According to the video below, C. Michael Patton, Th.M. and Tim Kimberley, Th.M of Credo House, describe how, when believers are presented before Yahweh, their own resumes could never measure up, so instead, they must submit the resume that belongs to Jesus in order to be "saved" and this post will explain how this analogy illustrates how disingenuous the Bible and Christianity is at its core. The video is based on the verses in Ephesians 2:8-9, which many Christians believe relieves them of any responsibility for their "sins"--for they believe that as long as they have this "gift" of "grace," they will be "saved."
Notice that "gift of God" is not a release from responsibility. Notice how she leaves out verse 10. Maybe she missed it.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions —it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. - Ephesians 2:1-10
Look at the whole context of the passage. Why does the pardoning of our sins come as a gift? Because we don't deserve it. It's grace and mercy - God choosing to hold back the wrath that we deserve. We are not being let go unscathed. In order to get this gift, one must agree that you are a sinner and need a savior - that God is right. You are noit being declared innocent, but "not guilty". And it is not about the good works you do because they don't offset the offenses you are guilty of. We are not saved by our own good works but so that we can do greater good works.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
Cathy has indeed pointed out a great video. It is part six of a ten part series on 10 myths people believe about God. I recommend watching all 10. Link
In Ephesians, Paul explains that "grace" is a "gift"--it has nothing to do with what a person does, and Yahweh chooses at his whim whom he bestows his "grace" upon. (Eph. 1:5) It could be a rapist, or a murderer--it's all up to Yahweh, as Yahweh PREDESTINED those he bestows his "grace" upon, just as he PREDESTINED those that are damned.
Um no. EVERYONE is bound for hell unless God has predestined them for Heaven. No one's fate is up in the air and then God makes a decision determining if they go to Hell or go to Heaven. If God does nothing you go to hell. Hell is default. What makes Cathy or anyone else think that they are better than the murderer or rapist and deserve grave more than they do? We don't. And once one becomes "saved" they would exhibit true repentance and will no longer engage in living a life encumbered by sin.
There is no free will to choose whether or not we want this '"grace," as it is a "gift" believers were PREDESTINED to receive, i.e., this "gift" is NOT of themselves and they have nothing to do with it.
Without Jesus, your will is not free. According to Biblical philosophy, we are all slaves to sin by default. The gift isn't just freedom from the eternal wrath for our sins which we deserve but freedom from sin itself. Not sinless, but no longer to addicted to sinning.
Yahewh determines who believes in Jesus and those who do not believe in Jesus. Therefore, those that were NOT predestined to receive the "gift" of grace, i.e. salvation, were PREDESTINED to be damned, and they too have nothing to do with it. It is all done according to Yahweh's "pleasure and will." (Eph 1:9)
"For HE CHOSE us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5HE PREDESTINED us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9And hed made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ." Ephesians 1:4-10
The passages does not discuss what those who go to hell or why people go to hell. This passage is about those elected for salvation. If you want to discuss original sin and why we are born indicted and deserving of hell, read Romans 5.
Now, we also find contradictory passages in the Bible to the above deterministic passages such as the one below,
At the commencement of his ministry, Jesus himself commanded, “repent, and believe the gospel.” Mk. 1:15.which illustrates again, the contradictory nature of the Bible.
No contradiction. A person who is predestined for salvation will repent, and believe the gospel and never reject it. THAT IS HOW WE KNOW THEY ARE ELECT!!!! Jesus also said:
I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.” - John 8:24
Who did Jesus say who he is?
This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26:28
That is what Paul's letters say.
Furthermore, it is the existence of these types of contradictory passages which has led to the development of the various denominations of Christianity--some that believe in determinism (e.g., the Calviniss) and some that believe in "free will" (e.g., Catholics). When a text does not have consistency and is contradictory you can conclude anything from it.
That isn't the case here. I\ realize that it's true that there are varying opinions, but that does not mean the problem is with the Bible. The problem is us.
Meaning of course, that Christians themselves cannot even agree amongst themselves as to the "true" meaning of the text, and Yahweh, the so-called "all-knowing, all-good, and all-powerful" god, did not do a very good job of "revealing" the text to his followers--which means of course, he "knowingly" caused the confusion, which has resulted in multiple conflicts and millions of deaths. But I digress......
That is why you need to know Jesus for yourself. Blindly believing another person (every bit as much a sinner as you) leads to nothing but confusion and disappointment. Trust God first and he will lead you to ministries you can trust as you study on your own.
In the video, C. Michael Patton and Tim Kimberley explain that the salvation of Christians is not based on anything they do. It is based on "faith" alone, so that no one can "boast." (Eph. 2:8-10) This means that Christians, as long as they believe in Jesus, and repent for their sins, can continue to rape, murder, and commit other crimes without any fear that they could lose their salvation. Note, that some Christians do not believe you even need to "repent" in order to be saved--all they have to do is believe. Furthermore, there is no justice for the victims of Christian "sin" in the Christian system. i.e.--There is no justice at at all.
Again this is not what the Bible is saying. The passages she quotes have nothing to do with this point. she is raising. God's forgiveness of sin doesn't obligate you or allows you to continue sinning and to do worse.
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin — 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. - Romans 6:1-14
No Justice? God is more than capable of avenging the innocent. People who victimize others not only sin against their victim but sin against God himself. Unrepentant reprobates go to Hell. Don't be one of them.
Their analogy in this case, illustrates just how disingenuous Christianity is at its core. In the video, they describe how, when believers are presented before Yahweh, their own resumes could never measure up, so instead, they must submit the resume that belongs to Jesus in order to be "saved"! In other words, they must lie about their true identity, and present someone else's resume to "the boss." If anyone in THIS life did such a thing, that is, present a resume to a prospective employer that belonged to someone else, well, that person would not only be liar, they would also be breaking the law!
Not if the employer (God in this case) decided to accept the resume of his son instead of mine and treat me accordingly. It's not against the law if that is how the employer has decided to run his business. There in no deception because Christ knows he is carrying us and the Father and the Holy Spirit knows we are being judged on Jesus' flawless record instead of our flawed ones. God is the one who set it up. If you don't like it that's fine, but ultimately that doesn't matter. Lots of luck with using your own resume. Mine is horrible.
The fact that Christian salvation is based on someone else paying for the crime of another is disingenuous enough, but that Christians see no problem in creating an analogy where a person must lie about who they are and present a resume to Yahweh that does not belong to them--well, that certainly does illustrate that these Christians who feel this analogy is appropriate cannot see the forest for the trees. That is, they cannot see that their religion and their so-called salvation is based on lies and deception.
How pitiful.
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Cathy Cooper
How is it a lie if everyone involved knows that Jesus substituted in our place to pay for sin? Who is being lied to? No one. Who is being deceived? The one who thinks that their righteousness measures up to God's standards of Holiness. But that isn't God telling us that our righteousness is enough.
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. - Isaiah 64:6
22 This righteousness is given through faith in[a] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. - Romans 3:22-24
It's not like no one told us. It's on you if you reject it.
Debunking Christianity: Christianity-- A Disingenuous Religion Based on Lies and Deception
(Oxford University Press, 2002). What I soon realized was that the Bible creates propaganda to sell faith in its God, especially though famous characters created to promote belief in Israelite monotheism; be they Abraham, Moses, David or Jesus. These embellished Super Heroes function like our comic book (now in movies) Super Heroes such as Superman, Batman and Spiderman battling the forces of evil for a world of good. But these idealized figures simply function to serve our fantasies in a world where reality is fraught with suffering and injustice
