A: You are welcome for the reply. When reading your follow up I am drawn to you admitting that you "understand most" of what I wrote. Personally, I have to say I find it difficult to believe you understood much of what was written. I say that because you seemingly gloss over it in order to launch into your comments about sin not having consequences and "easy believism," not to mention your own judgmental attitude towards others. The first thing that has to be addressed in all that you say is have you come to faith in Jesus Christ? This has to be asked because of your question about where to "find that accepting Jesus as my personal savior is my way to salvation?" This is not a question a Christian would ask. If you're not even born again of the Spirit of God, you will never find the answers or believe in the answers you do find. If you are saved, how is it you do not know the basic and popular passages about Jesus being the Savior of the world and the only way to the Father in Heaven?
There are numerous passages about Jesus as the Savior. Jesus Christ said He was the only way to the Father (John 14:6). The Gospel of Luke records the Birth of Jesus as that of the Savior (Luke 2:11). The Apostle Paul said Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). Jesus said He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). Eternal life is in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23). Paul and Silas told the jailer that faith in Jesus was necessary to be saved (Acts 16:31). Paul talks of Jesus as God's promised Savior (Acts 13:23). Paul encourages Titus by refering to Jesus as Great God and Savior (Titus 2:13). Peter teaches us to grow in the knowledge of Jesus as Savior (2 Peter 3:18). An angel of the Lord told Joseph that Jesus will save His people (Matthew 1:21). Peter refers to Jesus as Lord and Savior (2 Peter 2:20). Peter and other apostles refer to Jesus as Prince and Savior (Acts 5:31). Peter announces that salvation is found in no one else other than Jesus (Acts 4:12). Paul refers to Jesus as the Savior (Ephesians 5:23; Philippians 3:20; 1 Timothy 1:1,10). Paul writes that Jesus the Savior has appeared (2 Timothy 1:10). Paul proclaims Jesus as the Savior of all men (1 Timothy 4:10). Many Samaritans believe in Jesus as the Savior of the world (John 4:42). John testifies that Jesus is the Savior of the world (1 John 4:14). These are just a few of the passages testifying to Jesus as being the way of salvation.
Assuming you have settled the issue of salvation, you can now get the answers to your other questions. There are consequence to sinful acts. There are earthly consequences to our sins as is displayed on a daily basis. The spiritual consequences of sin have already been addressed in my previous answer. The penalty for sin is death. But, thankfully, God is not counting the sins of men against them because of the death of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:19; Romans 4:8). Now, while some may take this truth as a license to sin or act in a way you are calling "easy believism," it doesn't take away from what is the truth. Sin is wrong and will never be acceptable. However, just knowing that sin is wrong rarely stops people from engaging in it. The question to ask of yourself and of those whose actions are troubling to you is "Why do they engage in the sinful acts they perform?" I would venture to say that they engage in sin for two reasons. First, they want to sin. They make a conscious effort to engage in the sin.
Secondly, and more importantly, they are sinning in order to meet the deepest desires of their hearts for unconditional love and total acceptance. God gave all of us these desires, but He did so because He is the only one capable of fulfilling those needs. When a Christian is not experiencing these needs being met in their relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, they are forced to try and get the needs met from the world through some form of sin.
Unfortunately, you and those other Christians are the victims of poor teaching and evangelism. The normal message from the pulpit these days is clean up your flesh, stop sinning, in order to be pleasing to God. In order to try and accomplish this impossible task, a person has to subject themselves to some form of religious law. That can be the Mosaic Law of the Old Testament or, most likely, some denominational doctrines, tenants, rules or sacraments that are derived from the Bible in some way. All that ends up happening is that a person comes to a point where they believe God is disgusted with them. This happens because they realize they will never live in such a way that will be pleasing to God. Until they reach that point a person is doomed to a life focused on their behavior and the behavior of others. It is a miserable cycle that only gets worse. Some people keep redoubling their efforts endlessly, while others simply give up and abandon the faith altogether. As is the case when a person is under the law, it is of no use to you unless you can compare yourself to others.
That is what I see coming from you. The law makes you sin conscious; focused on your sin and the sins of others. Eventually, you become that finger pointing and cantankerous person that is disgusted by the inability of yourself and others to "behave."
If you want that "real walk with God," it all starts with you knowing what is the Gospel and then responding to the truth of it by faith. Being a Pentacostal only means something to other Pentacostals. There are no Pentacostals, Baptists, Catholics, Protestants, Presbyterians, Methodists and so on in Heaven. Those are manmade divisions which have come from a misunderstanding of the Gospel and then separating ourselves by those differences. There are only children of God in Heaven who have been born again of the spirit of God through faith in Jesus Christ. It is true that God knows we sin and doesn't expect us to be perfect. But, it is also true that God sees believers as perfect already because of our faith in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:14). The Christian life is not about going to church and then either living like hell the rest of the week or trying to live like Heaven either. It is neither one of those things. The Christian life is learning to trust in and depend on the indwelling Holy Spirit to lead you and guide you from within. This only happens as a person responds to the love God. When a person sees themselves as God sees them, they will begin to trust Him more and the byproduct will be a diminishing of the sin in their lives. They will never stop sinning, but their focus will be on the Lord and off of themselves.
When you realize that the moment you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior you were accepted by God (Romans 15:7), totally forgiven of every sin you have committed and ever will commit (Hebrews 9:12), made alive to God (1 Corinthians 15:22), made holy and blameless in His sight (Colossians 1:22), unconditionally loved (Romans 8:38-39) and eternally secure (1 John 5:13) you won't be looking to sin to give to you that which it cannot provide.
Knowing who you are in Christ will change how you see the world and others. You will begin to engage the world with what you have to offer it; the love of God. Then you will be able to love others as Christ loved the Church (Ephesians 5:25). Therefore, when you see others trapped in sinful lifestyles you can go to them and restore them back to a knowledge of who they are in Christ (Galatians 6:1) instead of looking at them with disdain for their actions. You won't be experiencing a life of going to church and then trying to live in the world the rest of the week, but rather your life will be one of taking the church (you) to the world all week long. Just remember, it all starts with knowing the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the rest will begin to fall into place. Thank you for the dialogue and my apologies if I came across abrasive. I only did so to make my point and to get your attention. Grace and Peace to you in the name of my God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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