Does God require only thoughts for salvation, or does he also require positive action on our part?

Question

Thoughts would include repentance, belief in Jesus' teachings, and adopting God's moral standards.

Positive action would require getting baptized, giving charitable help to the least of Jesus' brothers and sisters, eating the bread of life, and enduring to the end.

Are mental actions sufficient, or are physical actions required?

Answer 1

We give God everything we have, and He gives us everything He has. We give God faith, love, obedience. We repent of all our sins because we love God, have His Spirit within us, and want to do what is right. We keep the commandments, we accept and live His moral standards, and follow His example by being baptized, give charitably, partake of the sacrament of remembrance of his body, and endure to the end. We yield our rebellious and willful hearts to him, offering the final sacrifice of a humble heart and a contrite spirit. We make sure that all our actions are in line with what we profess to believe; there is no hypocrisy in us. We accept Christ as our Savior, and we do all that is in our power to do to come and follow Him.



In exchange for our whole-hearted devotion and untiring service God promises us that we may have Eternal life with him, and be joint heirs with Christ to all that the Father has (Romans 8:17). My ambition is to have nothing less than that. And it requires not only all our mental action, but our physical actions (of course, which follow from mental action) as well.

Answer 2

Catholic Christians believe that salvation is a gift from God. Salvation is a life long process, not a one time thing of saying you believe in Jesus. We must work on our salvation daily, by keeping the commandments, by going to confession, by repenting,seeking forgiveness for our sins,we must also go to Mass and partake of the Sacraments.



"As the Bible says, I am already saved (Rom. 8:24, Eph. 2:5–8), but I’m also being saved (1 Cor. 1:8, 2 Cor. 2:15, Phil. 2:12), and I have the hope that I will be saved (Rom. 5:9–10, 1 Cor. 3:12–15). Like the apostle Paul I am working out my salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), with hopeful confidence in the promises of Christ (Rom. 5:2, 2 Tim. 2:11–13)."





Catholic Christian †

Answer 3

Bruce, salvation is a lifelong process. In Matthew 25, Jesus illustrates the kind of life that opens the door to an eternity with God. It's a life that focuses on living God's law of spiritual love towards Him, others and self.

Answer 4

Thoughts and a clean mind are important, but we are all aware that the first step in our salvation, as peached by all the apostles is repentance, which is a physical action. All othr actions follow as we are imbuded with the Holy Spirit, which guides us to do good works.

Answer 5

Physical actions are required. In support I cite every singly text relating to final judgment. I don't see a single one that includes mental actions. Rather, I see a consistent and universal focus on actions. It isn't hard to connect the dots from there. At least not for me.

Answer 6

Well...



with all due respect: have you considered what actions someone like a quadrapalegic (someone who is completely paralyzed from the neck down) is able to take?



Literally unable to act, and typically incapable of providing any significant charity (sometimes not so much as "a widow's mite" is available to them), are they doomed for eternity because they are unable to fulfill the "requirement" of "positive action"?



What about a person who sincerely repents of his sins and accepts Jesus on his deathbed shortly before his death? Is he doomed for all eternity because his poor health prevented him from "positive action", even from receiving baptism because he or she died soon after "accepting Jesus"?



No: "positive action" is not a requirement - or, to say it better, it is not an *absolute* requirement. However, if a Christian is *able* to do good and refrains from doing so, then that one is in danger of eternal doom. We are supposed to do the good that we can do - but we are not required to do good no matter what, even when we are literally incapable of doing some particular good that ought to be done.



"Good works" should not be neglected:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mat%2025:31-46&multilayout=cols&version=NASB;KJV

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=james%202:14-17&multilayout=cols&version=NASB;KJV

but they are not an absolute requirement.



In a nutshell:

a - a Christian *can* be saved without good works

b - but no Christian should *refuse* or *neglect* to do any and all good works and still expect to be saved



- Jim, http://www.bible-reviews.com/

Answer 7

We live in a spiritual universe. The spiritual is the idea behind the action. The wind that fills the sail. Jesus compared the spiritual to the wind in John 3:8. And like the wind, the spiritual is the unseen force that impacts the physical realm.



The problem with mankind is not physical in nature. We are not the products of a bad environment, a bad education system, or bad political structures. And our problem is not bad behavior. All these are symptoms of the real problem, which is spiritual in nature.



The story of mankind is the Tale of Two Cities. The earthly city, Babylon, and the heavenly city, Jerusalem. And it is the story of two types of citizens - those who are under the rule of the "prince of the power of the air", and those who are under the rule of the Son of God.



Babylon has it's beginnings in the opening chapters of the bible. God's command was to fill the whole earth and subdue it. But the people of Babylon had other ideas. They wanted to unite themselves in a central place in order to glorify the name of man. They said in Genesis 11:4, "Let us build for OURSELVES a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us MAKE OURSELVES A NAME."



Babylon also appears in the ending chapters of the bible in Revelation 17 and 18, and represents the worship of the one world ruler and the economic system which rules the world. The spirit of Babylon is the spirit of a man-centered world. It's all about ME and MAN. James rebukes worldly wisdom in James 3 characterizing it by "jealousy and selfish ambition". The man who is a citizen of Babylon lives a life centered around his own personal ambitions and self-aggrandizement.



