Gospel Truth!

[safaiax]

Have you ever heard the Christian gospel (good news) before?

It's really amazing, but before I tell you, let me explain the nature of the God of the Bible first.

God is: perfect, unchanging, eternal, righteous, just, merciful, and loving.
God has a law for us humans called the 10 commandments, and we've broken it.
Don't believe me? Here are God's commandments to us:
(listen to your conscience!)

1. Do not have any other gods before the one true God. (if anything
goes before God, it probably means its taking the place of Him)

2. Do not make any graven image or serve any likeness that you've
created. (ever made a god to suit your desires? if so, you've broken
this one)

3. Do not take the name of the Lord in vain, God will hold him
guiltless to whoever does this. (ever used 'God' or 'Jesus/Christ' as a
word to show disgust? if so, you've broken this one)

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy

5. Honor your father and mother

6. Do not murder (Jesus said to hate someone is the same as murdering them.
Ever hated someone?if so you've broken this one.)

7. Do not commit adultery (Jesus said who ever looks upon a woman
with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. The same
concept applies for lusting after men. Ever lusted?)

8. Do not steal (It doesn't matter the value.)

9. Do not lie (Even little white lies are lies.)

10. Do not covet

Ever violated any of these? By the way, they're not the 10
suggestions, they're the 10 commandments.

The Bible says, all liars, all thieves, all adulterers, (etc.) will have
their place in the lake of fire.

I'm guilty of all of these too. I am not judging you or condemning
you. We've all sinned at least once. The Bible says if you break one
law, you've broken the whole law. It doesn't matter how many times
you've sinned or what kind it is. It's still sin.

So, God hates sin, but loves us. Because He's just, He must
punish us by sending us to eternal hell(where there will be eternal
burning, no love, and you'll be fully conscious),

Now here's the good news...

He made a way so we won't have to be punished!

God sent His only Son to earth to die for our sins on the cross, so that whoever
believes in Him will have eternal life instead of having to be punished
eternally in hell. Jesus, in the fullness of God and man, led a sinless life, willingly died,
and was resurrected, in bodily form, three days later. He payed for our sins with His blood.
We don't deserve it. He didn't owe us anything. But that's what makes His
love for us so amazing. He deserves all the glory in the world.

God created us to have free will. He didn't force us to love Him.
We've chosen to reject Him and sin against Him. He gave us
another chance by sending His son to die in our place.
That was his act of love to us.

This is a free gift from God. You don't have to work for it. The work has
already been done. If you trust Him and what He did for you, God will forgive
your past, present, and future sins, and you can be sure that you'll go to
heaven when you die, not because you deserve it, but because, by God's
mercy for us, justice was served on the cross by Jesus, and our debt was payed
in full by Jesus' blood.

If you want to pray, you can, There are no magic words tho. This is a
supernatural work of God. If you truly do want to love and follow
God, and turn from sin and to Jesus, God will give you His Holy Spirit as
a comforter and guide to live inside you. You'll see signs, you'll see prayers being
answered, you'll see a change in your desires, and maybe even other
miracles.

Jesus said 'If you love me, keep my commandments'

Of course if you continue to willingly live a sinful life style, it's a sign
that tells you you're probably not saved. That's why you should
continue to confess your sins with a humble heart (its not like you
have to go to a priest or anything, just talk to God about it).
And as an author of some of the books of the Bible said, he 'dies daily'
to himself and his sinful nature.

If you're a skeptic, Christianity is not a blind step into a dark room.
There is evidence all over the place that the Bible is true, from many
of the sciences, to archeology and history, to biblical prophecy being fulfilled.
Just because its not right in front of you, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
You'll just have to search a little bit. Why not check it out?

If you're a new believer, before you're getting yourself into this,
realize a few things. Though God is loving, it doesn't mean life will be
easy. He's in control, He knows what's best for you, and sometimes
you wont agree with Him.

Jesus said: 'Whoever comes after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.'

Imagine a potter working with clay. The potter has a picture in mind
for how he wants his pot to be.He will work with it and shape it until
it is in the desired form. It might be painful to the clay (if it could
feel) and the clay might not understand(if it could think), but the
potter knows. and when he's done, the clay will be in the perfect shape.

You are the clay, and God is the potter. You will go through some rough
times, but God will always either bring you through or bring you out of
it.

