For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
James Kraft
My greatest fear is that children that grow up in legalistic homes never get saved by the grace and mercy of God. They grow up thinking that not doing things is what saves them instead of putting their faith in Jesus alone. It's all about obeying the rules instead of what Jesus did on the cross for us.
I have seen it happen far to many times. We should make rules for our children to obey, but not excessive. When we do this we are teaching them to live by the rules rather than by faith and when they get out in the world their religion will not hold up. They will either try to live by the rules and become prideful and selfrighteous, or they cannot live by the rules and give up trying. Their faith is in themselves instead of God.
Without Jesus in us their is no way we can obey God. If we teach our children to love us without fear, then they will see the grace and mercy of God in us. Obeying Gods laws is a good thing, but it won't save us.
One thing I tried to teach my kids is that no matter what happens you can always come to me. When our kids are growing up we are God to them. But God loves our children way more than we do and He can overcome our shortcomings that we all have and to save our children by grace through faith.
It is far to easy to learn how to live the christian life instead of living it. There are many fakes in our churches because they grew up learning how to obey the rules instead of true faith. They learn how to say and do all the right things but have never trusted Jesus.
We are so afraid to teach our children about the infinite grace of God through Jesus because we are afraid they will run off into sin.But the oposite is true. If we do not teach it they will try to earn their salvation some other way. Usually through good works. It looks right and smells right but it ain't right. I would rather have them fall into sin and learn to trust God than obey the law perfectly and go to hell.
They need to learn early in life that Jesus saved them because they are sinners and they need a savior. That being a good boy or girl will not save them but If they love God and others because of what Jesus has done for them they will do well.
My only hope is that some of those who believe they can be righteous by obeying the law will fall into to sin and come to Jesus for salvation. All sin has a purpose. It will bring us to our knees before the savior of the world and that is a good thing.
Danny Hickman
There's no way to miss out on eternal life. God chose the saved from the foundation of the world. Before God ever put people into existence He predestined a remnant of sinners to live in eternity with Him. That's why I'm so thankful that He enlightened me.
We believe in the shed blood of the Savior because we were chosen to believe. Two will be in one bed (family members) one will be taken and the other will be left (Lk 17:34). There will be two men in the field (co-workers); one will be taken and one will be left (Mt 24:40) Two women will be grinding at the mill; ine will be taken and one will be left. "He will send His angels to gather together HIS ELECT." It doesn't say He will gather together the ones who are ready upon His return, although He says to be ready.
These scriptures let us know that the choice of who is to be with the Lord is His. You can't live a certain way and be "taken" when He returns.
Mt 24 begins with Jesus foretelling the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Why would God allow the temple to be destroyed? Evidently it was a source of false hope.
Jesus says, don't be mislead. Many will come in My name saying, 'I am the Christ.' (Mt 24:5) He tells of how people will be mislead by the wars and other tribulations. He says for the sake of THE ELECT those days will be cut short.
Elect - To pick out; to choose or select; to find in favor of. There's no way to make "the elect" to be those who are rewarded for believing or serving or anything else.