Salvation ...this is not a discussion about what salvation is, or what one is saved from.

Salvation ...

Faith alone??

What is faith???

Confidence or trust ...to a degree

Our belief ...what we choose to believe as true.

To believe in Jesus ...one may differ with another over what that means.

If I had lived during the time Jesus was born & walked the earth as man, and if I had been there at the crucifixion, would someone ask if that was Jesus being crucified?

And would I say, "I believe it is."

Does that qualify as belief??

Does that qualify as faith??

I think not ...

Or would one say, I am not thinking clearly??

What if I believe the crucifixion was true ...and cruel, but rather common during the Roman rule.  Would I also think it would be greatly significant to those who knew Him ...but of little significance to anyone not close to Him.  And in the large scheme of things, over time, would I say that all this is rather meaningless??

Are we close to Him??

Do we know Him??

Do His death have meaning to us??

Do we believe that Jesus died for us??

Do we look at His death in view of an outstanding debt that needed to be paid??

Was the crucifixion of Jesus much more than just an outstanding display of affection ...and was it required??

It's not like a huge debt that a person has accrued through careless spending on credit ...then suddenly the debt is paid, and that person is debt free.  And the person may not even know who paid the debt.

No, it's not like that.

Sadly, many people don't even know they are in debt.  They don't know they need salvation.

In order to accept the payment Jesus has provided, do we need to accept the One who has paid the debt & accept Him for who He is??  Do we need to accept Jesus??  Do we need to know Him??

Yes, the knowing part is part of this conversation.  We can say we know Him ...but, do we know Him for who He is??

Jesus asked the disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"

Would we believe that only the disciples who walked with Jesus knew Him for who He is??

Or would we think that the only true commitment of faith were those disciples who died as a result of their witness of who He is??

Would that excluded the apostle John ...who was not crucified, nor did he die a horrible death as many of the disciples did?? 

We cannot imagine much of a life of commitment from the thief crucified next to Jesus, but Jesus told him he was saved.  Was that because of the extreme method by which they both died ...giving them a sort of brief camaraderie??

What do we know??

What do we know about ourselves??

What do we know about Jesus??

And is knowing a two-way process??  Of course, we say He knows ...yes, He knows all about us. Yet, how much do we know Him???

Do we glorify Him??

To glorify Him, is to correctly view and describe who He is.

What reference do we use for this??  Do we believe God has provided not only for our salvation, through Jesus ...but also for us to have a source by which we can refer to as an accurate description of God???

So, do we glorify Him??

Or do we not say anything for, or against Him?? (Kind of like in the lukewarm category.)

Or do we argue against Him??  (Maybe not so cold-hearted, nor hot-headed ...but, on the other hand, maybe a bit of both.)

No, this is not like the story of Goldilocks and the three bears. Maybe you feel the middle ground is safest ...or the lukewarm. It is not simply a story ...and though it is simply true what we read about Jesus in the Bible, it should also bring a bit of awe & inspire us to want to know more as we read and reread His Word to us.

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When certain individuals begin expressing what they are thinking, as they sort out their beliefs concerning specific matters that may not be agreeably clear, well, several things begin to happen ....

Individuals congregate, sometimes forming congregations ...or denominations.

In Mathematics, the number on the bottom of a fraction is the denominator ...which is what divides. And with people, a fraction of the people may believe one thing, and a fraction of the people may believe another thing.

That which is misunderstood is often too eager to be built upon.

And within this new foundation ...the things misunderstood are not really suddenly understood.  They are just more or less accepted by those whom they accept, and whom they accept as knowing individuals.  Some times things get resolved ...and sometimes not.  Sometimes things are built upon that which was misunderstood, and it can go unchallenged until someone who doesn't understand it decides to challenge it.

The problem in that scenario is that the new foundation was built upon the specified beliefs of confident and convincing people ...not on the foundation of the Bible.  And many of the misunderstandings that could have met with sound discussions based on the Bible ...were instead divided simply by semantics. 

My point is not for you to wonder what group or denomination I am speaking of ...but, rather let's just look at how easily we can error, and often way too eager to do so. 

Why is this??

Well, we should be eager and enthusiastic to grow and explore. But, let's explore within the vast awe-inspiring pages of the Bible.

Some people believe we have no choice.

And along with conversations along this line, we have words & phrases such as:

• Free will ...
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• Predestination ...
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• Determinism ...
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• Predeterminism ...
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• The 'elect' ...
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• Foreordained ...
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• Double predestination (whether destined for salvation, or the less than desirable alternative) ...

Some people believe we have no choice, or no free will. Predestination, to me, does not exclude choice.  The absence of choice may work well in drama ...and for those like Sophocles, or Seneca, in writing the entanglement of Oedipus.  

Or perhaps you prefer Hamlet or Macbeth ...and the style within those dramas created by Shakespeare.  

On a more recent note, there is the idea of the Stepford Wives.

With that stretch, does it also encourage those on the fringe to think they had a chip implanted in their head at birth ...and they therefore would have no choice.

But, I prefer the comforting truth of the Bible.  

The Second Book of Peter, Chapter 3, verse 9, describes God's desire "not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

The First Book of Timothy, Chapter 2, verse 4, similarly describes God ..."who desires all to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

This does not seem exclusive to me ...and it does seem to align with how some people explain predestination.

Let's not get hung up on semantics in trying to rationalize the beliefs of those who tried to interpret the beliefs of others.  Let's go back always to the Bible.

Yes, just remember ...God desires that all would be saved.

And He wouldn't predestined that some would not.