Accepted, therefore obey...

"We obey God, not to be accepted into a religion; but because we are accepted into a relationship with Him, we then want to obey."


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Disclaimer: No one is forcing you to look at this or read this. I am not trying to force my beliefs on you.
If you do not agree with something please do not comment. And for all you out there who are now agnostic, or atheist, or some other religion, because some Christian insulted your personal beliefs, or shove God down your throat, Let me personally be the first to apologize. (From ~RandomK [link] )
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A paraphrased quote from a book I've been reading. The real quote is more precise and less wordy. Religion says: "I obey, therefore I'll be accepted. The Gospel declares, You are accepted, therefore obey." (Pg. 93) The book is called "Breaking the Islam Code" by J.D. Greear. It's a Christian book about understanding how to evangelize to a Muslim in a way that they would receive, and understand the message of the Gospel, which is a message which starts at the beginning and the story throughout time and revealed in the Bible.
I would encourage you to read it even if you don't have Muslim friends, just to understand Islam and Christianity better.
If you're not a born again Christian, then this will enlighten you on why we believe in Christ as a propitiation for our sins, and why He is the only (meaning exclusive) way to God and Heaven. It will also show you some of the core beliefs and values of Muslims and the questions some of them have about their own religion.
(This book addresses Muslims as individuals, not as a political religious movement, so the jihad thing is represented as something most Muslims are "embarrassed" by. Whether or not you believe it is up to you, I am not going to allow comments about Muslims and jihad on this stamps page, if you are going to comment, please comment about the stamp, not the book in the description.)
And if you are a Christian, it will show you sides of the gospel you never even saw or thought of before, while also teaching you much about the misconceptions we have of them and they have of us. I highly recommend this book.</sub>

Anyway, this quote is referring to any works based religion… meaning all of them, save Christianity.
I would hate it if my eternal afterlife were riding squarely on my un-perfect shoulders.
I keep failing, I know I cannot be perfect here, but I also know that God requires perfection to get into Heaven. (But not a shallow false human perception of perfection, but what He has described about Himself and what His laws are. Want to know His will? Then look at His laws, (Leviticus) His laws are a reflection of His character, perfection.)

_{"One of the reasons I'm a Christian is because it's the only religion that would have me. Because you don't have to do anything but believe in God. I love that! I love the one religion that was honest enough to look at humans "You Stink! *sigh* come on in… Sheesh." That kind of God, man, I couldn't have done any other religions because they had all these rules. That's all they know, Rules! You know?
"Hey I'll join your religion."
"No bacon."
" I'm out. I'm out!!! D:<"
What kind of God would deny a man a BLT, you're crazy! I'm out! Noo, no, no, no, that's what I like about Christianity man, it's completely unique, different. It let's me in the game, even though I don't deserve to be in the game. I'm proud of that."
~Brad Stine (a Christian Comedian)}

You don't have to do anything but believe that Jesus died on the cross and paid for all of your sins. It's not a works based religion. But before you think that it means you can go on sinning, listen to this: "Go and sin no more" (John 8:1-11). Now obviously, we will still sin, but God wants us to want to leave our sin, turn from it and towards Him, and serve Him from there on out. It's because you love Him, because of what He did for you, not because you have to keep working to earn your way into Heaven, to earn your salvation. We aren't going to be judged anymore for our sin, which would condemn us to Hell for eternity, but we are "graded" somewhat on how we serve God with the talents He gives us.
Read Matthew 20:1-16 for the parable of the Vineyard Workers, and read Matthew 25:14-30 for the Parable of the Bags of Gold (the responsibility we have to want to give God more glory from what He has entrusted to us).
_{"you cannot get into heaven based upon good works. The gift of eternal salvation is a free gift from God and is something that has to be accepted by faith. However, once you are saved, God expects you to do something with what time you still have left down here on this earth. He expects you to come and work for Him. How well you work for God, and what you accomplish for Him while down here on this earth is where the good works will be coming in. The gift of eternal salvation gets you into heaven, but good works will be getting you the bigger and better rewards once you enter into heaven. This is why the Bible says that “faith without WORKS is dead.”" ~ [link]}

So many people now a-days think that they can get into Heaven because they are a "good person", well here's the thing, Nobody is a Good person. Apart from God there is no good. Plus Nobody is perfect, and God requires perfection, you Can't be in Heaven unless you are perfect, because Heaven is God's dwelling place and nothing imperfect can be in His presence. So just because "nobody is perfect", does not give you an excuse to sin. So don't think that "I'm not so bad", or "I'm not as bad as that guy" or "nobody is perfect" or even "You can't judge me" will get you out of trouble with God. God is not a Karma scale, one sin and you ARE imperfect. But there is good news! God wants us to want Him and wants us to not go to Hell, so He made a way for that to happen. Jesus, God in the form of man, came down to earth to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He was crucified, buried, Resurrected!, and lives today and forever at the right hand of God.

TL;DR: _{(You're lazy )} We do works out of love for God because of who He is and what He's done for us after we are saved, we don't do works to get into Heaven.

YES. You may use in your journal!
Stamp template by: zilla774
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Font used: Marcelle Script

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