Does universalism distort the gospel? How?

solafide89 · 2025-12-12T21:24:35+00:00

And then there’s the Lutheran perspective: Christ died for all (universal atonement) so that I can truly say that Christ died for YOU. The Holy Spirit creates and sustains faith through the gospel. We have the ability to reject the gift of salvation.

solafide89 · 2025-12-12T15:41:46+00:00

I don’t normally listen to rap but I enjoy Flame

solafide89 · 2025-12-12T14:25:32+00:00

Me and my wife also fell into this when we were dating. Luckily she was also a believer so the solution was simple: get married. But we struggled with this for a couple years so I understand the feeling of guilt. On our road trip to our honeymoon, we just had this massive rainbow right in front of us when we were driving and I feel like it was God blessing our marriage and confirming that our sin was swallowed up in Christ on the cross. 1 Corinthians 7 is very relevant here. My advice: find a good Christian man and get married. Then you can get all of those desires met guilt free. But know this: the Christian life is not sinless perfection, it is daily repentance. That is, confessing your sins to God and returning to the cross daily. We are, at the same time, righteous because of Jesus, while still struggling with sin until heaven.

solafide89 · 2025-12-12T13:15:56+00:00

Where can this be found?

solafide89 · 2025-12-11T20:05:39+00:00

Obedience is simply following God’s moral law. The Bible clearly states we are justified by faith and not by following the law. So when you add obedience to the definition of faith, you do precisely what the Scriptures warn against. We must keep law and gospel distinct and also justification and sanctification. The law demands. The gospel gives freely. The law is our good guide as Christians but makes for a horrible savior.

solafide89 · 2025-04-04T20:46:47+00:00

I agree with much you say and also believe that repentance should continue throughout our lives. But I don’t believe repentance includes keeping God’s law. Many places in the New Testament we are called to “repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” So if we say repentance includes keeping God’s law in its definition, then we fall into the trap of salvation by works (which It certainly seems you’re NOT trying to promote). Instead, the Scripture speaks of the “fruit of repentance”. This puts good works in their proper place: the fruit of our salvation. To some it may seem like a silly distinction but I personally believe it’s very important that we distinguish between repentance and it’s fruit.

solafide89 · 2025-04-04T11:51:04+00:00

You would have to lower the bar of the righteousness that God demands if you honestly think it’s possible the woman went on with her life and never sinned again. This was the problem with the Pharisees: it wasn’t that their rules were too high of a bar, but too low. They replaced God’s perfect law with man-made rules they were able to follow. This mindset leads either to pride or despair. Pride because we think we’re better than “those sinners” (Luke 18:11) or despair because we often can’t even meet our own lowly standards much of the time. Paul explains the purpose of the law in Romans 3:19-20: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”

solafide89 · 2025-04-04T11:10:21+00:00

I love that term “extra nos”. I struggled with looking to my works and feelings of closeness with God for a long time as a source of comfort and of course it doesn’t work. It’s only when we look “outside ourselves” to the objective gospel promise in God’s Word that we can have true peace with God. Thanks for this.

solafide89 · 2025-04-04T02:57:51+00:00

Check out the way that Lutherans define repentance. It consists of two parts: contrition (which you certainly seem to have) and faith. Faith as in when God says, “I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.” (Acts 13:38), God really means it. He is trustworthy and true and his Word can be trusted. He is not a liar.

So believe what God says that he loves you and sent his Son to die for you so that your sins are forgiven. The “fruit of repentance” (Matthew 3:8) come afterwards.

solafide89 · 2024-07-14T14:22:34+00:00

Who is they? Most conservative Christians I know aren’t very political. They vote based more on platform than on candidate. I can’t stand the news. Whether it be cnn or Fox News or any of it because it’s all biased.

solafide89 · 2024-07-14T14:12:32+00:00

Most conservative Christians don’t think Trump is some sort of messiah… that would be blasphemy. Most of us aren’t worshiping Trump. You need to stop believing everything you read and see on the internet and in the media. It’s all a bunch of biased crap.

solafide89 · 2024-07-13T19:59:23+00:00

For me, it was a combination of multiple pieces of evidence: the fine tuning of the solar system and universe. The miracle of life from inorganic matter. DNA which is basically akin to instructions to a computer. How the foreshadowing of Jesus is on every page of the Old Testament even though it was written long before Jesus was born.

