In the epistles, Paul is a fun read at times. He was a pretty hardcore Jew in his day, in terms of being bathed in the Torah and immersed in Pharisaical doctrine. Paul had to really change his approach once he began to follow Christ. He had even murdered followers of Christ before his encounter with our Lord!
I love to read Paul because he sounds so...human! He sometimes argues with himself and gets flat out exhausted in his discourse to the point at which he finally just says "Thank God for His son". Because Paul realizes his own human words just can't fully explain the message he wants so desperately to get across.
For this reason, Paul has been criticized over the years for having screwed up Christianity with his back and forth, contradictory dialogues. But he's a human being, and his letters were just that: Letters.
He was sending out messages to friends and followers in a covert way to try to spread the message of salvation and the story of Jesus Christ. He was just a man - and a former Pharisee as well.
Sometimes it was the "Gospel according to Paul", but most of the time the beautiful message about Jesus Christ and the Good News was first and foremost. For that reason, Paul has been a subject of debate among bible scholars and theologians.
There have been names given like "Paulianity" and "Pauline" doctrine. Some have pointed out that even Peter and James were called in to put Paul back in check because word got out that he was preaching improper doctrine.
But you have to put that aside. Read Paul's writings, cross-reference it with the words of Jesus Christ, Himself, as well as those of the prophets and King David, and then you can know what the human words of Paul are versus what the spiritual, divinely written words are.
It's that simple! Just as I am writing today -- or anyone else who writes about their experiences and knowledge based on their encounter with Jesus Christ.
The worst mistake anyone can make is to take some of the writings of the bible at face value. You always have to go at it with the premise of "who wrote it, when was it written, in what context, and who was it directed to?"
Supposing I wrote right now, in this current time, "The Lord is happy when you get on your computer and read scripture!"
And then a thousand years from now, when there are no more computers, someone takes that at face value and says "If you're not reading scripture on the computer, then the Lord won't be happy!"
You see -- the message is always the same -- Christ brought the GOOD NEWS (Godspel) and this was the focus of all the epistles and fulfillment of all the prophecies in the Old Testament.
Having said that -- let's move on.
The doctrine of "steps to salvation" is based on the "ramblings" of Paul (and I said endearingly because I adore Paul and his human-ness). But Jesus didn't really speak of things in such guided detail. He said "Follow me".
Jesus said "Believe".
Yet that's the hardest hurdle for non-believers to get over -- and sometimes it's hard for believers, themselves, to accept. Jesus didn't say "read this prayer, then do this, and then this, and then you will be saved".
No -- he didn't make it a step by step process. Jesus actually came to do away with such feeble human attempts to save themselves through process or ritual or "steps". His message was that it was going to be done. Finished. All we had to do was believe it, grasp it, accept it and live our lives according to the gift we have been given.
Being saved is the easy part -- living saved is the hard part.
If it were not that simple to just "be saved", then why would Jesus have said to crook hanging on the cross next to him, "Today, you will be with me in paradise"?
Or how many times do we read of him saying "Go now, your faith has fixed it" (my paraphrase). All He wanted to hear from us was that we were willing to open up our minds and hearts to Him and believe what He had told us. And at one point He even gave that benefit of the doubt to the soldier who said "I believe, help thou my unbelief".
You see -- we ARE free. We are BORN to be free and saved. Our species was saved the minute Jesus said "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do". That was it folks! DONE.
But for thousands of years human beings have been confused and living as if it wasn't done. The war is OVER -- God won. But unless we understand this and truly believe it, we will continue to beat ourselves and others up with judgement and condemnation because we think so highly of ourselves that we are in charge of own salvation! God already fixed that.
"Now go, and sin no more". That is going to be the basis for another article I will write but for now, let's consider the fact that every time we try to save ourselves, we are crucifying Jesus all over again. How many times does He need to hang on that cross for us to realize "it is finished"?
There is ONE God, ONE salvation, ONE moment in our history when the Maker of all things punched a whole into our atmosphere and involved Himself in a way that once and for all showed us that we are important and worthwhile. And we don't have to do ANYTHING to earn that. No more than our children have to do anything to "earn" our love for them.
