Does your church lie to you with saying: to accept Christ, and then you will be saved?

Question

Many churches teach this, but the Bible says that no man can “accept” Christ because all men are spiritually dead:
We read in Ephesians 2:1 And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.

The problem is that the Bible declares that man is spiritually dead in sin and totally incapable of mustering up faith in himself to salvation:
And there is none that calleth upon Thy Name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee:… (Isaiah 64:7)
There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (Romans 3:11)
No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him:… (John 6:44)

God has written the Bible in order to bring us to a knowledge of our wretched condition; and also to show us that salvation is absolutely not within man’s ability to achieve. God Himself must do all the work in the matter of saving the sinner:

When His disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? 26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:25-26)

As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. (Romans 9:13-15)

Answer 1

How many times are you going to ask this same question?

"Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve..." (Joshua 24:15)

You quoted, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." Yet unilaterally, God showed mercy on those who accepted and obeyed his words!

God showed mercy on Jacob because he obeyed God. Esau, on the other hand, did not obey.

Jesus is "the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him"! (Hebrews 5:9)

This obedience does not earn salvation, but it is submitting unto His will and it is how God has stipulated that we will receive the gift of salvation!

Edit --- in response to "kj7gs".

kj7gs said I am “putting the cart before the horse.”

James 4:8 says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.” kj7gs has God drawing nigh to you before you draw nigh to Him! Notice this verse again says, “Draw nigh to God AND HE WILL draw nigh to you.” It does not say, “Draw nigh to God because he already has drawn nigh to you.”

Jesus said, “He that believes and is baptized SHALL BE SAVED” (Mark 16:16). I suppose he thinks one is saved before he believes. That’s not what Jesus said.

In fact, Jesus said, “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” (John 8:24) John 3:18 says, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Who is putting the cart before the horse? James? Jesus?

Also, where is his Biblical reference that “grace produces faith”? Romans 10:17 says that hearing the Word of God is how faith comes! (See Acts 11:14 also.)

By saying a person doesn’t have to do anything, he stands in direct contrast to the authority of God! God has the authority to determine if there is anything we must do!

Several times in the New Testament, there is the question “What must I do to be saved?”! Not once do you read a response, “There is nothing for you to do!”

In fact, when Saul (Paul) asked what he needed to do, he was told to go into the city where it would be told to him what he “must do”! (Acts 9:6)

When those in Acts 2 asked “What shall we do”, Peter told them to “Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins” (Acts 2:38 - quoted from American Standard Version). This is exactly what Jesus had commanded! (Mark 16:16, Matthew 28:18-20, Luke 24:47)

I ask, why were none of these told “There’s nothing for you to do”?

Answer 2

I agree with you completely, and I'd like to provide a response to bama_jld's post:

- Joshua 24:15 is talking about pagan god1 or pagan god2, take your pick of the idols that you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. This is a statement that supports your premise, not his.

- the statement that "unilaterally, God showed mercy on those who accepted and obeyed his words" puts the cart before the horse. Grace precedes faith, it does not follow it. God does not rely on his own creation to choose to come to him, as if the Almighty were a choice on a menu. He causes salvation through foreknowledge, predestination, and effectual calling.

- God did not foresee disobedience from Esau and therefore create him specifically for condemnation. This would make God evil. The only way for God to justifiably hate Esau would be if Esau was guilty from the womb, which supports the doctrine of original sin.

- Hebrews 5:9 can be read very easily in the light of grace preceding faith. Those who obey him, have received the grace that does indeed make Jesus the author of eternal salvation.

- bama_jld is correct that obedience does not earn salvation, and that obedience is most definitely a matter of submitting to his will. However, salvation is not conditional upon what man has done, but rather what God has done. False religion will always give Man something to do.

Answer 3

I see your point. The true salvation must be done with God's Own Hand with the Souls free will and trust. The word "Church" means Called Out Ones so, technically only those truly saved by God are part of the Church.
Just because a group of religious people tell you something,it does not necessarity make it so. Beware of Wolves in Sheeps clothing seems to be the another point of your question as well. Immanuel aka Jesus in St Matthew means God With Us. Jesus said to His disciples when the Holy Ghost [the Comforter] has come He will Be In YOU. This is Basic Christ [Empowered] ian [One] ity Teaching.

Answer 4

I have a problem with this line

"God has written the Bible in order to bring us to a knowledge of our wretched condition; and also to show us that salvation is absolutely not within man’s ability to achieve. God Himself must do all the work in the matter of saving the sinner"

Are you implying that since god must do all the work, that he has an authority greater than him to answer to? Otherwise, why 'must' he do anything at all?

Answer 5

No , one must hear the word of God for the seed to be sown .Romans 10:17 " So then faith cometh by hearing ,hearing by the word of God ". Hebrew 4:12

Answer 6

How about this one For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son so whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.If the Holy Spirit leads you to give your testimony or tell people how You can receive Jesus then I must do that.I can not save anyone.It is by God's mercy but I completely understand your point so here we go.

Answer 7

Whoa! Hold your horses Tonto! I think you're looking at it the wrong way. When a minister gives an alter call or ask people to accept Christ, it is clearly a sign to which that person acknowledges Christ as being who He said He was/is. The act of salvation is something that is solely upon Jesus. The word says that all who call upon the Lord shall be saved. But, alot of people can't because they have never heard of this Jesus. That's the reason for giving the alter call at the service end. To accept Christ as Lord, takes faith. It is Christ who gives us what we need to be saved and I mean everything. Faith to believe in HIm, He deals with our heart and makes known to us that we are sinners and we need His redemptive power and forgiveness. Yes! Man is dead in sin. But, when a sinner sincerely comes to Jesus and says, forgive me Lord for sinning against you. He is at that moment saved and forgiven of his past sins, never to be remembered again by Christ.

Answer 8

Yes... a poor self esteem is what is needed to accept Jesus Christ as your personal LORD and Savior. He is a fair weather savior so you need to do all the work and do it right otherwise you are lost and on your way to Hell to be tormented for ever and ever under the watchfull eye of the Lamb of God, aka Jesus Christ, Abraham, Lazarus, 144,000 virgin Jewish boys, and the redeemed Christians. They will all spend eternity teasing their own unsaved relatives and old acquaintances being tormented in a sulfuric burning Hell for ever and ever.

Luke 16:23-25 (NIV) And being in torments in Hell, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.

Revelation 14:10-11 "he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb* (*God the Son Jesus Christ and a few selected Christians/John 17:24). And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name."

Hope that this Bible truth will make you "accept" Christ as your LORD and Savior before it is too late...!!! I wish I could be there with you reciting the "sinner's prayer" right now!

Answer 9

The question is what you are being saved from. Is it a world war? is it yourself, mass murderes? Car accidents? God? What?

No matter whether the christians like it or not, the christians die like everyone else

Answer 10

I think you need to take a Bible study course and get some of your opinions right.