Can We Hang On to Our Life Preserver?

Many people believe in the 'extra-biblical' saying of John Calvin, "Once Saved Always Saved". In fact, this phrase has become so indoctrinated into people that they believe this to be an actual 'biblical passage', which it is clearly not.

Salvation is a continuing process much like repentance is. Salvation is not a means to an end, it is the end that justifies the means.

In other words, if you fell off of a ocean liner in the middle of the ocean the outlook on your future life would seem dismal at best. Chances are the rest of your life would be very short and end by you drowning.

IF however someone on board of the ship spotted you in the water and threw you a life preserver, this could save your life.

We would have the freedom of choice to grab hold of the life preserver and hold on until we are out of danger.... and of course we would also have the option of not accepting the life preserver, or, after grabbing hold of the life preserver, choose to let it go

Jesus Christ is our 'Life Preserver'.

He gives us the option to accept or reject Him, however the option to reject Him seems as insane as rejecting a water rescue at Sea.

Until we pulled on board the ship we are still in the water and still in danger. We still have the option of letting go of the life preserver and there are still many obstacles we must overcome.

Jesus commands that we, having found the way to safety, tell others of the way to safety so that they may also have the option of grabbing hold.... but Salvation is only for those who accept the way to life and are willing to hang on for dear life

Favor or Need?

Luke 11:9-10
"So I say to you, ask , and it will be given to you; seek , and you will find; knock , and it will be opened to you.10 For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened."
Many of us see this passage as a promise by God that He will answer our prayers. All that's required is that we ask, right? We comfort ourselves and protect our faith in God by saying that
unanswered prayers must be because because God knows better, or it's
just that everything is answered in His time... which is not our own. When something great happens to us or we are wanting something great from the Lord, we call this His favor. This word and this passage has always somewhat puzzled me, and sort of
left a bad taste in my mouth when people would quote this verse when
requesting favor from our Lord.
Favor seems to be a favorite word for those who believe in the Prosperity Doctrine myth which is another reason that I haven't been too keen on this word.
I wanted tackle this passage once and for all in order to truly
understand exactly what this was saying. I was sort of sort of
surprised with the result, and came away with much more than what I was
expecting. Thoughts: This passage is within the context of Christ giving instruction on how to pray. Preceding this passage Jesus gives us an illustration about a
friend who asks his friend for a loaf of bread, a favor. His buddies are coming in from
out of town and he doesn't have have any bread to feed them
To ask for a favor from a friend is asking for a cup of sugar because you were right in the middle of baking something and you just ran out. A favor for a friend is holding a ladder in place while he's cleaning out the gutters. A request for a favor is simple
and doesn't require much from the person asking or the one who
is asked. A favor can be just as easily dismissed as it is requested.
If we're simply asking for a favor, then we really don't need what we're asking for... we're simply asking for something extra that might make things easier.
Asking for a need is much different than asking for a favor isn't it? Asking for a need would be if your friend came over and asked for
food because his family was starving... Asking for a need would be to
ask a friend for money in order to allow you to pay the mortgage this
month. These are NEEDS! By putting it into this perspective we understand that to request a need requires a much heavier commitment on both parties. For this reason, needs are not easy to ask for or to give. Asking for a need often shames and humbles the person asking. The one asking has to admit that they're incapable of providing for themselves something you may have in abundance. Sometimes we may not know the difference between a favor and a need. Simply stated; A rich man who asks for money is asking for a favor, a poor man asking for food is asking for a need. A person who asks you to 'come along' with them and their friends is asking for a favor. A person asking for your company is often in need of a friend.
God makes it clear that He will provide for your needs. He also makes it clear that we should pray fervently for Him to fulfill our needs. This is how He teaches us pray, and He says He will answer our prayers. "...how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"
~ Luke 11:13

When we pray to God, are we following His instructions and praying out of need or are we just asking for a favor?

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God, Favor, Need, Holy Spirit, Lord, Jesus

How to Prove the Validity of the New Testament

There's thousands of answers given that prove the validity of the New Testament. I admit that I never needed this type of proof myself to believe, but maybe one day this may provide ample evidence to someone who is skeptical about the validity of the Bible. Hopefully, this may give someone a reason to reconsider their skepticism.

2 Peter 1:16-21
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased"--
18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
19 So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation,
21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

In the Bible, the word "Christian" is first mentioned in Acts 11:26: "For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch Jesus' disciples were first called Christians" (Gr. χριστιανοί, from Christ Gr. Χριστός, which means "the anointed")

The New Testament was originally written in Greek, of which 5,650 handwritten copies have survived. When other languages are included, the total of ancient copies approaches 25,000.

Sir Frederic Kenyon, former director of the British Museum, says… "in no other case is the interval of time between the composition of the book and the date of the earliest manuscripts so short as in that of the New Testament."

He continues by adding, "The last foundation for any doubt that the scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed."

In terms of physical evidence that agrees with the eyewitness testimony?
To date, there have been ~ 23,000 archaeological findings directly related to and showing proof of the truths found in the Bible.

The next ancient text to come close to rivaling that number is Homer's Iliad which is thought to have survived in 643 ancient copies.

~ Recognizing this, F. E. Peters remarked:
"On the basis of manuscript tradition alone, the works that make up the Christians' New Testament texts were the most frequently copied and widely circulated books of antiquity."

The most important discovery in the history of biblical archaeological findings has been the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1948. Within these scrolls was found a complete scroll of the book of Isaiah, which is dated to about 100 B.C.

This is where it gets interesting, since scholars can see how well the Massoretic scribes had preserved the OT text. As scholars compared the two Isaiah texts (from 900 A.D. & 100 B.C.), they were startled by the precision of copying.

Isaiah 53, for example, has 166 words, and there are only 17 letters that differ. Ten are just spelling differences. Four are "minor stylistic changes, such as conjunctions." The three remaining letters that differ are the word "light," added in verse 11, which does not affect the meaning.

Of course this predates the time of the New Testament, so how does this go about proving the writings of the NT?

If you cross-reference Isaiah 53:7-9 with Acts 8:32-40 you can see that this is how Phillip preached Jesus to the Ethiopian who received the gift of Salvation.
This act is also repeated in Matthew, Chapter 5, by Jesus to His disciples.

This is just one example out of hundreds that tie the validity of the NT in with the validity of the OT.

Apologetics, NT Proof, Christianity, Bible

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