Quote:
Originally Posted by justlookin
Lots of different answers and views on such an important question. Thanks everyone for your input.
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It is a very important question. And I think that all of the answers are relevant. Must there be a single way?
Must one....???
1.) Repent
2.) Be water baptized
3.) Be filed with the Holy Spirit
What if they...???
1.) Repent
2.) Be filled with the Holy Spirit
3.) Be water baptized
With something as simple as the application of
Acts 2:38, there can be variations. What if...???
1.) One was baptized in Jesus name.
2.) Asked for and received the Holy Ghost.
3.) Then a certain sin was revealed in their lives and they genuinely repented before God?
Now the order is all messed up! LOL
What if God begins drawing a person and as a result, they come to faith. They attend several churches and seek to understand Scripture and doctrine better. Then they attend a Pentecostal church and are filled with the Holy Ghost. Then they attend several different Pentecostal churches and then they are baptized in Jesus name. While visiting several different churches they are convicted of various sins and repent of them. They live a Christian life trying to allow Christ to live His life out through them. They fall away and begin living a sinful lifestyle! Then after a couple decades they get a terminal disease. Depressed and angry with life and God they sink deep into a depression. After a couple weeks of depression, their health worsens. They pick up their old Bible and realize... God has won. They truly aren't in control of their life. So they surrender to Him, right there in the hospice bed, with tears streaming down their cheeks. The next day they find themselves having trouble breathing. By midnight... they pass.
God brought an elect child home. Oh yes, it was up the rough side of the mountain, but God prevailed. God chose this child from before the foundations of the world. God's grace was at work in this child's life from the moment they were conceived. At any point were they "not saved"? Was God ever up in Heaven on the edge of His seat hoping and praying that they will just surrender and be saved??? Nope. lol God knew every detail of their life before they were born. God even ordered and permitted some circumstances that we'd never imagine He'd ordain to be... simply to bring them to where they needed to be to finally surrender.
So... at any point were they "unsaved" with God hoping against all hope that they get saved?
Where was the bare minimum of redemption experienced?
Folks... this isn't about formulas and steps. This is the journey of redemption. And along this journey, there are many twists and turns. And no single person's road is exactly like another's. There are as many roads to Heaven in this journey... as there are elect children of God. And God's elect were chosen before the foundations of the world. One could argue that all that is truly necessary is that God choose an elect child. As a result, our salvation is secured in the sovereign will of God from all eternity.
and a 
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