God the author and finisher of all salvation?

But, the government calls a smaller increase than what is wanted a "cut". Perhaps God is sneaky in the same way...

 

I surely hope you are kidding.

Equating God's justice and equity with the deceitfulness of government?

Surely you jest. And I did mean to call you Shirley.:laugh:

 

Of course I'm kidding and don't call me...

Hey! No fair!

 

Webdog I'm not sure I understand what you are saying here. I have an idea, but would you elaborate please?

 

Oh, the requirements are not as fuzzy as we would imagine.

Matthew 19:17
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

2 Peter 1:3-11
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

Simple.

There you go. All you have to do is be poor in spirit. Easy peasy.

 

James,

I thought of the same scripture when webdog asked the question. But, when I looked it up and read it, I noticed in the last verse, "everlasting kingdom".

Is the "everlasting kingdom" the same as the "millennial kingdom"?

 

As far as I can tell, there is really only one kingdom that the scripture looks toward all throughout. The bible gives us very little information about the ages beyond that time. Everlasting is a pretty generic word, that simply means lasting a long time. That time will often have to be determined by context.

 

He's given you a map.

2 Timothy 3:15-17
15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Psalms 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

He's given you a guide.

John 16:13
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.

Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

He's given you examples to follow.

Hebrews 12:1
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

1 Corinthians 11:1
1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

It just starts with faith.

 

There is no doubt that works are required for entrance into the kingdom, becuase the Bible explicity states such.

How many? A liftetime of works, however long your life might be on this planet.

What kind? Well there are generic commands that we are all supposed to follow and then there are specific things that we are supposed to do as individuals.

What's the standard? The standard is the standard that Scripture gives us. Follow the rules and if you break a rule then confess and go back to following the rules until you break one again and then confess and go back to following the rules, etc., etc. We are not to be perfect, because that is unattainable. We are just supposed to be blameless. That is attainable through God's grace.

If it's God...where? The judgment seat of Christ. That's the whole purpose of it. To separate the faithful from the non-faithful. The obedient from the disobedient. The overcomers from the non-overcomers.

There are. That's why you have the Bible. That's God's instruction manual.

While I agree this is a true statement, not even all of Christendom can agree on what those requirements are well it's really not but terribly

 

Blammo the Greek adjective aionios is more often than not incorrectly translated as eternal or everlasting. The word, unless context dictates (which is only a couple of times) is better translated and understood as age-lasting, becuase it is an adjective of the Greek word aion which means age, or a set period of time with a beginning and an ending.

We know that the coming kingdom of Christ has a beginning and it has an end. It will last 1,000 years and then the kingdom will be delievered up to the Father and the throne will become the throne of God and the Lamb if memory from Revelation serves me right.

Hope that helps.

 

Quite the contrary. The septenary arrangment of Scripture dictates that it is in fact age-lasting. Also we know that the kingdom is going to be 1,000 years, which right there alone tells us it is not eternal or everlasting, but it is for an age. It is for 1,000 years. Awfully hard to argue that the Messianic Kingdom is not 1,000 years in length.