Ben Moser
Relationship Status
Single
Highschool
Blackman High School
Interests
God, Pride of the Southland Marching Band, Tennis, Business, Computers, Music, Movies, family, friends, movie-making, musicals, theatre, theater, photography, outdoors, camping, hiking, sleeping under the stars, laughing, starbucks, coffee, new york, broadway, italy, france, life, love, hope, pictures, cookie dough ice cream, poetry, my iPod, sleeping, art, graphic art design, graphics, design, entreprenuership, media, hopefully webdesign
Favorite Music
The Fray, Michael Bublé, Hawk Nelson, Yellowcard, Rascal Flatts, Andy Davis, Dave Barnes, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Chris Botti, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, UT Pride of the Southland Band, Frank Sinatra, Natalie Cole, Relient K, Switchfoot, Barlow Girl, Todd Agnew, Lifehouse, Coldplay, Brad Paisley, U2, Jack Johnson, Shane and Shane, Passion, Chris Tomlin, Charlie Hall, David Crowder Band, Beach Boys, Earth Wind and Fire
Favorite Movies
Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Notebook, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Italian Job, Saving Private Ryan, The Matrix, Catch Me If You Can, Phantom of the Opera, The Princess Bride, Remember the Titans, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest, Gone In 60 Seconds, The Incredibles, Bad Boys II, Gangs of New York, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Moulin Rouge
Favorite Books
The Bible, Mere Christianity, The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, Harry Potter, The Partner, The Last Juror, Wild at Heart
Other Websites
http://tnjn.com/beta/staff/bmoser/
Faith vs. Works
April 14 2006
An acquaintance of mine recently posed this statement, which got me to thinking...
"So you can be a complete jerk to people and still get to heaven as long
as you've "accepted Jesus" but a person who has lived and loved and
cared forever and never been exposed to Jesus is doomed? Sounds
backwards..."
to this question, I responded as such, which I think makes for a good Biblically-based answer, if any of you were wondering or curious about the same topic.
Ephesians 2: 8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works,
so that no one can boast."
This is simply stating that you are
saved by the grace of God only, nothing that we ourselves do can give
us salvation. Jesus further established that we cannot do anything to
gain salvation in John 14:6: "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the
truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Only
through Jesus can we gain salvation
The Bible does not leave us with that only though, it also states the two greatest commandments of the new law in Matthew...
Matthew
22: 34-40: "Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the
Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him
with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the
Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and
greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as
yourself.'All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
The
second being to love your neighbor as yourself. This is also repeated
by Paul to the Galatians in Galatians 5:14. Lamen's terms: be a good
person to all people. The Bible does discuss thoroughly the importance
of maintaining a Christian (definition: belonging to Christ) witness.
This part of the relationship with Christ is often forgotten by those
who play the "convenient Christian" role, in which they conveniently
forget to act as a Christian should, according to the Bible, and this
leads to a large misunderstanding of the responsibilities of being a
Christian.
In Galatians 6:10a it says this: "Therefore, as we
have opportunity, let us do good to all people." The verse goes on to
say more specifically to do good to other believers, but the statement
clearly notes to do good to ALL people, which is a responsibility of
Christians.
Hypocrits also ruin the responsibilities and causes
misunderstandings of what the responsibilities of a born-again
Christian are.
In addition, Jesus stated in John 14:23-24a that
those who love Him will obey His teachings. "Jesus replied, "If anyone
loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we
will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me
will not obey my teaching."
So, to answer your question in more
detail, you can only be saved by faith, but that is not the extent of
God's plan for Christians, nor the responsibilities of a Christian.
::b
"So you can be a complete jerk to people and still get to heaven as long
as you've "accepted Jesus" but a person who has lived and loved and
cared forever and never been exposed to Jesus is doomed? Sounds
backwards..."
to this question, I responded as such, which I think makes for a good Biblically-based answer, if any of you were wondering or curious about the same topic.
Ephesians 2: 8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works,
so that no one can boast."
This is simply stating that you are
saved by the grace of God only, nothing that we ourselves do can give
us salvation. Jesus further established that we cannot do anything to
gain salvation in John 14:6: "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the
truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Only
through Jesus can we gain salvation
The Bible does not leave us with that only though, it also states the two greatest commandments of the new law in Matthew...
Matthew
22: 34-40: "Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the
Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him
with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the
Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and
greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as
yourself.'All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
The
second being to love your neighbor as yourself. This is also repeated
by Paul to the Galatians in Galatians 5:14. Lamen's terms: be a good
person to all people. The Bible does discuss thoroughly the importance
of maintaining a Christian (definition: belonging to Christ) witness.
This part of the relationship with Christ is often forgotten by those
who play the "convenient Christian" role, in which they conveniently
forget to act as a Christian should, according to the Bible, and this
leads to a large misunderstanding of the responsibilities of being a
Christian.
