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Rain
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Username: Rain

Post Number: 78
Registered: 9-2011


Posted on Friday, August 10, 2012 - 5:21 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'm kind of ripping off Jrt's Holy Spirit thread idea, but it seemed like such a good format to use for the question I had today.

When you were Adventist, what was your understanding of salvation and Jesus' role in salvation?

As a Former, how do you now understand salvation and Jesus' role in salvation?

I was reading the Bible and one of those programmed-into-me gut SDA reflexes to a verse hit me, where I instantly mentally responded to a verse about salvation with something along the lines of "Jesus died to uphold the law." Now I know that's not true since I believe the Old Covenant was done away with and we now have the New Covenant. When the thought hit my head I couldn't believe how automatic it was even though I didn't believe it.

So, I started thinking, why did Jesus die? And then I wondered how you all understand his death now that you're out.
Asurprise
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Username: Asurprise

Post Number: 2734
Registered: 7-2007
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2012 - 9:59 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

When I was an Adventist, I thought that Jesus died to make it possible for me to be saved. I just had to make sure I used Jesus' strength to keep pushing out sin or I would be lost.

As a Christian now, I know that Jesus did it all and that when a person accepts Him as their Savior, they're saved right THEN and all their sins, past, present and future are forgiven. I know that they're sealed with the Holy Spirit right then (Ephesians 1:13-14) and that He then starts working in the person's heart, but that's His work and we're not saved by it - it does though, show the world that we're Christian.
Asurprise
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Username: Asurprise

Post Number: 2735
Registered: 7-2007
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2012 - 10:02 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I can certainly relate to those old habits though! I heard in a sermon once, that we're born legalists! And with that Adventist background, legalism keeps jumping up in my face! It's been over six years now, but it's hard to shake it all off...
Jrt
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Username: Jrt

Post Number: 1242
Registered: 10-2008
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2012 - 10:05 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Asurprise,
THAT is EXACTLY how I, too, saw things ... Couldn't have said it better ... Jesus made it possible for me to be saved.

Great Question!
Colleentinker
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Username: Colleentinker

Post Number: 13880
Registered: 12-2003


Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2012 - 3:55 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oh, wow, really great question. I understood it like Asurprise said it, too: Jesus made it possible for me to be saved. I realize that my understanding was a mishmash; I didn't really understand exactly what his death did.

Oh, I would have said he came to pay the price for sin...he died to save me, He died for my sins...etc etc. I would have said all that. But it still boiled down to making it possible for me to keep the law.

I understood Him to be my example for how to live so I would be saved.

Now I understand that He was my complete Substitute: He didn't live to show me how to live so I could be saved. He came as my Substitute and took God's wrath for human sin. He paid the price God demanded for sin: death. His death is my complete substitute death if I believe Him. And His personal righteousness is what God credits to me. No, He doesn't place a robe of Christ's righteousness on me. He hides me IN HIMSELF and His own SELF is credited to my account.

I heard Elyse Fitzpatrick say, in one of her teaching videos for her book Because He Loves Me, say something like this: The Father loves you so much that He is preparing you to marry His Son.

Wow.

Colleen
Mjcmcook
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Username: Mjcmcook

Post Number: 573
Registered: 2-2011


Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2012 - 4:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Another way to write about GOD's Love is this~~~

GOD Loves me because~~~HE gave me HIS SON !~

That is enough!

Because I have accepted the "Gift" of HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST,
I am now HIS child~ HE has not left me an orphan
in this cruel world! The HOLY SPIRIT "Lives" in me!

I can now live in this world without "fear"~!

~mj~
Jonvil
Registered user
Username: Jonvil

Post Number: 661
Registered: 4-2007
Posted on Monday, August 13, 2012 - 1:10 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"When you were Adventist, what was your understanding of salvation and Jesus' role in salvation?"

Undefined, vague, amorphous, nebulous, hazy…

"As a Former, how do you now understand salvation and Jesus' role in salvation?"

RAZOR SHARP

I am a sinner

Saved by God's grace alone

through faith alone

in Christ alone

ANYTHING that does not support this I ignore

Keeps things real simple
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker

Post Number: 13885
Registered: 12-2003


Posted on Monday, August 13, 2012 - 2:49 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yes!

Colleen
Cloudwatcher
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Username: Cloudwatcher

Post Number: 628
Registered: 5-2009


Posted on Monday, August 13, 2012 - 3:56 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here is the Adventist understanding of salvation (from Altar Call by Roy Gane):

"By way of analogy, Christ put the money in the bank (by His death on the cross) and then He writes checks to people from that account (by His mediation, distributing the benefit). For us to receive the benefit of salvation, provision and distribution are both necessary. Christ put enough "money" in the bank to cover every human sin. There is enough to give everyone the opportunity to be saved. But what is the use of a huge bank account if nobody writes checks to those who want the money?"

Today I understand that my debt is paid in full and I am completely and totally free.
Punababe808
Registered user
Username: Punababe808

Post Number: 110
Registered: 4-2012
Posted on Tuesday, August 14, 2012 - 3:37 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My SDA heritage taught me Jesus is my example. He lived a perfect sin feee life and His reward is eternal life with God the Father. As our example we can do likewise.
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker

Post Number: 13889
Registered: 12-2003


Posted on Tuesday, August 14, 2012 - 7:29 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Cloudwatcher, wow. What a skew Roy Gane perpetrates. I remember our pastor once saying in a sermon that Jesus took us from deeply in debt and paid our debt so we no longer owed for our sin. But Jesus didn't stop there; He put credit in our account. So we aren't just brought up to ground zero and debt-free; we are already wealthy, possessed of all His riches.

Gane has Jesus putting credit in His own account...how ridiculous is that? --and then writing us "checks" when we need it. The reality is that Jesus gave His own self and His own inheritance and has put it in our accounts when we trust Him.

Colleen

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