Isa 45:17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end
Saved!
Everlasting salvation!
Shall not be ashamed!
World without end!
Words that stand out..
Give attention to details!
The problem with false doctrine and teachings on salvation not being eternal never came from the Bible or the reading of the Bible but from improper and lazy reading of it
False doctrine began from people reading their minds and opinions into clear bible texts
For instance, once your mind is made up that salvation is not eternal, and that eternal salvation is a heresy and a ploy to make people live in sin then you suddenly become blind to what is so obvious
You read a clear and simple text with words like eternal, forever, never perish or condemned and you see something else entirely. You see the direct opposite!
That's the gaol of religion, to seduce you and lead you away stripped of your brain
Spiritual seduction is not the work of beautiful girls with indecent exposure
It is the Work of teachers
Those who teach things contrary to the truth of the written word.
Men well trained in the art of seduction!
Mark them!
Flee!
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
From this simple text, it's already an established fact that damnation is the opposite of not believing or being saved.
Meaning a man can only be damned or condemned if he doesn't believe the gospel.
But religion will blind your mind to something this basic
Let's see this too
John 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 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.
John 3:16 is arguably the most quoted and popular text in the faith yet the least understood
Verse 15 already made it an established fact that to perish is not the loss of salvation but the consequence of not believing
Verse 16 again emphasises that condemnation or damnation is the absence of everlasting life and not the loss of it
Verse 17 again makes it so clear that God is not in the business of condemning sinners but saving them.
Hence condemnation is not an act of God towards the sinner but the act of the sinner against or towards salvation yet people read this and miss it because they read their minds and religious beliefs into the bible
Just in case you didn't understand what he has said so far, Jesus (your saviour) goes further to stress the truth in verse 18
that the Christian, the believer, he who has believed is not condemned, and that the man who is condemned is condemned not because God condemns him but because he refuses to believe on the name of the son of God
This is Jesus (God) teaching about salvation and he leaves no room for doubt or uncertainty of salvation yet people read the same texts and run off with their preconceived notions like spiritual 'zombies'
That's what religion does. It breeds laziness and hypocrisy
John 10
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand
Even without going into the epistles, Jesus already gave more than enough evidence in his teaching about the salvation that he was going to make available in his death, burial and resurrection, that it was everlasting, eternal, secured assured and unloseable
Verse 28 and they shall NEVER perish because I have given them eternal life
It's a life that can never perish or be lost. That is why he calls it eternal life. It's his very own life
He goes on to say neither can anyone or anything pluck them out of my hands
That's assurance. It's found in emphasis
He goes on in verse 29 to say the same thing, give irrefutable assurance
If all we had were the four gospels or the teachings of Jesus without the epistles, they are more than enough to give any man an unshakable assurance of salvation
But now we have the four gospels, the epistles and the entire old testament scripture to steady our hearts on the perfect sacrifice and salvation of Jesus yet folks would fight tooth and nail just to refute what God assures and call the man who says what God says a heretic and a false teacher
Such is the bane of religion. It's full of vanity, deception and ignorance.
A man who is a professor suddenly reads eternal and sees temporary. Reads saved and sees lose which is the direct opposite of saved
Religion is that powerful!
It makes slaves and dullards of intellectuals
It's like a brain disease.
More like cancer of the brain. Eating deep into man's cognitive and intellectual capability
This has always been the root of false doctrine and deception. Laziness and lack of due diligence to read someone so simple
Lack of common sense to question what is obviously an affront against the clearly stated truth of God's word.
Religion would so make a fool of men to the extent that a man would stand up and say without tithe no man can make heaven. Another would say you should not let anyone deceive you that once saved is forever saved and that you should guard your salvation jealously and people with brains and copies of their own bibles would agree and even stand to defend such arrogance and affront against the Holy written word. That's like your pastor saying do not allow Jesus, the Bible or the Apostles deceive you that once saved is forever saved and you're stupid enough to say 'Papa has spoken'. Are we going to be wrong to call you a dummy?
I guess not!
Religion is that powerful!
But thanks be to God for the light of the gospel that shines in every dark corner of the world.
The knowledge of Christ will cover the earth as the water covers the sea
Amen
Shamba

what does salvation mean to you?

BitCraftman:
what does salvation mean to you?

Is that a rhetorical question, sir?