kingcounty

This is in response to post number three. God declares people to be acceptable in His sight on the basis of only one criterion, which is their faith. Their faith must be in the right things, which are the deity of Christ and His finished work on the cross, and not in anything else. I was not making doctrine another criterion. I think doctrine is something people have in their minds, and faith is something they have in their hearts.

This is in response to post number two. I don't know that I can respond to everything you said, but I can respond to some of it. Here goes: Revelation 20:12 certainly says the dead were judged "according to their works." That is not the same thing as saying their eternal fate was determined according to their works. The greek word for "judged" that is used in that verse is "krino". In the back of Strong's Concordance there is a dictionary. The definition of "krino" says "prop. to distinguish, i.e. decide (mentally or judicially); by impl. to try, condemn, punish:- avenge, conclude, condemn, damn, decree, determine, esteem, judge, go to (sue at the) law, ordain, call in question, sentence to, think." As you can see, the definition includes the english word "judge". In my Merriam- Webster dictionary, in the definition of the verb, it says "1. to form an authoritative opinion 2. to decide as a judge: TRY 3. to determine or pronounce after inquiry and deliberation 4. to form an estimate or evaluation about something: THINK syn adjudge, adjudicate, arbitrate, conclude, deduce, gather" It must mean that some kind of pronouncement was made, but it cannot mean that their eternal fate was determined according to their works. I believe the Holy Bible has no contradictions, and if your interpretation was correct, this verse would be in conflict with Ephesians 2:8,9, Romans 11:6, and Romans 3:21 through 4:8. Now I will attempt to address Matthew 19:16-17. These two verses need to be considered as part of a larger passage, namely Matthew 19:16-26. Here again, if Jesus was teaching the rich young ruler that he could have eternal life by obeying the commandments, this passage would be in conflict with the passages I mentioned above. So, what is Jesus really trying to get across to the rich young ruler? I think he is teaching him that he cannot keep the commandments perfectly, and thus cannot attain eternal life by them.

Here is Romans 10, verses 1-3, in the New King James Version of the Bible: "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God." This passage teaches some vital truths that many people have missed. Here they are: In the first two verses, Paul tells us there was a group of Israelites who were not saved. That means they were not delivered from the penalty of sin, which the Bible tells us is eternal suffering. In the third verse, Paul tells us why they were not saved. It was because of three related reasons. A. They were ignorant of God's righteousness. B. They were seeking to establish their own righteousness. That means they were seeking to earn a place in heaven on the basis of their own merit. C. They had not submitted to the righteousness of God. This means they had not accepted the way to heaven that God had ordained. This passage makes it clear that if a person believes their own works will help to get them into a better place after they die, they are still on a path that leads to hell.