I never condemned you at all. I did disagree (as I have consistently) with some things you hold to. One of those seems to be that somehow a person must be sorry for their sins, before they can be saved. OK. Exactly how sorry is sorry enough? Saul/Paul was certainly 'sorry for his lifestyle' after he was saved. Peter wept bitterly after he had denied the Lord, long after he was saved. (BTW, Paul cried over the lost and the churches, from what I read, not over his past life.) The point is, and II Cor. 7:10 tells this, and I've just expounded on this in another thread, that godly sorrow can produce repentance. But godly sorrow is not the same thing as repentance.
The video this thread opened about is preaching another gospel, frankly. The emphasis is taken off "faith in Christ" and placed on one's "feelings". The word of God tells me to "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved". It tells me 'that God loved the world so much that He gave his one and only (or only-begotten) son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." It tells me that 'by grace, I have been saved through faith, and this thing is not of myself, but it is the gift of God; not of works lest any man should boast." It tells me that it is 'not of works of righteousness which I have done, but according to His mercy He saved me, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit'. It tells me that "whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved!" And that is exactly what I have done, and where I rest, with my confidence completely on the Lord.
I simply do not find anywhere that 'first-off', I've got to pray agonize, weep, wail, and gnash my teeth', and then maybe God will see fit to save me, 'cause I've done enough now to satisfy a Holy God. Now, I can "make Him Lord" of my life, and He will accept me. What pure arrogance! The very idea that a sinner could "do" something to add to what God has done for us with the sacrifice of his own Son on Mt. Moriah. The Lord Jesus Christ shouted in victory, "It is finished!" He did not add an "Well, all but" to that proclamation!
David said, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me." (Ps. 51:4) Again he says, "The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies." (Ps. 58:3) So yes, Brother Bob, assuming a lie is a sin, then we are, indeed, born as lost sinners, according to the Bible. However, the Lord 'took away sin', when He was made to be 'sin for us', so that sin is not basis for condemnation. That basis is "believe not" (disbelieve), and is stated in Jn. 3:18, and Jn. 8:58, as I previously posted. And as that infant does not have the capacity to disbelieve, then that infant is safe with God, I believe. I am not John Calvin, who supposed to have said there are babies crawliong on the floor of hell "not a span long".
BTW, I do not believe there are any babies crawling around on the streets of gold, either. I have a sister whom I do love, but whom I've never seen, for my mother miscarried her when I was only two years old. I'll never see her as a helpless babe, but as a radiant young woman, when I get to heaven to be reunited with the rest of my immediate family, all who have now gone before me, and my Dad won't be paralyzed from his stroke, any longer; my mother won't be white haired, frail, and stooped like she was at 94; and my brother won't have a body ravaged by cancer.Every one of these Scriptures, which I do believe, refer to seeking the Lord, in our daily life, after we are saved. The unbeliever is never said to seek after God. In fact, it says that the unbeliever does not seek God, but rather that God seeks out the unsaved. That is what I was speaking about, in the previous post.
Gotta' run, and do some stuff, so I can get ready to go to the Farm Machinery Show, tomorrow, the Lord willing. That day is one of my favorite days of the year, every year I can possibly make it.
G'nite, all.
Ed
