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Righteousness Not all that call him Lord are his sheep, and some that do not call him Lord are his sheep. For the children of God are not recognized by religions and rituals, but by righteousness towards others. For there are righteous atheists who are the sheep of God. For those that have not, and do not knowing offend God are not in sin. And even though they may not come to believe in God in this life, they shall nevertheless enter the kingdom of Heaven in the same manor as those who have known the truth of God, and were righteous towards others. For many that are said to be lost will out of the goodness of their Spiritual heart feed the hungry, cloth the naked, and give water to those who thirst without any thought of reward. For these are the things that please God, it is the fruit of righteousness that proceeds from within the Spiritual heart. Whereas, the goats who feed the hungry, cloth the naked, and give water to those that thirst do not do such things out of the goodness their heart, but for heavenly rewards, and the love of boasting of good works. For the religious ones foolishly believe that what pleases God is an unquestioning belief in doctrines and the observance of rituals. FOR THIS IS THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE-THIS IS THE LAND OF EGYPT http://www.cjnetworks.com/~quixote
4 responses total.
i believe barney.
Awake! magazine could not have said it better, Unfortunately, Wayne, you may want (or not) to consider that there is a difference between goodness and holiness. Not popular, but hey, must Truth (capital T) be popular?
There is a big difference between goodness and holiness. Because the human race is falled - sinful by nature - even our kindesst acts are not enough to please a holy god. This is why Jesus had to come a die on the cross, so that by believing in him our very nature could be changed.
I don't know if the point was to change our nature. There certainly hasn't been any evidence of such a change in the past 2000 years, except maybe for the worse. As to believing in him, I always liked the story about how Heisenberg (I think -- some skeptical scientist, at any rate) hung a horseshoe over the door to his lab, and when questioned by a visitor, said, "They tell me it works whether you believe in it or not."
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