Are you saved by works or by grace?

You do not know the answer?

Yeah, grace here.. I was a terrible wretched man, living in the depths of sin. He did it all.

Being baptised in water definitely didn't save me. Thats something you do after you're saved.

This post was edited by Torm1 on Feb 15 2011 01:17pm

You are not saved by grace ONLY. You are not saved by baptism ONLY either. I don't have time right now but I will comment more later.

Go ahead, but any non-religious Christian will tell you the same thing.

If you don't want to believe what I am going to say that is your choice and I respect that. Everything is clearly laid out.

In spite of denominational claims that the church of Christ doesn't believe in the grace of God, every preacher and faithful Christian I know believes all who are saved will be saved by God's grace, just as the Bible affirms in Acts 15:11, Ephesians 2:5, 8, and many other passages. But we deny men are saved by grace only. A lot of denominational preachers claim men are "saved by grace only through faith only." Such is a contradiction. If man is saved by anything "only," any and all other things are necessarily excluded. It cannot be two (or more) things and be "only". Only means just one. The Bible says nothing of being saved by anything "only." The truth is, the Bible speaks of numerous things involved in salvation:

1. Matthew 10:22 we are saved by enduring to the end (i.e., being faithful unto death - Revelation 2:10);
2. Mark 16:15-16 - we are saved by believing the gospel and being baptized;
3. John 3:16 and Acts 16:31 - we are saved by faith;
4. Acts 2:21 and Romans 10:13 - we are saved by calling on the name of the Lord; (many do not understand what this means. The answer can be found by reading Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46; and Acts 22:16);
5. Acts 4:12 - we are saved by the name of Christ;
6. Romans 1:16 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 - we are saved by the Gospel;
7. Romans 5:9 - we are saved by Jesus' blood;
8. Romans 5:10 - we are saved by Jesus' life;
9. Romans 8:24 - we are saved by hope;
10. Romans 10:9 - we are saved by confession and faith;
11. 1 Corinthians 1:21 - we are saved by preaching;
12. 2 Thessalonians 2:10 - we are saved by loving the truth;
13. 1 Timothy 4:16 - we are saved by taking heed to the doctrine and continuing in it;
14. Titus 3:5 - we are saved by the mercy of God;
15. James 1:21 - we are saved by the engrafted word;
16. 1 Peter 3:21 - we are saved by baptism.

Thus, we see the absurdity of claiming to be saved by any one thing.
Consider; a man is drowning and someone takes a boat toward the man while a second boater throws to the man in distress a flotation device tied to a rope. The man is pulled into the boat and taken ashore. Shall he thank only the second boater for saving his life? Was he saved by the flotation device? The rope? The man who threw the device and pulled him to the boat? The man who drove the boat? Or did the man save himself by taking hold of the device and holding on until he was brought to safety? It is easy to see how he was saved not by one thing only, but by many.
Similarly, we are saved by God's grace when we obey the gospel. This includes believing in the deity of Jesus, repenting of sins, confession, baptism (immersion), and faithful living unto death. This is the plan through which God has promised to save all men by His grace (Titus 2:11-14; 3:5-7).

Where does the water come in there?

Its all about Jesus.

Jesus saves.

If you don't believe me, then I'm not sure what to say.

This post was edited by Torm1 on Feb 16 2011 01:28am

http://www.rickross.com/reference/icc/ICC122.html

http://www.gospeloutreach.net/bapsal.html

You may need to speak to a theologian and not within your church but other churches to get an objective view. My view on this is if you say baptism is necessary for salvation, that just cheapens the value of Jesus' death on the cross because that demonstration of love is the only reason why we can be saved.

Vouch

Well, I guess we will all know the truth on judgement day.