Hi Wafflehead been out all day and just about to pop out again so will make it quick.
Grace isnt quite free someone has paid for your tab at the bar you just may not know it as yet.
Grace basically means that you cannot achieve salvation through your own labours. (You cant buy your stairway to heaven)
Juxtapose this with other faiths such as Buddhism.... you are working off your karma from your previous life, lives etc.
If compared to a monotheistic religion such as Islam, followers believe in the familiar pagan concept of scales of justice. Your good deeds must outweigh the negative in Allahs reckoning. What is interesting to note that in Islam even if one prays five times a day and follows all its rituals there is no mechanism or guarantee within the Koran that Islamic paradise will be granted to its most devout followers of the rules.
With regards to being saved, the scripture tells us that there is something that is unforgivable. although I havent quoted scripture on this thread for a reason I will this time.
The Unpardonable Sin
Mark 3:28-29
28 "Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"
So what does this mean? is it you can blaspheme Jesus name and get away with it but if you say Holy Smoke batman.. you are a goner.
No the context of this intercoarse occurred with Jesus being accused that his good deeds were the work of the demonic by his Jewish accusers.
So claiming something is the work of evil when it comes from God is the unpardonable sin.
Without getting into too many details but we as humans are really just souls that have a body to get around in. The soul animates the body and our interactions are conducted via the spirit within us. That may be love shared between your wife or children or even the friendship and companioship with another living soul such as the faithful family pooch.
The first part of the scripture from Mark talks about external factors such as blaspheme these sins even that of murder etc are ultimately pardonable by God.
The second part of the scripture focusses on internal matters. God communicates with us and allows his will to manifest in our actions internally via the Holy Spirit. This to christians is the mechanism that living being ultimately connect with or have intimate sharing.
When you hear the message of God and you reject this message, it is an internal process. You say through self reflection or self critique no thanks God I hear you but I dont believe. The rejection of the Holy Spirit will eventually harden your heart this leads to spiritual cardiac arrest.. that is eternal.
Read the Gospels the first four books of the new testament and see if it gels with reality. Again this is a personal journey. G.B.