So here we are -- in a troubled world, living everyday and having a hard time getting along with others at times, fighting against stress, traffic, bills, spouses, bosses, etc. And nothing is easy. Is that God's fault? No. It's the world we live in. This is why God had to do something drastic to fix this once and for all two thousand years ago on a cross on Galgotha. He could have just said "Enough" and wiped this thing out of the universe. But He decided to keep us around and return to His previous hopes and dreams for our species when He created us.
So it's true -- in the words of Jesus, "Believe".
Yep -- believe it! Even if it's hard on certain days -- if you believe it, life CAN be easier. Easier because of what is coming WITHIN us is stronger than what is coming AT us from the outside.
"Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world", and again, "In this world you will have great tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world".
All of this was the basis of everything Paul wrote -- if you understand that he was just a man and that, at that time, there was a need to get things in an orderly fashion for this new group of people and followers of Jesus Christ (they called it "The Way", rather than "Christianity")
Don't throw the baby out with the bath water when it comes to Paul's teachings either -- just remember that there is a context in which some of his thoughts and ideas were written that applied to THAT time.
So now that I've covered all of this, what do you have to do to be saved?
You have to just accept the fact that you ARE saved. No matter what you do. And you have to learn to like that idea! You have to learn to depend on that knowledge when you're going through troubled times. It isn't easy, it's a challenge, but in learning about this salvation, you need to try to reach out to your Father and take that first step to communicate with Him. Prayers don't have to be extraordinary -- Jesus taught us a simple prayer that basically covers everything, and then you can add in your own feelings as you go along!
So here are my steps to salvation:
1. Stop worrying about being a sinner. You can't help it. You live in a sinful world and God already knew that you were stuck in this dilemma and He fixed that.
2. Learn to love yourself as God loves you. The Law of Moses began with the message of Love. "Love your God, Love your neighbors AS yourself". First you have to love yourself. If we learn to love ourselves, then we don't get as down on ourselves and waste energy on beating yourself up. Try to be kind, be good, be nice! And try to make sound decisions, if you screw up, move on! It's over and you can't go back and change it. Do better next time. God's over it, now you get over it!
3. This should have been #1 but the obvious step is to turn your face to God and reach out to Him. This isn't as hard as it sounds. Just start talking to Him! Say the Lord's prayer, if nothing else, just say "Hi, I don't know you very well but I want to know you better". Then leave yourself resolutely ALONE. Let Him come to you and He will! Believe me He will. Look for Him. Good grief, just the other day I couldn't get the lid screwed off a bottle of nail polish and had struggled with it for ten minutes, finally, in exhaustion I said "Father can you help me with this?" Within seconds the lid gave way and came off!! Seriously -- He will make sure He lets you know He's listening! Baptism is taught in the Christian faith as a sacrament and symbol of being born into new life. It's a symbol of being "washed clean" of your former, idiotic and neurotic self. I highly recommend it as Jesus commanded his Disciples to Baptize new believers as a show of faith and a step towards accepting the gift of salvation from God.
4. Read the Bible. Go back and begin with Isaiah and then the Psalms, then move your way into the new Testament. You need to have some background on how this all came about. I would recommend reading it all if you are able, but if you just want the "gist" of it, start there. You will be surprised at how much you begin to really "know" God once you begin to immerse yourself in the writings of the prophets and the gospels.
5. Go on your way! Remember who you are -- a child of the most complete and perfect Being in all of Creation. An heir to the love and blessings and wisdom of the ages. And understand that one man gave His life in order for this to be possible for you. One man walked this earth in order to make sure that YOU would be safe and ready for eternity one day. Celebrate that knowledge!
The Bible says that King David danced before the ark of the covenant because he was so full of love and excitement and joy at knowing he was a child of God.
6. STOP WORRYING ABOUT STUPID STUFF!! "Consider the lilies", Jesus said. And He was spot on in understanding our dilemma here on this earth. He knows we have bills to pay, He knows we have struggles and stresses, but He teaches us this in order to quiet or spirits and lead us into a place of calm reflection that would help us to see the larger picture. If you're having a bad day because the power company just threatened to cut your power because you don't have the money to pay your bill, go into a room by yourself, get your head on straight, ask God to help you through this trial, and then call the power company back up and be perfectly honest with them -- there's always a solution if you CALMLY and confidently pursue one. God will give you that serenity to find it.
Oh and did I mention that you're already saved? All of this stuff was just about how to live saved.
Living saved is the challenge, BEING saved is the GIFT.
Receive it, open it, keep it because it's yours. Amen.
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