(September 9, 2013 at 1:10 am)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote:(September 9, 2013 at 1:05 am)max-greece Wrote: Righteous Jews used to go to heaven. Now, apparently, because they didn't buy in to the Jesus thing, they don't.
That's a rule change. You can be righteous and reject Jesus or are you going to redefine righteous too, now.
Christianity is nothing but redefining what it means to be righteous. Not that they'll admit it - I fully expect one to come along and tell me I'm wrong.
Not my problem.
You're right, you're wrong. Righteousness has never changed, it comes through belief. God called Abraham righteous because he believed Him, Christians become righteous because we believe John 3:16, we believe what God says. The Jews of old had to believe God and they would do that through their sacrifices, they believed God would forgive them through the sacrifice. However that belief ie. faith will be shown in the way we live our lives, this is the fruit of belief, wanting to live as righteously as we can for God and not ourselves. So nothing has change with righteousness, belief in what God says He will do is what's required, the only thing that's changed is who makes the sacrifice. Acceptance of Christ's sacrifice for us, or to be your own sacrifice by the law, live up to it every dot and tittle and you will be found righteous before God without acceptance of Christ. I can say that no one here will be able to do that because they've broken at the least the dot and tittle.
GC
God loves those who believe and those who do not and the same goes for me, you have no choice in this matter. That puts the matter of total free will to rest.
