies in the late 1980s. After six months of worship in our church and Bible study in my Friends, Ed and Ligaya's, home -- I made a decision to follow Jesus Christ. That home was my altar.
A few months later, I was baptized at the home of other Christian Friends. Their swimming pool became the pedestal from which I proclaimed to the world that I am a Christ Follower, that I have followed Him in baptism.
Where were you when you made the decision to follow Jesus Christ? That is your altar!
You tell me, "Prayer and being good to the folks is the only offering."
My Friend, you can do a million good deeds for a billion people -- and still go to hell. No amount of good deeds will get one into heaven.
So, what will get a person into heaven? Glad you asked. That is easily explained with three Scripture verses:
John 3:3, "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.' "
John 3:16. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
1 John 5:12, "He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life."
But, you are right about the prayer part. That is a good way to start seeking Jesus Christ. Start by asking God to show you the way to have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, ask Him to send the Holy Spirit into your heart and life. And, if a person sincerely does prayer such a prayer -- I promise you that God WILL send the Holy Spirit into him/her.
THEN, once the person has become a born-again believer -- those works become like gemstones in a Crown of Life.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bil