Jerusalem is the city of God. And we are told in Hebrews 11:10 that this is the city "whose architect and builder is God." The New Jerusalem, where the people of God will someday dwell, is described for us in Revelation 21 & 22. In the center of this city is the throne of God and the Lamb. And from this throne and from the Lamb flows a river of the water of life. Along this river on each side is a tree of life. These trees produce twelve kinds of fruit every month, and the leaves are for the healing of the nations.



Leaves are photosynthesis receptors that convert light into energy. And the light of this new city is God Himself. These trees are a type of heavenly citizens (Psalm 1:3) - receiving their nourishment from the water of life, or the Spirit of God, and being energized by the light of God, which is the truth of God. And the light energizing these leaves produces the "peaceable fruit of righteousness", as James says, where we live not according to selfish ambition, but rather an "others-centered" life. And the fact that there are two trees could well represent both the Jew and Gentile citizens.



The issue of salvation is an issue of citizenship. Are we being ruled by the "prince of this world", according to the principles jealousy and selfish ambition? Or are we being ruled by the Son of God, who nourishes us with His Spirit and energizes us with His word? Are we living in the kingdom that is "Me-centered", or the kingdom that is "God-centered" and "others-centered". That is the question.



Our natural born citizenship is the the kingdom of Babylon, the kingdom of man-centeredness. The kingdom which Christ calls us to is the New Jerusalem, where we follow King Jesus. Entrance into this kingdom is absolutely free. It's paid for. It is simply a matter of accepting that payment for our citizenship, and swearing our allegiance to the King. Everything else flows from that.



"If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9

Answer 8

Clearly, even though works alone cannot save us, they are necessary. That is why Christians are called “a people peculiarly his own, zealous for fine works” and why they are encouraged to “consider one another to incite to love and fine works.” (Titus 2:14; Hebrews 10:24) More to the point, another Bible writer, James, simply says: “As the body without spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”—James 2:26.

16 Important though the good works themselves may be, the motives for doing them are even more important. It is therefore wise for us to check our motives from time to time. Since no human can accurately know the motives of others, however, we must beware of judging others. “Who are you to judge the house servant of another?” we are asked, with the obvious answer: “To his own master he stands or falls.” (Romans 14:4) Jehovah, the Master of all, and his appointed Judge, Christ Jesus, will judge us, not on the basis of our works alone but also on the basis of our motives, our opportunities, our love, and our devotion. Only Jehovah and Christ Jesus can accurately judge whether we have done what Christians are admonished to do, in the words of the apostle Paul: “Do your utmost to present yourself approved to God, a workman with nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of the truth aright.”—2 Timothy 2:15; 2 Peter 1:10; 3:14.

Answer 9

Without faith, it's meaningless. God isn't stupid enough to believe that we have done all of our good works specifically for Him and not at all for ourselves. He knows our vanity and our wickedness far better than we ever could.



Faith without works is dead. Who knows this better than God? This also should lead us to question exactly who our good works are really for? If we don't have faith, we are simply wasting our time looking for a big pay off for all the good works we have done. In and of itself, that is greed for what God has and what we think we deserve. What we think we deserve from God has no determination in our salvation. What God knows we deserve is the far greater matter.

Answer 10

John 3:16 has your answer. It is faith, and faith can be a thought. Aren't you thankful that your sinful deeds of good works can't buy your freedom from sin? Only the precious blood of Jesus can wash away sin.

Answer 11

Only decisions are required. However once you have given your life over to Jesus and repented of your sins you will naturally start doing good works. Actually the good works are a great way to gauge how you are doing spiritually.



Jam 2:26 KJV - For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Jam 2:18 KJV - Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

Answer 12

obedient faith is required. that amounts to confessing Jesus, repenting of sins, baptized, living a christian life until the end of your life.

Answer 13

Yes that's right by following the example of Jesus Christ, leads to eternal life of happiness and Joy.

Answer 14

It is important for all Christians ( and others) to imitate Christ because Hes is the most perfect in His thinking and in His acts, therefore, 'thinking' is good but better when It is linked to the good objects of our thoughts. Example; "Come to me all you who labour and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Learn of me for I am meek and humble of Heart."

Answer 15

no we should be in prayer and ask like King david requested.



"Show thou unto me thy servant

All thy ways and teach Thou me

So that by thy spirit guided

Clearly I thy paths may see

In thy Truth dost Thou me guide

Teach me Lord of Thy salvation

All the day for Thee I bide

Lord with eager expectation



Wilt thou then I pray be mindfull

Of thy mercies manifold

Of thy care and loving kindness

that have ever been of old

Sins of youth remember not

Nor recall my hid transgressions

For thy goodness sake O lord

think of me in Thy compassion



He the Lord is good and upright

In His dealings evermore

Sinners are by Him instructed

In the ways untrod before

He will ever guide the meek

In His judgments true and holy

Teach His ways to those who seek

Him, with an upright heart and lowly



So you trust the Lord to guide you and lead you into His paths of rightenous.

Answer 16

thoughts and action

Answer 17

Crusade, kill non-believers, smite those who are different, that sort of stuff