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

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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Preaching Jesus For Dummies!

One of my favorite stories in the Bible to use to illustrate God's gift of Salvation is about the Ethiopian who receives Christ ~ Acts 8:25-40.

This story shows who, why and how a person can receive Christ into their heart. The who is anybody, the why is by accepting and the how explains both about the acceptance as well as the ministering. In regards to the ministry part, it's obvious that Phillip was not responsible for the words he spoke, he left it up to the Word. It's obvious that all he did was listen to the instruction of God.


34 The eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?"

35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.

36 As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?"

The part that caught my attention however is in verse 35 "from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him."

Do you see why this is so amazing? Look closer "from this Scripture"

What Scripture was he referring to that included Jesus? Consider that at this point in time the only Scripture in existence was what we refer to today as the Old Testament.

So here's the Ethiopian who's having a difficult time trying to figure out who the Prophet is speaking of and Phillip goes forth and shows him in Scripture that it is speaking of Jesus!

Can you preach Jesus to someone who has no knowledge of the New Testament? Can the Old Testament be used to explain who Jesus is?

Truly in light of this, we have it easy today. If the New Testament was published today Phillip may have suggested a more applicable name such as "How To Preach Jesus for DUMMIES!"

I know I've never tried teaching about Jesus exclusively by the OT, but clearly this was the effective and understood method in which Jesus was preached back then.

If anyone knows an effective way in which to do this, I hope to hear from you!

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