What does being 'saved' mean to you?

[friendofmankind]

What does being 'saved' mean to you?

Saved from what and why?

[onlytruth]

Walking through the valley of death....do not fear.
Jesus showed us ,told us, that the things of this world are no match for us that beleive.We are saved from the the things that bind us and hold us back from our true destiny.The ultimate fear for most, is death itself...now the sting is taken from that as well
The only way to receive peace is to know that God has it all in control,so rest in Him and allow Him to give you the revelation and understanding,He really is a good God
Jesus showed us the way,so we didn't have to do the same thing over and over again with the same DEAD-END result.Repent(change the way you think) and save yourself the grief... and live the LIFE he gave you with joy!
Jesus was exhibiting the life and he did show us the way and it was all truth
blessings :icon_king:

[sheila]

 AMEN!

[jabcat]

Born from above, the spiritual new birth - often translated as being "born again".

Jesus told Nicodemus not to marvel when He said we must be born again - that unless one experienced this, we could not see the kingdom of heaven. (Jn. 3:1-21)

Jailer - "sirs, what must I do to be saved?"  Paul/Silas - "Believe ON the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved" (Acts 16:30:31).

So it means to me (as well as personal experience) there is a visitation to each one by the Holy Spirit (each in his own order) convicting us of our sin and need for a Savior - faith is then given to believe on Jesus and confess Him as our Savior.  There is a spiritual change, in which old things are passing away and all things are BEGINNING to be made new - it's described as being "a new creature", no longer dead spritually.  It's a process of growth, sanctification, maturing in grace and knowledge of the Lord.  It's a journey that begins supernaturally - and then continues day by day - also supernaturally, as the Spirit empowers and leads.

There's a "head knowledge/belief" (the demons "believe and tremble" [James 2:19], but they're not redeemed) - but there's also a new birth that God brings us into, which goes beyond simply having a system of belief.  It's the new birth that begins a spiritual relationship with the Savior, and it only comes from above.  (It's by grace we're saved through faith, and that not of ourselves...it is the gift of God).

James.

[peacemaker]

A condition of optimal well-being, having a spiritually pure quality of Holiness.

peacemaker

[Tony N]

What does being 'saved' mean to you?

Saved from what and why?

"Saved" to me means to be saved to something and for Someone.

Being saved to something means that I am saved  to a future mission. That mission will to be to take part in the administration of the complement of the eras: to head up all in the Christ, both the [all] in the heavens and the [all] on the earth, in Him in Whom our lot was cast also.

I am saved for Christ and for God to use me to display the vast riches of His glory and mercy in the oncoming eons.

I am saved from the many harmful things in this live by believing the evangel.

Salvation is not for self aggrandizement. But to be useful to others, now and in the coming eons/ages.


Tony

[friendofmankind]

Most Christians when they talk of being saved, they say its from an eternity of hell.

Yet Jesus came to....

Save us from sin...

Save us from death...

Heal the brokenhearted, save us from fear of death, set us free etc etc.   Nowhere does the Bible say that Jesus came to save us from eternal hell.

Thanks for the answers everyone, i just wanted to hear what other universalists thought.

[sheila]

   'FOR I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU,"SAYS THE LORD

   'PLANS TO PROSPER YOU AND NOT TO HARM YOU,

    PLANS TO GIVE YOU HOPE AND A FUTURE"

[SteveW]

Most Christians when they talk of being saved, they say its from an eternity of hell.

Yet Jesus came to....

Save us from sin...

Save us from death...

Heal the brokenhearted, save us from fear of death, set us free etc etc.   Nowhere does the Bible say that Jesus came to save us from eternal hell.

Good question.  I've always heard/thought of it as "Sin, death and Satan".  So I'd add Satan to the first two.  It's because of passages like Col 1:13 "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves..." and others where it talks about him defeating Satan, which you could equate to our rescue from Satan.  Paul says that we once followed the ways "of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient" but that God made us alive with Christ instead.

[rosered]

  Hi Steve ,
   the Lord saves us from the darkness  / ignorance  of mankind by the devils wiles 
   
because  the Holy Spirit will come and dwell within us giving the Light / Knowledge of Himself to us  :HeartThrob:


Jhn 12:46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

Strong's G4653 - skotia 1) darkness

2) the darkness due to want of light

3) metaph. used of ignorance of divine things, and its associated wickedness, and the resultant misery in hell

  Light Strong's G5457 - phōs 1) light

a) the light

1) emitted by a lamp

2) a heavenly light such as surrounds angels when they appear on earth

b) anything emitting light

1) a star

2) fire because it is light and sheds light

3) a lamp or torch

c) light, i.e brightness

1) of a lamp

2) metaph.

a) God is light because light has the extremely delicate, subtle, pure, brilliant quality

b) of truth and its knowledge, together with the spiritual purity associated with it
c) that which is exposed to the view of all, openly, publicly

d) reason, mind

1) the power of understanding esp. moral and spiritual truth

[WhiteWings]

God forgives those that ask.

