THE BELIEF PROCESS SUMMARIZED

God loved/loves and created all humans, past present and future. With the rebellion of Adam and Eve, humankind fell from the perfect grace of God; and their descendants became completely unworthy. The worldwide flood of Noah was sent to wipe the old mankind away. The descendants of Noah repopulated the earth; and God made a covenant of favor with Abraham, to apply to the descendants of Abraham (Israelites/Jews). Satan (the devil) had been released by God into the world in order to create the tension between "good" and "evil", to which choices "free will" would be applied. When "free will" and "the law" were obviously not a satisfactory solution (and such fact had been clearly documented to mankind in the historical record), God sent his son Jesus as a sacrifice to make everything right and to offer salvation thereafter to both the Jew and non-Jew. There could be no other solution to the sinful nature of mankind than the provision of a savior! Mankind being under the judgment of "free will" because of Adam, everything about becoming a Christian believer MUST be by one's own free will decision to do so. On belief in Jesus, one is transformed into a favored child of God to whom God provides life-long "watch care" through the shepherding of Jesus by way of the constant personal indwelling of the Holy spirit (thereby accomplishing the presence of Jesus within the believer...remember that fluid "one essence in 3 persons"...The Trinity). At the "end times", the Christians will be taken up into the air ("the rapture") at the coming of Jesus. Those non-believer persons and souls left behind will undergo the seven-year tribulation period with awful wars and happenings on earth. Since God loves all of the humans he created, surely He will see that, somehow, all hear the Gospel. Those who had never heard of Jesus and The Gospel during their earthly lifetimes are likely to hear it during "the tribulation". The Christians taken up at the rapture will be taken (with all those who have previously been taken to heaven) before God for a review before The Almighty of the "highlight tapes" of the good of their lives . At the end of 7 years of Great Tribulation will be the 2nd coming of Christ and the cleansing of the earth; there will be a thousand years of the kingdom on earth under the rule of Christ followed by the ultimate destruction of Satan and forever after the kingdom of heaven on earth. As a Christian, as you set your sights like an athlete/salesman/ marksman, don't feel guilty about falling short on earth; you are saved for eternity! Genuine love (the full range of love: agape love, filial love, erotic love) flows from God. The whole point of human life is to love and worship God and, in successfully doing so, to love people. A human is incapable of loving God (or a human) with anything like true capacity without being a believer, thereby having the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to enable the turning on of the love. Without believing, humans are stuck in erotic love and some degree of filial love. True agape love...commitment, serving, sacrificing love...is at minimum capacity (the complete potential is much greater) for that particular non-believer. Non-Christian counselors trying to help people with "love" problems are hamstrung in their effectiveness if they can't direct the patient/client into Christianity and the acquisition of the enabling power of God the Holy Spirit.

When the believer, while on earth, opens his/her life (the maximum move is "abandonment" of your life) in order to let God work through that believer, then that believer makes himself available for the blessings and sense of joy in being part (great or small) of God's process of working through His children. And the righteousness of a Christian is conferred through Jesus (your own righteousness is so far below God's standard that it is mere rubbish); Christian righteousness is NOT a merging of yours plus Christ's equaling sufficiency. It is a gift from God.

If you are considering Christianity, don't let the fact that church members (even pastors) might be lacking in their own manifestation of love, tolerance, and non-judgmentalness [many who are Christian church members have not yet even truly become "believers"]...don't let anyone turn you off. Rather, seek one or more who show promise of turning you on.

Sadly, you can't grow as a believer unless you are willing to do so and set your mind to change. You've got to be willing to be willing! When you yearn for change but aren't "willing", God may allow events to reduce you to a point of desperation so that you become "willing"! And, remember, don't practice the sin of comparison...how slowly you are progressing vs.. the actions of a more saintly Christian (especially when the more saintly one confesses how far short he is from his goal). When Christ's righteousness was credited to each of accounts, the credit was so huge that all humans we DECLARED, then and forever after, as equally righteous and equally justified in accepting the gift of salvation!

Lastly, we hear mention of unforgivable sin. If you accept/appropriate the atonement God provided through Jesus Christ, ALL your past, present, and future sin is forgiven...it's that simple...the accepting of a complete gift. Failure to hear and accept the gift...unbelief...grieves the Holy Spirit, such being a sin. This...unbelief...is the unforgivable sin. If you won't believe, you can't accept; therefore, you can't receive the gift of forgiveness which was placed before you nearly 2000 years ago! Sadly, many accept but have difficulty realizing their relief from condemnation; they keep grubbing self-consciously on their inside...leading to a sort of morbid Christianity. We should be as joyful, relieved, believing, and realizing of our merciful and gracious gift in the manner of the simplicity with which a child receives news of his/her sparing from an announced punishment. Fortunately, God judges us mercifully through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ

GOD'S WILL FOR YOU

His will is that you be saved (I Timothy 2:4), and His Word (biblical scripture) includes a key prayer we all should make in earnest (Colossians 1:9-12) in behalf of our own selves....pull your Bible out and read it.

free will choices graphic summary [under construction]

free will choices flow chart [under construction]

Morley's Christian life graphic summary [under construction]

Evangelism graphic summary [under construction]

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[posted 19 Sept 1998]