Why be saved or why be a Christian?

[glen smith]

Why be saved or why be a Christian?
Fifteen reasons listed below.
Which of these reasons for being a Christian are your motivation?
Which of these are not reasons for you to be saved?
You might wish to post your reasons for being saved in the descending order of importance with the most important at the top.
Likewise, post a list from these reasons and your own that are not reason for you being a Christian.
Please don’t limit your reasons for being a Christian to the following fifteen (Place an asterisk* for reasons you add or edit.).
A list can be from what ever comes to mind or after some research.
Indicate which kind of list you post.
If the list is prepared after some research please list your resources.
Discussion with other members might provide spiritual insight leading to spiritual growth.
For doing group, spiritual self examination, the replies to a post are more important than the post since it allows insight into how others view what is important in a list.
There are no wrong reasons since reasons depend entirely upon your situation and past history.
Defending your reasons will benefit every reader.
Be kind and gracious, and please post.

01. Avoid punishment and hell;
02. For comfort and hope concerning death;
03. To live for eternity;
04. To go to heaven;
05. To obtain spiritual peace;
06. To hear the LORD;
07. To have access to the LORD through prayer.
08. For help in doing good;
09. To obtain psychological peace;
10. For social participation with family, friends, and peers;
11. To obtain answered prayers;
12. To obtain financial rewards from the Lord;
13. To obtain divine healing;
14. To obtain divine guidance;
15. To please the LORD

[glen smith]

No one interested? Here is why I am interested and I would like to know yours.

Why am I a Christian? Communion with the LORD. That is really the only purpose for me. It is what Adam and Eve did before the fall. Without communion with the LORD life is not worth the effort. Like the Gaither song – “Life is worth the living because He lives.”

I cling to the day as a young child, sitting on the edge of a sand pit in the back yard, when life suddenly became a vacant existence. It is strange for me to think young children can have such a deep sense of emptiness that I felt. I really didn’t understand what I did to cause such a feeling of emptiness. I was raised in a strong Christian family with Bible stories every night before bed, prayer before meals, church twice on Sundays and again on Wednesday evening. My mother did her Bible studies and read her 1871 Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Bible Commentary aloud to me. Even today, the first ideas that come to me about the meaning of scripture are usually from this commentary. I guess that was my TV cartoons substitute.

But this is what I knew. The sudden emptiness was there because the LORD was not there. And I knew the LORD was not there because of who I am and what I had not done. I got up, went in the house and told my father, “I want to be baptized.” Just as suddenly as the emptiness came upon me it was replaced with an assurance of the LORD was with me.

The above situation occurred when I was about four years old. I had a such a serious speech impediment that most of my words were not understandable. Well, not many who are four years old can explain being saved to parents who take salvation as a serious step in life. Now add the speech impediment to trying to answer my parents’ queries. But I persisted in wanting to be baptized. After several weeks my parents made an appointment for me to talk with our minister. He asked questions for which the only answer I knew was that I needed to be baptized. If I would have been able to answer anything else I doubt he could have understood my speech. The decision was that I was not ready to accept the LORD as savior and be baptized. (Please, this not an argument for the necessity of baptism to be saved. It is just what I understood you did when you accepted the LORD as savior.)

There is more to the story but this portion helps explain why I must be a Christian and believe. Just give me communion with the LORD and everything else, good or bad, is in second place.

Now let me rearrange the list:

00 Communion with the LORD
06. To hear the LORD
07. To have access to the LORD through prayer.
05. To obtain spiritual peace;
08. For help in doing good;
14. To obtain divine guidance;
15. To please the LORD
10. For social participation with family, friends, and peers;

And

03. To live for eternity;
04. To go to heaven;
If it means being in the constant presence of the LORD and glorifying Him.

The rest of the list are not on my bucket list.

01. Avoid punishment and hell;
02. For comfort and hope concerning death;
09. To obtain psychological peace;
11. To obtain answered prayers;
12. To obtain financial rewards from the Lord;
13. To obtain divine healing;

[Steve Hollander]

Very good list Glen and thank you for posting this. Typing on my phone is difficult so my reply is short. I hope to write more soon. Blessings..... Steve

[Baruch]

I noticed that 00 was missing. I was thinking about chiming in with it if someone else didn't. :)

I may have trouble prioritizing because I can see the list rearranging as one matures. And that truly only comes when 00 is raised to or towards the top.

[Lou Newton]

I am not convinced, I or anyone can know why they sought to be saved.

But I have come to know one thing about my salvation and that is that is took place entirely by grace and grace alone.

I can remember laying in the grass as a very small child ( way before kindergarten) and looking at the clouds pass by and asking if there was a God. I just wanted to know. I can not take any credit for that, for He created me that way.

I often got into trouble as a child asking questions and being accused of being arrogant. I just wanted to know the truth. I not only wanted to know the truth, I wanted to totally understand why it was true. Many high school teachers frowned on this.

I started to seek The Truth, by His grace, and wanted to know if there was a God and if there was, who He was

I just wanted to know The Truth and once I came to know that there was a Truth, I wanted to know Him and understand everything about Him. I wanted to know Him.

I was not concerned with heaven or hell, if there is no God the rest is of no concern.

When God revealed Himself to me, then everything He said and did was my concern.

The Lord Jesus is the greatest blessing of giving ones life to Him. Knowing Him is everything.

Any man that has Christ, has everything there is to possess and lacks not one thing.

[glen smith]

see my 5:40 P.M. post on March 29, 2017 on Calvinism and Reformed Theology. The Holy Ghost must have given me the tape of what he was saying to you two hours earlier.

Right, Baruch.
I left 00 off the list. I desired for others to mention it as Lou has.

Communion with the LORD is not usually the thing that comes to mind unless you know that you lost it. It kind of feels like someone you needed has died, and no matter how much time passes, you are not figuring out how to cope. The fig leaf over ones nakedness is not the answer.