Importance of Original Sin

And God might ask you at the judgement, "Why did you hold back? Why didn't you trust me to take care of you? Why did you vote against the measures that would have taken care of you?"It's gray. There's no Bang! You're Saved! and you can coast to the end. It's flat-out all the way to the finish line.

They did:

quote:

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Acts 5:34-35 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

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NOBODY has suggested salvation by works alone.Salvation is by faith. That much is plain. But faith is NOT just mouthing, "Lord! Lord!" The way God measures faith is by what you do for the least of His brethren. The branch that does not produce fruit is thrown into the fire.The arguments against works are entirely self-serving.Edited by ringo, : Clarification.

The fact is that they did practice it.Of course there's an easy copout for those who would rather grab all they can for themselves. That doesn't negate the principle. You make claims about what was "meant to be" but you don't back up your claims. Your denial is just self-serving.

You keep missing the point. Nobody has said that works have anything to do with saving us. But the works are the only measure of real faith. Without the works, you don't have real faith. If you hold back, like Ananias and Sapphira, you don't have real faith. Professions of faith mean nothing.

Well, the city is threatening to take it for back taxes. But I'm not the one who claims to be a follower of Jesus, am I? I don't need to practice what YOU should be preaching. Not Ananias and Sapphira. They had your attitude and they were struck dead for it. Stop it. I have told you many times that I do NOT have a Utopian ideology.I'm just pointing out what YOUR religion says.

There would have been no reason to lie if they hadn't been doing wrong in the first place. They did wrong and they knew they did wrong. You can't erase the wrong that they did.

I have never said that it's a requirement. I've said that it's a principle.If you give less than 100% you can never be sure that you've given enough. And the principle doesn't apply only to money.

It's a principle illustrated by Elijah and the widow, Jesus and the widow with two mites, Jesus and the rich man, Ananias and Sapphira and possibly some other examples that are not on the top of my head. Acts 4 even uses the exact same phraseology as socialism: "and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need."You can try all you like to justify individual greed but it ain't scriptural.

No I am not. I am saying that 100% is the yardstick. Of course it's up to your own discretion but if you give less than 100% even YOU can't say for sure that you've done "enough", that you didn't "fall short", that you haven't let greed control your decisions. 100% is absolute. Anything else is iffy. You can try to fool yourself that you've yelled, "Lord! Lord!" loud enough but you can only really be sure about 100%.

Of course it wasn't a legal requirement. It was a social requirement based on a religious principle. Not "some". It says, "for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold" (Acts 4:34). Everybody who had property sold it.And it doesn't say it was voluntary either. Maybe it was; maybe it wasn't. It doesn't say either way. It doesn't say that either. Peter said, "Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?" Satan filled his heart to lie AND to keep back the money.

It's not a case of unbelievers versus believers. It's a case of readers versus non-readers. The passage says what it says despite your attempts to distort it.

Clearly not, since you were wrong - blatantly wrong, demonstrably wrong.

It clearly says they were punished for lying AND for holding back.

It seems to suggest that God killed them - goats, everlasting fire, y'know. It might be worth your while to keep that in mind the next time you give 99%.