Earning your way to Heaven

[Rosie]

Today was my Bible class exam and it was a little hard but that is ok but what makes me mad is I didn't get the extra credit points cause he says my answer is wrong only I think it just depends on how you interpret stuff ok?

Question:
Do we earn our way to Heaven?  Explain your answer.

I said yes cause if you don't follow the rules in the Bible and accept Jesus as your very own personal savior then you don't go to heaven.  

The answer was supposed to be no cause it is Jesuses blood that saves us and gets us in Heaven.

I know that but we don't get to just accept him as our very own personal savior and then go out and kill people and steal and lie and still expect to get into Heaven.  We got to work on changing our behavior so we act how God wants for us to be so that is like earning.

I don't know but I think I'm right and he is wrong. 

[Tatiana]

I think you're both right. We wouldn't be able to get into Heaven without Jesus paying the price for our sins so his blood saves us. The Bible also says faith without works is dead so you do have to earn it with your works or you will got straight to Hell.
That was not a good question.  I would argue it if I were you.

[Deleted]

Rosie, your answer to this question was surprisingly Catholic!

You know this is a very old question.
In the Protestant Reformation it was one of Luther's central three teachings against the pope that you could only rely on God's grace alone to get to salvation through Jesus Christ. The Catholic church at the time stuck with its tenet that you have to actually do something to earn your way to eternal life. Luther called that "justification by works" and rejected it, because he thought it made salvation seem like a business transaction.

So if your teacher is Protestant he couldn't really give you that extra credit. However this is a very tricky theological question. You shouldn't be sad about not getting the extra credit, but glad that you rose to the occasion and gave a thought-out and informed answer.

[charity]

Salvation is a gift.  We simply have to accept it.  It's not something we can earn.

[Libby]

I think the idea is that you cannot have genuine faith or even accept the gift of salvation without having a change in your approach to living. I have to concur with Tatiana on this one, both are part of salvation.

[Rosie]

Jun 15, 2021 17:49:36 GMT -5 @carina said:

Rosie, your answer to this question was surprisingly Catholic!

You know this is a very old question.
In the Protestant Reformation it was one of Luther's central three teachings against the pope that you could only rely on God's grace alone to get to salvation through Jesus Christ. The Catholic church at the time stuck with its tenet that you have to actually do something to earn your way to eternal life. Luther called that "justification by works" and rejected it, because he thought it made salvation seem like a business transaction.

So if your teacher is Protestant he couldn't really give you that extra credit. However this is a very tricky theological question. You shouldn't be sad about not getting the extra credit, but glad that you rose to the occasion and gave a thought-out and informed answer.

I'm not any religion cause my mom and dad lets us pick what we want but Scarlette is Catholic and so was my now mom only she don't practice it no more but maybe they give me Catholic ways of thinking.    I just don't think nobody should tell somebody how they got to believe right?

[scarlette]

Oh Rosie.....feel free to be Catholic or whatever religion you want.....as long as it doesn't involve a young earth or a flat earth. 

[Rosie]

Please don't Scarlette. I believe in evolution okay?