Yes, because....

Christ that gives us a bridge to God so that we can be at one with God and God's love.

Yep, the only way to Father is by the Son/bridge.

I'm not sure where I stand on the idea that Christ needed to save us from our sins..

I think you answered your own question.
Without Jesus no bridge.
Without a bridge no path to Father.
Without a path to Father....

[jabcat]

Amen, Tony.  I've seen it illustrated by picture before as the cross (stake) lying down, and being the bridge that bridged the gap between us and Father.  

Also, you know the Lazarus and rich man parable?  Where the rich man says no man can cross the gulf (divide)?  J. Preston Eby quotes the old hymn 'At Calvary', which says;

Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan
Oh, the grace that brought it down to man
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary

Mercy there was great and grace was free
Pardon there was multiplied to me
There my burdened soul found liberty
At Calvary

[WhiteWings]

Agreed James.
The following slightly contradicts my other view (bridge)
When Jesus died the curtain in the Temple ripped open.
Ordinary people could walk/look into the more holy part of the Temple.
The curtain was also a divide.
That would mean Jesus isn't a bridge but He completely closed/filled the gap/divide.
Just a thought I had when reading your reply....

[lizzybeth]

I think you answered your own question.
Without Jesus no bridge.
Without a bridge no path to Father.
Without a path to Father....

I still have issues with it, though. But I try not to think things too deeply. I just tell Jesus my questions and leave it at that. lol.

[rosered]

love these verses and believe it !
Gen 28:12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

Jhn 1:51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

  many of man has built the tower  of Babel  trying to get into heaven 
but it is the Lord in whom is the  bridge / ladder that we  can go up into and  made low again
  :icon_flower:

[jabcat]

love these verses and believe it !
Gen 28:12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

Jhn 1:51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

  many of man has built the tower  of Babel  trying to get into heaven 
but it is the Lord in whom is the  bridge / ladder that we  can go up into and  made low again
  :icon_flower:

Amen rosie.  Saw a guest looking at this thread and there are some good thoughts in it - including WW's temple veil being rent comment.   :thumbsup:

[pollypinks]

Saved from all this pain and not knowing we will be alright after death.  I disagree with the personal experience theory.  Many do not have any kind of personal experience.  They take it on faith.  Mother Teresa claimed to never have had any such experience.

[fullarmor2]

To me it means the relationship that I now have with our Father in Christ and the deliverance that I will one day experience from all evil and suffering.  I think our relationship with the Father now is a foretaste of our complete salvation which we all will experience in the future.

[jabcat]

Saved from all this pain and not knowing we will be alright after death.  I disagree with the personal experience theory.  Many do not have any kind of personal experience.  They take it on faith.  Mother Teresa claimed to never have had any such experience.

Every incidence of spiritual rebirth noted in the scriptures are of a visitation by the Holy Spirit to that person and faith given to respond in belief.  As I understand the scriptures, if anyone hasn't had a personal visitation and given the faith to believe on Jesus as Savior in this life, then they will need to (and will) in the next age.  Though just about anything can misused, being saved ("spiritually born from above") isn't just a human "mind control thing".  Jesus said to marvel not that He said a man must be born again, and if not, would not see the kingdom.

I'm not saying she wasn't saved, that's between her and God.  I personally admire her.  However, Mother Teresa very much questioned not only her salvation, but also if there even was a God.  Whatever the case with her, works doesn't save us.

A related TM link, with good information from Gary Amirault;

http://www.tentmaker.org/forum/discussions_universal_salvation/tms_beliefs_regarding_universal_salvation_7059.0.html

[pollypinks]

Saved from all the pain and tragedy that we suffer in this life. 

[Nathan]

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?   

It's not just the act of being dead . . .it's the whole process of death.  This realm of death.  The death in us that pulls, that draws us, lures us away from the only one source of life that exists . . .And to Paul's despair, he came to see his freedom from not the act of death, but from the POWER of death.

Message Translation of same passage, adding verse 25
24I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?  25The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

I am saved from the power of my worst enemy . . .my (carnal) "self".

Doesn't mean I'm perfect.  It means I've been perfected inwardly which releases the guilt, shame and distraction of failing from my outward experiences.  Being born again ENABLES us to have VISION of truth . . . not religious doctrines, but liberating truth.

Jhn 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Until we are born again of HIS spirit, we continue being blind in our attempts to lead the blind

[Cardinal]

 :cloud9: :thumbsup:

[pollypinks]

Being able to turn my life towards Christ and his teachings.  Allowing myself to calm down, be open to the quiet stillness and peacefulness God wants for me, and wants me to feel for his other children.  Learning to turn the other cheek.  In other words, being saved from my own rashness, and feeling God's saving grace each and every day for people who don't think like I do.