Ive been told that if you accept Jesus Christ as your savior then you will receive salvation. I have accepted him as my savior (even though every day I fail to act that out). But I feel like it cant be "that easy" if you will. What I am talking about is getting in to heaven. I have accepted Him but I still have to strive to be like Him every day. Its not like I lack the capacity to screw it up so bad that I can still be sent to hell... at least thats how I feel. I cant back up those feelings with scripture. Can anyone help me clear this up?

Also Jesus says it is better to *enter life* (meaning eternal life, if I am reading correctly) with one hand than to own two sinful hands and be sent to hell. There is talk about cutting your hand off and taking your eyes out etc. I know this is just figuratively speaking but it seems almost literal when He says "better to enter life with one hand" as if that is a possibility. It seemed figurative until that sentence. That, in my mind, opened up the idea that it is actually possible to enter eternal life with one hand or what have you.

That brings me to more thoughts/questions.

Those of us that get accepted to heaven; is there any paying for your sins? There is a lot of talk about owning what comes out of your mouth come judgement day and stuff like that. Moreover, the idea that you can enter heaven with one hand (even if it is figurative). Lets say its figuratively speaking about the hand or eye etc ok- that still says to me that there is still some kind of punishment, if you will, for your sins even though youve been accepted to eternal life. Does anyone have any knowledge on this?

Finally, for now, can someone explain the Temple Tax story in Mathew 17 please? Thats an open ended request. Just explain it if you could. I wasnt sure what to think of the "Then the children are exempt." verse. That made me not able to draw what I am supposed to see the lesson of that story as.

Thanks so much!

Jesus paid the price for all of our sins, once and for all. Truth be told it isn't that easy because you need to maintain your faith. People will come along and try to draw you away from God.

What Jesus is saying when he talks about cutting out your right hand and eye is this. If you are playing a computer game online and it causes you to cry and rage everytime you die then you should uninstall that game because it is causing you to sin. Also, if you go out clubbing where there are pole dancers etc. and it causes you to do God knows what then pluck out clubbing from your life as it is causing you to sin.

There is no paying for your sins because Jesus paid that price for us. With Matthew 17, just look at this link as it explains that story. http://www.atone.me/the-temple-tax-matthew-1724-27/

Well the punishment for sin is death. We have all sinned and we will all pay that price of death in the body. However, the gift of life is spiritual and eternal. The wages of sin is death, that part we will pay for. However the punishment for sin is eternal separation from God i.e. Hell. We all deserve that but as Jesus paid that price for us we no longer need to worry about the punishment for sin. Now the guilt in life when you do the wrong thing, you think God doesn't love you as much or you have a picture of you looking down and a massive finger pointing at you in judgement.

That so called finger is the Devil trying to separate you from God.

you should read the KJV and see if you get a different message. the others have subtle differences (gen 3:1) that completely change the message. take for instance Jeremiah 10 reguarding pagan rituals.