Also, life isn't about you, its about Jesus. He's the one that deserves the glory.

For the true Christian, life isn't a cruise ship, it's a
battle ship. The enemy (Satan and his demons) will constantly be
trying to pull you away from God by any means possible (deception,
doubt, and distraction are a few ways). Don't use Jesus as a ticket
to heaven or a way to a 'good life'. It won't work. Some of the
greatest Christians that ever lived were the ones that got imprisoned,
tortured, or killed for their faith (it even happened to Jesus!). One
thing that you can be sure of is that God will never leave you or
forsake you. Make prayer and reading
your Bible a regular habit (I suggest you start in the New Testament with the gospel of John).
It will help you grow in your faith and your relationship with Christ.
Don't be afraid to proclaim your faith, and don't be afraid to let
Christ live through you.

Consider this: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I,
but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."(Galatians 2:20)

Also, try joining a Bible believing church or small group.
I know there are many dangerous churches out there. Many
have taken Christ and the Bible out of their church (or are working on it).
Some are money hungry and have made Christ into a business.
Yet others have made church a place for entertainment or to attract
unbelievers (which is not what the Bible teaches!).
Those are the churches you don't want.

The churches you do want are those that believe the Bible fully (not just certain parts),
preach the Bible fully (even the 'offensive' parts like sin and hell), submit to the Bible, and will help you grow in your walk with Christ and not pull you away from God.


Source:

The Gospel is not a message I have created. It comes from the Bible, which I claim to be the written word of the one true God. But, don't take my word for it! If the Bible is true, then what I say is true. If the Bible is false, then what I say is false. If you want to find out if the Bible is true or not, I suggest you search in the following areas: history, science, archeology, and prophecy. Then, just let the facts speak for themselves.

[neb92]

... Did you spellcheck? "Sabbath" not "Sabbeth", "concious" should be "conscious", "tho" should be "though", "truely" should be "truly", "thru" should be "through", "crucidied" should be "crucified" and "offencive" should be "offensive".

A note about word choice that bothers me RIGHT now is that you used the word "unbiblical"... well, I'm sure that something like that happened in the bible. Dunno, it's a big book and I have the attention of a goldfish, so I haven't read it all the way through.

Now, since this is in the essay field, I'm going to take this as an essay and dissect it AS an essay. Meaning your opinion. I'm not going to get on you about anything, merely tell you that an essay is meant to persuade or inform. A "skeptic", as you used the word above, would take the grammar and spelling in this and tear you apart with it. No offense, but if you've ever existed in the real world, you should know it's true.

First off, italics are much, much, MUCH more useful than all caps when trying to emphasize something. MUCH. Keep the spacing between sentences consistent, it goes from one to two to zero spaces, and it makes it hard to read. There's a lot more grammatical stuff in there, but I'm gonna let you get those on your own, they're pretty easy mistakes to find.

Now, I'm guessing that this is a persuasive essay, and, as such, should be written to persuade. Meaning that all sources should be listed, and you should prove what you say. It's great when you try to sell me a vacuum and tell me it's the best on the line you can't expect me to just take your word for it, can you? Religion is a lot more personal than a vacuum. Even then, you should ALWAYS, and yes, I capitalized this because I want it to seem as though I'm yelling it, ALWAYS keep it neutral and in the third person. You never go into the second person, which is addressing the audience directly, in an essay. EVER.

Also, you made several claims that can be taken offensively. Like Satan being the enemy; say, personally, I hold a differing view on this. How am I supposed to have "questions, comments, or objections" when I don't know exactly what I'm objecting to? You just threw that out there, and I have no basis on which to talk to you with it on, without it escalating into one of those famous "bible battles".

Now, it's almost 11 at night and I have school tomorrow, so I'm going to go to bed. Just a warning, I have no interest in debating anything that was said in your essay, I was just informing you on the bare minimum of what needs to be changed grammatically for it to be considered an essay. Remember that it's formal writing. I love constructive criticism ^.^ It makes an author's world go round.

Night!

[safaiax]

Sorry about that. Lately, I've been in many environments on the web that have been much more informal and not so heavy on spelling and grammer. I should have edited it more before posting. Well, I have school in a little bit, so I'll finish up later! (By the way, thanks a ton for the constructive criticism!)