Why we are not "Saved" (crack this box open...)
 

Off a few other threads, so no one get the wrong idea here....

We are God Fearing:

We know God, based on our factual relationship with Him.

When I say factual, I mean what we have witnessed & been shown thru Him in our life so far.

We are given biblical signs and blessings from God often enough to truly know His presence, (these signs are not taken lightly, I'm very analytical and when a sign carries such odds as 1:700,000+, to us it's a sign) when gathered around the right group of people we can feel His presence.

We are for better words ignorant in understanding scripture. (but currently trying)

We are not "saved" but are not "damned". I know the definition of a Christian and we are not, but we are not claiming such as so many we witness..... (which is worse?)

We do not openly feel that literally anyone can repent and be saved. There are evils here, there are those that will indeed suffer eternal damnation regardless of future actions.

We don't feel one can simply have an honest thought & become Christian. We feel this requires good works, discipline, respect, and a at least a life-cumulative positive balance of good-vs-evil.....

Only when we have come to a life worthy of Him can we truly accept such a commitment and receive assured salvation.

* We do not preach this to be universal truth, this is simply our honest understanding that He has shown us*
^^^ However, has He shown us everything or just a small piece of the pie? Are we seeing things clearly or half blind?

DO we wish to be saved? INDEED, and we are EVERYDAY working towards this. Since 2006 we've been working on this, and feel we are 90% there (aside from scriptural intelligence.)
^^^ Note, I do not mean 90% complete holiness, for there is a lot of further enlightenment ahead I see....

Re: Why we are not "Saved" (crack this box open...
 

The last 2 signs (both relating to this Church & AFF)

Here's the 1st, 2nd to last...


One thing we learned from our time with the Menno’s is any time you need a sign you need only look in the bible. I cannot recall the scripture off hand, but it was well taught one Sunday. We both witnessed this several times back then. Sometime after it quit working, or I lost being able to clearly see the signs, or perhaps I wasn’t praying loud enough….

Things have been hard not having a home for our family since then, and I won’t go into great detail, but our family was at a spiritual breaking point.

I desperately prayed for a week for a sign on what to do, deeper than I had in a long time. So aside from that, I was sitting with Miss Misfit, and went to show her an example in the "ah but my version of the bible also shows you this" battle. I randomly flipped through it, stopping on Habakkuk 3 “The Profits Prayer”.

We'd never read this, nor ever heard any church speak from this book. Finding this odd I thought maybe it to be a sign, but the only sign I took from it was that God indeed was furious, and that didn’t do much good as God had been letting me know this for some time now.
I placed my marker there and put my bible back for further research.

Now I shared this with Andrea on Thursday, & Sunday we went to what was going to be our last hope in finding a home for such misfits as ourselves.
Then, low and behold the speaker brought up Habakkuk 3 out of about 6 different scriptures!

Chapters in the Bible: 1189
6 Different scriptures read from: 1189/6

Face odds:1 in 192

C = the number of chapters read from since last-or-next reading from Hab 3 = 20+

R = number of sermons heard since last Hab 3 reading (never, 1000+)

Sign Odds: 1 in (192RC) = 1 to 3,840,000+

The odds here are; 1 in 3,840,000+

Not only are these odds as mathematically impressive as the signs we witnessed while with the Menno’s (<this being important to an engineer), but it was as if the speaker was talking right to us, and the scripture as well!
DO I take this as a sign? Very much so!


What does this mean to me? God has delivered us there, why I don't know, but I feel it is to learn something....

Re: Why we are not "Saved" (crack this box open...
 

I will say that not one person is saved until judgement day.
We only have the hope of eternal life until that day.
No matter what we believe about it.

Re: Why we are not "Saved" (crack this box open...
 

I don't mean any criticism or warning, but I always caution about seeking signs. I've had friends who also prayed for a sign about various things. I even went through a time where I prayed for God to "show me a sign." I was sincere. I really wanted God to show me some sign that confirmed things in my life.

Instead I got nothing.

Did that mean God wasn't interested in me? That maybe God had me on a do not show a sign list?

Absolutely not.

The Bible talks about seeking signs. The Pharisees asked Jesus for one, and He replied "an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it."

The Bible also says, there will be signs which follow them that believe.

Believers shouldn't follow signs. Signs should follow believers.

Again, this wasn't meant as a slight or criticism. It's too easy if a sign doesn't come to then think we're out of favor with God and beat ourselves up over it. I don't want that to happen with you.

Re: Why we are not "Saved" (crack this box open...
 

Last sign

So Miss Misfit luved the Church, but had much doubt on my sign, even given the odds....

So the night before Week III service, she was researching grace. She had stopped on Psalms 84, sure enough the next morning... BaM there it was being spoke from!

I won't go thru the math of it all.... but He does give us signs!


Last time a scripture-to-scripture before this Church? Only before & during the Menno Church.


What do these say to us? Something big! lol

Re: Why we are not "Saved" (crack this box open...
 

The bible speaks of Christians as being 'saved' (past tense), 'being saved' (present tense), and 'will be saved' (future tense). Each is related but has different connotations or nuances.

Re: Why we are not "Saved" (crack this box open...
 

I once asked for a sign and behold, the juniper bushes brought forth juniper berries!

Re: Why we are not "Saved" (crack this box open...
 

"These signs shall follow them that believe" (Mark 16:17).

Agreed, but we didn't follow the sign, the sign followed us, and showed itself to us after the fact as confirmation, not prediction. I do not try to hard to interpit any sign, just take it for what it is. ;)

So I guess we agree agree & disagree ;)

Re: Why we are not "Saved" (crack this box open...
 

Yes I just put up "These signs shall follow them that believe" in a thread stating we not saved, but hat does not mean we do not believe, we just don't believe everyones different views on the ease of achieving salvation.... what's that mean, were just different (misfits), and still have much to learn for ourselves. ;)

Re: Why we are not "Saved" (crack this box open...
 

Sorry, I read the part in bold above, which says you desperately were praying for a sign. That's what I would call seeking for a sign. :)