A devout Muslim or Catholic or a member of any other religious sect , certainly will be kept very busy in his or her religious life! Can this help to save them, though?


"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." (Titus 3:5)

"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)

"For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." (Romans 4:3-5)

It is not the works that man does that can save him, but rather it is of the grace and mercy of God who sent His Son Jesus Christ to die and shed His blood for us, and who rose again from the dead, gaining the victory of that most feared of man's enemies - death. Only by faith in Him can you be saved, and this after He calls us and gives us the conviction to recognize that we are sinners in need of salvation. Repentance, that change of attitude and heart towards our sin that must lead to a willingness to allow God to change our behavior and lives, must be had before we are in a position to come to God for salvation.


"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." (Acts 3:19)

If we refuse to accept that we are sinners who cannot provide our own way to God, then we cannot be saved nor enter into the kingdom of God. There is nothing; no ritual, no ceremony, no pilgrimage, which human beings can perform and earn a spot in heaven.


"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6)

The Bible tells us that our efforts at producing our own righteousness are unworthy and flawed. Because of our sin, we are unclean things in the sight of God, and our works and rituals are worthless and filthy. This applies to all of us, too.


"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:10,23)

This includes that supreme example of goodness and piety for every Muslim all over the world - the prophet of Islam. Mohammed, as we saw, was a sinner. The Qur'an says as much. "Lo! We have given thee (O Muhammad) a signal victory, That Allah may forgive thee of thy sin that which is past and that which is to come, and may perfect His favour unto thee, and may guide thee on a right path." (Surah 48:1-2, Pickthal translation) Further, in Surah 40:55, "Then have patience (O Muhammad). Lo! the promise of Allah is true. And ask forgiveness of thy sin, and hymn the praise of thy Lord at fall of night and in the early hours." (Pickthal translation) The Qur’an recognizes that Mohammed himself was a sinner in need of forgiveness.

So, if all people are sinners, and works, rituals, and the like cannot save them, what can? As stated above, the only way to salvation is by placing your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, repenting of your sins and trusting Him to wash your sins away through His own blood that was shed to forgive sin.


"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)

Salvation is only through the Lord Jesus Christ. No works can replace this,


"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber, I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, " (John 10:1,9)

Jesus, the sinless Son of God presented both in the Bible and the Qur'an, who would not lie, said that He was the way to enter into heaven. If you are trying to get in by keeping the rules and regulations of Islam (or any other, for that matter), you are trying to climb up some another way, and will not be able to successfully enter in.


"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8 )

This is the love of God. We, who are sinners by nature and by practice, and who justly deserve the wrath of God by burning in hell for eternity, are freely given the opportunity to escape that fate, without work on our part, and without it costing us a thing. Again, I quote,


"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)

Salvation is by grace, through faith, His gift to us. We don't need to work, we only need to believe and trust in Him for our salvation. Doing good works and living a moral life cannot save. In fact, human beings are not even ABLE to live a truly moral life unless they have the Spirit of God residing in them, whom we receive when we trust on Christ for salvation. Think about it - no matter how moral you may appear to other people, you know deep down inside that there is some sin which you have in your life which will condemn you to hell. Why try to strive to earn a salvation which cannot be earned? Jesus said,


"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)

Lay the heavy burden of your sins and guilt at His feet, and take Him as your Savior, and be saved!

Article

another advert for the magical blood that cannot take away sins:

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-849726.32.html#msg10017651

John 3:16-17 (KJV)
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

There is no other source where the truth can be find except the bible!

please i am lost,a christian should explain to me:

"how can a father killing his own son be called love"?

I think the question should be,  how can a
loving Allah sacrifice the lives of millions of his brainwashed followers for the purpose of worldwide conquest ?

Allah seems to cherish the shedding of human blood, to achieve his aims.

the blood shed in the name of Islam in recent times will form rivers if they were collected into one place.

LagosShia , I admire your courage and resilience in the defence of Muhammad's death cult,  but you are not convincing nobody here or making any sense.  we can all see your death cult for what it is on the news daily,  in our cities and towns and sometimes even at our places of work.

unknowingly you have become the face of that death cult on nairaland.

repent ,while there is time from your sins, otherwise you will perish in them, even Muhammad will not be in a position to help you.

peace!!!!

^^^^^^^^^^^

you have refused to answer the question because you are a freak.it is unimaginable how a father killing his own son is seen as "love".that is only in the heads of christians!!!!

you now turned the discussion on Islam.well,i have one challenge for you.show me in the Quran like what i would show you below.

Show me from the Quran where Allah committed a masscre of killing over 50,000 people at once by striking them in the presence of others watching and leaving other terrified.such a massacre is only found in your bible committed by your "loving" god who allegedly also killed his "beloved" son.to the christian when "killing" is done by his god it is seen as "love".

here is the greatest massacre in any religious book carried out by the loving god of christians unsurpassed even by Adolf Hitler:

1 Samuel 6:19
And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people [b]fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: [/b]and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.

now frosbel,you have become the offcial symbol on nairaland of lying,hate,ignorance,fanaticism,extremism,zealotry,bigotry,and of mentally retarded people.