On 26 Jun 1997, Cordell Vail wrote:
"MARRIAGE: Is there not one Church anywhere that dares to take a standnd against immorality and say it is wrong to live to gether when you are not married and if you do, EVEN IF YOU ARE SAVED, you will not go to heaven? I can not see how any one could justify the teachings of the Bible to say that all you have to do is "CONFESS JESUS" and you are saved. And after you are saved, if you sin you do not need to repent of that sin to still go to heaven. What happened to the teaching of REPENTANCE??? YIKES!!! Most of the Bible teachings are about keeping the commandments. I am really confused. REALLY!!!!!"
Dear Cordell,
First of all, there is absolutely nothing taught by the Scripture that says you can do anything to inherit eternal life. The entire process, start, middle, and end is God's work.
Eternal life is something given to us by the faithfulness of God, not by our faith.
Legalism, i.e., righteousness by the law instead of by the faith of Christ, is clearly refuted throughout Galations. You cannot be shown righteous by the law because the just man shall live by God's faith.
Fare thee well,
Ethan Metsger
(ethanm@ccil.org; http://locke.ccil.org:80/~ethanm)
"We're content to pitch our tent / When the glory's evident. But seldom do we know / The glory came and went." - Bob Hartman