Salvation is for the Protestants

I was recently told by a protestant Christian that because I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ that I would burn in hell forever-- unless I became what she specified as a “bad Mormon” which she clarified to mean that I had to stop believing all of the things that I was taught in my church, and I needed to start believing all of the things that she was taught in her church.

I asked her what was it about membership in my religion made we worthy of eternal damnation-- is there some specific belief? Did she believe that God have be burned eternally because I thought that God might have visited people in America? Or is it because I believe that God spoke to more people than she did?

She clarified that the reason that God would not save me was because I believed in works.

I disagreed with her and shared the following:

1. I very clearly stated that I believed that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer and Judge of mankind and that salvation is in and through Jesus Christ. I stated that my faith does't save me, neither do my works save me-- but Jesus Christ saves me, since he is the Redeemer and Judge. And since, Jesus is the one who paid the price and is making the decisions, I felt that I ought to strive to obey Him and repent when I fail to do so.

2. I quoted a scripture that said that essentially: this is life eternal, that they might know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ”.  John 17:3

3. Then I quoted a scripture that stated that if anyone claims to know God but doesn’t keep the commandments, that they are probably not being truthful. 1 John 2:4

4. I stated that the reason for this is because  Christ called the scribes and pharisees hypocrites and stated that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees, “ye shall in nowise inherit the kingdom of God” Matthew 5:20

5. Then I stated that the definition of hypocrisy is “the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform.”

6. I reiterated that it is Jesus Christ who is the Savior and redeemer and I believe that ultimately our eternal condition rested upon His grace and that I am not the judge and so I cannot determine who He will save or not save... but just going off what He says, it sounds like he wants us to keep his commandments, and if we ever do break any of them, we really ought to repent and not break it anymore, and that if we don't do that, we really aren't showing a lot of faith/trust in Him--but that ultimately, He is the judge of all of that. (Matthew 19:16-26 is where someone DIRECTLY asked Jesus what was necessary to inherit eternal life and he responded by saying to keep the commandments)

7. Lastly I stated that Jesus had taught that people will be rewarded according to their works and so the more good we do, the more blessed our state will be, both in this life and in the next. Not that good works in any way save us, but that Jesus saves us and then beyond that, we will further be rewarded or blessed by doing good works in faith/trust of His promises. Rev 20:12-13

Her response to these seven points was that I did not qualify for the redeeming love of Jesus Christ and would go to hell and burn forever unless I abandoned these ideas and became what she termed as a “bad Mormon”, because a “good Mormon” is not worthy of the grace of Jesus Christ based on what I had shared.

So now imagine, a person who lives their entire life seeking to do the will of their Father in Heaven and strives to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ out of love and devotion to God to the best of their ability; believing that Jesus is their Judge and Redeemer. When they die, they stand before Christ and Christ says to them:

^“21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

²² Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

²³ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

²⁴ Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:”

And then promptly thrusts them down to hell because they were taught and believed that Jesus expected them to keep the commandments and repent when they did not.

“God why are you thrusting me down to Hell?

“Because you thought that when I said to have faith in you, that this trust could be also demonstrated through actually doing what I asked you to do, rather than just saying that you had faith in me and then not even doing what I asked you to do, so because you thought that I wanted you to obey me-- depart from me, ye that work iniquity!”

…Maybe it’s a good time to check to make sure if what you believe about God demonstrates a being that is merciful, imbued with justice, reasonable, logical… or even remotely sane.

For further clarification read the entire chapter of James chapter 2

For further clarification on Romans 9:9, read verse 10 which clarifies what the kind of belief necessary for salvation "FAITH UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS". Righteousness = obedience.