Brothers, what shall we do?

There are many different ways in which various denominations of protestant churches describe the steps to be taken for salvation but is there really one way that should be followed to ensure that salvation? It's this question that I will look at here. Some denominations believe that one only needs to ask God "into their heart" to effect salvation, others believe that praying "the sinners prayer" will accomplish the same salvation. Few highlight the role that baptism plays in the steps for salvation. Does the bible provide clear instructions for the method of salvation? I believe it does. The first step is the hear the good news or "gospel" of the death, burial, and Resurrection of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. We see an example of this in Acts 2:14 when Peter addresses a crowd on the day of Pentecost. Peter tells of the death, burial and Resurrection of Christ and the crowd hears. The next step is to believe the gospel of the death, burial and Resurrection. Again, in Acts 2:37 the crowd believes and is "cut to the heart" and asks "brothers, what shall we do?" Peter answers, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." We see two other important steps in Peter's answer to the crowd; repent and be baptized. Repent means to turn away from your former lifestyle and choose God's ways as described in the bible. The step of baptism is the one in which a lot of denominations differ from the new testament model. In a great many churches we see infant baptism, baptism for admittance into the congregation, baptism as a symbol of your acceptance of God, etc. In the new testament there is but one reason to be baptized and that is described in Romans 6:3 " Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." This description of baptism in Acts is of necessity an act performed by adults and at the time of their salvation, not infants and not later to signify addition to the congregation. Virtually every example of salvation in the new testament recognizes the necessity for baptism; the Ethiopian eunuch, Paul's conversion, those added to the church in Acts. In no way does the new testament describe "the sinner's prayer" or "asking Jesus into your heart" So, brothers, what shall we do? If you have not followed the instructions provided in the bible to ensure your salvation I urge you to find a church that places emphasis on these instructions and become a brother or sister in Christ!

Seeing is believing

I took a nice long motorcycle ride today in the beautiful desert of Arizona. I started early in the morning and watched the sunrise and couldn't help but notice how wonderful God's creation is. Such a diverse collection of animals, birds and desert plants all wonderfully designed to exist together. How do I know that these animals, birds and plants were designed? Faith and sight. Take the hawk that I saw this afternoon, he displayed masterful control of the sky. The shape and structure of each wing eclipses the efforts of man to build something comparable yet there are people who believe such structures could come about spontaneously. I believe that it takes more of a leap of faith to believe that the beautiful hawk evolved than it does to believe that the hawk was created. Why is it so hard to believe that there is a creator who is responsible for the earth and everything in and on it? To believe that there is a creator is to believe that we are accountable to that creator as part of the creation. We, as the created, would be subject to the rules of the one that created us. Some people don't like to think that there is an authority above self and therefore can't believe that there is a higher power to which we are accountable. It all comes down to belief and God has provided all the evidence we need to believe in him as stated in Romans 1:20 "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." The evidence of God's hand in nature is too strong to avoid! For more on God's revelation of his creation please visit http://www.growingchristians.org/dfgc/without.htm

Free stuff is good! Right?

With all the political talk regarding what the Obama camp intents to provide to us, especially free health care, you would think that free would be a good thing. The first thing to realize when you hear the siren song of "free" is that the item or service is most definately not free. Someone will end up paying for it in the end, and that someone will be most of us tax payers. Nothing is Free!