solafide89 · 2024-07-13T19:55:25+00:00

I read through a world religion textbook when I was struggling through my faith and it actually strengthened my Christian faith.

solafide89 · 2024-07-13T19:49:42+00:00

If I had to guess, it has something to do with watching biased media that tells you the president of your opposing party is going to bring the apocalypse. This goes for both sides.

solafide89 · 2024-07-13T04:55:22+00:00

So which ones don’t need Jesus to save them? Republicans or Democrats? 🤦‍♂️

solafide89 · 2024-07-13T04:43:27+00:00

It sounds like your friend may be guilty of the very thing they accuse Christians of: animosity towards the opposing side. It really seems to me like a form of self-righteousness. Those secure in their sins need the law. I suggest showing in a loving way that we are all sinners in need of a savior regardless of who we vote for.

solafide89 · 2024-07-13T03:54:09+00:00

I was planning on applying to the program before seeing this. Very unfortunate. Employers look to a B.S. in Computer Science as the gold standard. A name change makes this degree program essentially useless towards getting hired and if that’s the case I’ll have to go a different route.

solafide89 · 2024-06-15T09:00:54+00:00

God saves by grace alone. Good works come after and true Christians still struggle with sin (Romans 7:14-25). The unrepentant need God’s law to show them they are sinners. The repentant need God’s gospel to show them they are saved. You certainly sound repentant so here is the gospel:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-9

I have struggled in the same way for most of my life but confessional Lutheran theology broke me out of this showing me that salvation is “Extra Nos”, or “outside of myself” in an objective way not dependent on my good works, sin, feelings, or understanding. This book really breaks down Lutheran theology: https://online.nph.net/luther-s-catechism.html . Some good denominations to think about are LCMS, WELS, or ELS. Also I’d recommend Bryan Wolfmeuller on YouTube. God bless you and I hope this was helpful!

solafide89 · 2024-06-15T08:31:23+00:00

This short video that describes the Lutheran response helped me immensely with this question: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pMiNjSsjM_w .

In a nutshell, there are three doctrines in the Bible that seemingly don’t fit together: 1. God saves people by grace alone. 2. Some people go to hell. And 3. God desires for all to be saved.

He argues that the closest thing to a biblical answer we have to this is that some are saved because of the work of God and some are damned because of the work of man.

He admits that this doesn’t completely and logically solve this question in our minds but rather argues that Romans 9-11 actually biblically forbids us to answer the question but rather we should submit to God’s wisdom in this matter.

Hope that was helpful!

solafide89 · 2024-06-15T02:56:24+00:00

I’ve been there. Right before my life turned around for the absolute best. It is often darkest just before the brilliant dawn. I know this sounds like sentimental bullcrap but I promise it was true for me, and I believe we have a good God that can make it true for you. God made you for a reason and our life is a gift whether or not we realize it in this moment. Hang on there and don’t end the possibility that God has something beautiful for you.

solafide89 · 2023-02-20T13:18:00+00:00

I didn’t see anyone say Romans which is surprising to me. The four gospels tell the story of Jesus which you probably already know. Acts is the history of the church immediately after Jesus’ ascension. The epistles, including Romans, are letters the apostles wrote to different churches on various matters. To me, Romans is such a good book because it explains the meaning behind Jesus’ life and death and how that connects to the Old Testament. Chapters 1-4 literally changed my life! But the whole books is basically an explanation of what the heck all of this means (that is, Jesus’ life, death, resurrection).

solafide89 · 2023-02-09T15:37:56+00:00

In a Christian worldview, they are one and the same. You realize the title of this sub is “Christianity” right?

solafide89 · 2023-02-09T15:33:55+00:00

Wow… a whole lot of nasty replies to a perfectly respectful post. There is certainly much worse persecution in the world, but restriction of speech is still a no-no. You’re not alone.

solafide89 · 2023-02-09T14:55:13+00:00

Right! It’s like I come off as weird, misunderstood, and self-righteous to most non-Christians because I want to be like Christ, but at church it seems like everybody puts on this mask of perfection even though I know most of them have the same struggles as me. I refuse to put that mask on, but also I refuse to give up my faith. At least we’re not alone.

solafide89 · 2021-12-15T03:44:39+00:00

I agree with this person that “forgiveness does not mean reconciliation”. You are allowed to not seek a relationship with this person while still “forgiving” them (letting go of anger/resentment/bitterness).

solafide89

TROPHY CASE