Can You Have Faith without the Holy Spirit?
This is a comment in response to my post from yesterday Faith & "Church":
"Your blog was a very good read today, question do you really believe that you can have faith speak these things as if they were, if you do not have the Holy Spirit living in you to do so?
We also know for our selves that the Holy Spirit is the "Power" and you possess the Holy Spirit by living a TOTALLY obedience life to Christ,don't get me wrong we all fall short daily! Just something to think about! Your honest opinion"
Now my initial response to this comment was NO. I generally write my blogs from the perspective of a believer in Christ to other believers. As I went through the rest of my day yesterday and even thought about this last night I was reminded of a conversation me and my mother would always have. She would say she cannot believe that people who have been good people, kind and loving to others will end up in hell because they have not accepted Christ. I also think about people like Gandhi who sacrificed, took a vow of poverty and cared about others and just gave and gave. I don't believe he was a Christian but I also cannot say he went to hell. Yes I know the Good Book says that Jesus is the way to the Father. The Good Book also says that Yahweh can show mercy on whom he chooses and that He can graft the Jews back into the tree for they are the original branches. (Romans 11:11-24)
Do I believe that there is 100% unequivocally only one way to the Most High and only one way to live right and pleasing to Him? I really can't say. Now I do believe that a person must be spiritual and accept the fact that there is something bigger than them, outside of themselves that is a driving force for them to be able to understand many things. They have to believe in a Higher Power be it Yahweh, God, Allah, Buddha etc. I do know that the only thing that separates Christianity from other religions is that Jesus died and rose from the grave. This is also what gives Christians a superior attitude to other religions (that is to say Christian’s in general not specifically individual people). In the Qur’an Jesus is accepted as a prophet, and the Qur’an says the Jews did not kill Jesus; however, the Qur’an doesn't accept or claim Jesus to be the Messiah. At the same time Muslim, Jewish, and Christianity all have Abraham in common as they are Abrahamic scriptures. I also think about Buddhism, Hinduism, and all the other religions/spiritual practices of the world and it is sad how many of these religions fight over who is right and who is wrong.
The truth is Yahweh is All Knowing, All Seeing, and All Powerful and He says that He will have mercy and compassion on whom he pleases (Romans 9:15).
What I do know is this is a touchy subject, as we have amongst Christians - Catholics, Baptist, Jehovah Witnesses, Sanctified, COGIC, Latter Day Saints, and Hebrew Israelites etc. The Muslims have - Sunnis, Sufis, Shiites, and Wahhabi. All of these sets and denominations under One God and One Faith that fight over who is right and is doing it the right way.
The most important thing for me is are people walking in love by faith, showing compassion and mercy toward one another. Is Jesus the only way to learn how to do these things? Probably not. Who is right, who's wrong, what's right and what's wrong? Who know we can't really say. We as individuals have to rely on our personal beliefs and faith and trust that we are doing the right thing and believe wholeheartedly we shall in end up paradise/heaven wherever place we feel our spirits will go once it departs our shells we call bodies.
I personally believe that we will be judged according to our beliefs based on what we've been taught and what has been placed on our hearts. I think we will be judged by our love, faith, and deeds. If there is a judgment at all.
I will leave this at that as I don't have the answers, I don't believe anyone has the answer to who's right and who's wrong. The most we can do is try our best to live right and do unto others.
Be a blessing and be a blessing,
Epiphany Essential
A blog created to E-nspire, E-ncourage, E-ngage, E-nform, and E-mpower!
Hello, how are you? This is an interesting post! I know that I'm like 8 years late lol but I'd like to comment. People don't go to Hell because they didn't believe in Christ, but because of sin. The Bible says "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) and that "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). It also says that "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10). So, sin is not only the reason why we are separated from God, but it's the reason why we deserve to go to Hell. The Bible speaks of a judgement day in which "every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account" (Matthew 12:36) and "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:11-15). And we know this to be true because the Bible is the word of God (2 Timothy 3:16) and we know that "God is not a man, that He should lie" (Numbers 23:19). And no matter how many good works someone does, they can't erase their sins nor save themselves ("all our righteousness are like filthy rags" Isaiah 64:6). You're right in saying that God decides who to extend mercy to, and that just shows that we can't earn His mercy through what we do; it's purely of His own will. This is the mercy that is seen on the cross, in which "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). God, being righteous and holy, won't let sin go unpunished (Proverbs 11:21)). So Jesus Christ, God Himself(Philippians 2:5-8), took the punishment for us. We can think of it like this, we broke God's law, but Jesus Christ paid our fine. When we repent and put our trust in Christ alone for our salvation/forgiveness of sins we will receive that free gift of mercy. "'Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins' " (Acts 2:38). Jesus indeed said, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). This leaves no room for argument. There is no way to come to Father, to have our relationship restored with Him, to have our sins forgiven, nor to receive eternal life except through Jesus Christ. "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). There aren't multiple roads to salvation, just one. It's true, a person doesn't have to be a follower of Christ to do good deeds. However, their sins are still there and still separate them from God, and will not be forgiven unless by the blood of Jesus Christ. “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him" (Romans 5:9). "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Thank you for reading to the end and I hope you have a good day!
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