In Galatians 6:10a it says this: "Therefore, as we
have opportunity, let us do good to all people." The verse goes on to
say more specifically to do good to other believers, but the statement
clearly notes to do good to ALL people, which is a responsibility of
Christians.
Hypocrits also ruin the responsibilities and causes
misunderstandings of what the responsibilities of a born-again
Christian are.
In addition, Jesus stated in John 14:23-24a that
those who love Him will obey His teachings. "Jesus replied, "If anyone
loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we
will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me
will not obey my teaching."
So, to answer your question in more
detail, you can only be saved by faith, but that is not the extent of
God's plan for Christians, nor the responsibilities of a Christian.
::b
Kelly Sullivan
April 14 2006
I am inclined to disagree with you. I cannot see how a truly merciful god would damn someone just because they disagree with a certain man-made (and therefor exceedingly fallible) interpretation of its will. Can you honestly – HONESTLY – tell me that the Hindu Mohatmas Ghandi will burn in hell merely because he was not Christian? Will Elie Weisel suffer eternally due to his Jewish beliefs? I pray you think otherwise.
Ben Moser
April 14 2006
Note: I love you Kelly! This is my opinion, and I hope that it does not affect our friendship...Yes, Kelly I do think this way, and I will tell you why. A person who does not believe in and trust the scriptures that are directly from God (2 Timothy 3:16-17: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.")
The Bible is God-Breathed, directly from the mouth of God. Secondly, Ghandi did not agree with the Bible or believe the sacrifice that Jesus made to save him from eternal damnation. To SAVE HIM (i'd underline and italicize this as well if i could) from eternal damnation. He did not accept this gift, this "pardon", and therefore must suffer the consequences of his sin, no matter how much we liked him or how much good he did in the world. His sin, which is just like my sin, no worse, no better...but I have accepted the gift. 2 Peter 1:20-21 says this, "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation.
For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." In addition to the fact that The Bible is not man's ideas, but God's word through man, I refer to John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The Word, the Bible, is God. Is God's plan, the exact foundation and doctrine, the "treasure map" to show us the way to Heaven. It is not fallible. Also, you cannot take one without all, a truly merciful God inspired the scriptures that define Him as "truly merciful". If you claim this basis of the definition is fallible, it would be picking and choosing what is true and what is not true from a book you deem fallible, yet is not. I believe in the Bible--solely in the Bible--as the foundation for my faith.
Ina Marshall
April 14 2006
haha thanks for the remarks. i thought the leninade thing was funny too. the best part is.. it's a real drink
Ina Marshall
April 14 2006
sorry it took me so long to respond. i have a perfectly good excuse that being im running XP on a pentium III processor that i havent upgraded- ever. so the memory is terrible. and lime wire, rhapsody and other memory hogging programs are running. and i have no idea where you can buy the drink. i want to say florida but dont quote me on it, haha. im going there in two weeks and im going on a quest to find it while im down there.
Ina Marshall
April 14 2006
what in the world is that drink?! haha if i see it i'll definitely pick on up and send it via internet
Ina Marshall
April 15 2006
well, im just that amazing. i could so totally send a drink via internet. i have leet skills. hahaha.
elizabeth duncan
April 15 2006
Yes. You should listen to "The Other Side of Grace." It's one of Louie Giglio's talks, and I just listened to it yesterday in the car. He is talking about the fact that holiness and grace are opposite extremes. Holiness can be way misintrepreted into holier - than - thou attitudes, or the people who refuse to even be IN the world (remove themselves from the culture completely, therefore they can't relate to anyone that doesn't talk about God all the time). The grace extreme is the "I can do whatever I want because grace covers it" people...there is a middle groud between holiness and grace and you have to find it personally. It's really good. I have it if you want it.
elizabeth duncan
April 15 2006
Also - we can't forget that though God is perfectly merciful He is also perfectly just. Perfectly love and perfectly wrath. He is not one extreme or the other...He just IS. We, on the other hand, are made up of some characteristics more than others, so it's hard to relate.
Carrie McComas
April 15 2006
To Spencertheduck: you are right. God is just. Anyone in this world who is personally offended will forgive if an apology is offered. God does the same. He, in fact, offers the apology for us. We don't have to say anything but "yes." In the mix with the fact that God is perfectly just, I believe that he leaves room for interpretation. Anyone who has heard the truth is responsible for it. But there are those who have never heard--many of them. Their eternal fate is up to the Father, but I truly believe that my Father will look at them and know, in His infinite wisdom, if they would have accepted Him, had they known. After all, it is God's will that "none should perish, but all should come to repentance."
♥ inthemiddleofabreakdown.
April 16 2006
hey. it's been a while since we've talked. k. so. it's been a realll long time. but. i hope you're doing well etc.etc. and hope life is treating you good.
maybe i'll talk to you soon?
love.<3
Hunter Barry
April 16 2006
Well written post. Martin Luther (the German monk that led the Protestant Reformation, not some civil rights leader for thopse of you who ignore surnames) would be proud of this
