(May 8, 2018 at 2:08 am)Godscreated Wrote:(May 7, 2018 at 8:55 pm)Chad32 Wrote: I hear this from time to time. Grace is a free gift. All you have to do is accept Jesus into your heart. Except accepting Jesus into your heart usually means changing your life by abiding by a set of rules. When someone says "You need Jesus", they're implying you're living your life wrong. But if becoming a christian means making a drastic change in your lifestyle, then it's not really a free gift. You can't just tell Jesus you'll take the gift, and keep living in "sin", so why do people call it free?
It is free and the Bible teaches this with no doubt. There is nothing you can do to earn salvation, to gain it is to believe in Jesus and that belief includes the desire to allow God to change you. There are no rules to abide by that will gain you salvation, it can't be bought only given as a gift. It come through God's love a love no one merits. The love of God has always been there for the unbelieving, it is you who has to receive it into your life through your belief in who Jesus is and in so doing you have chosen to be changed, that change is a part of believing in who Jesus is. Even after a person accepts Christ there will be sin in the person's life for none of us can be perfect as God is perfect, but God will continue to work with the person so that much of the sin is eliminated from the person's life.
GC
But what if I believe in Sithrak, the Blind Gibberer and the never-ending torment that the Book of Dismay promises all?
Stay alive for as long as possible.
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool." - Richard P. Feynman