Eternal life is never earned by anything we do
That's your claim, but how does it comport to the scripture offered?
"if you would have life, keep the commandments"
This, from the Bible, does not comport with that. Clearly, Jesus said, you have to do something, and he was specific about what you need to do, to have life. So, I'll ask you the same question, was Jesus lying to the young ruler? Please explain.
keeping commandments, making sacrifices, tithing. attending church services, etc.
That first item there directly contradicts Jesus' answer to the young ruler, so he was lying? Either that or he was toying wiht him, trying to browbeat him, I guess.
Eternal life comes via John 3:16
In clear contradiction to Matt 19, got it. I now wonder who Jesus isn't toying with.
Christians make no distinction between salvation and eternal life as do Mormons.
No. You wouldn't. Salvation for you guys is an endless life picking fruit in a garden - completely celibate and unable to think fo yourselves.
When one is saved the sanctification process begins. A person begins to walk in that newness of life since they have become a new creation. God gives us his instructions (Bible-- Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth).
LOL. Bloviate some more. Are you trying to explain away the contradiction here? This is totally irrelevant. I agree, with all of that, but it's not relevant.
Regarding Matthew 19, the young ruler kept-- or said he kept a number of the commandments regarding how to treat others.
Yes, that's true, that's what the young ruler said, but what about what Jesus said?
It was legalism and he checked the boxes.
It doesn't matter if it's legalism or not. What did Jesus say? The Bible repeats this theme over and over and over. Good works save and bring the spirit. Evil works damn us separating us from God. For some reason, probably because people like it and it attracts more donators like flies to honey, you all ignore it and pretend that works don't matter.
We know when Jesus taught about murder he equated it with unrighteous anger and adultery was equated with looking at a woman with lust. Physical act wasn't required. The young ruler missed the deeper aspects of "keeping the commandments".
Jesus didn't offer any "deeper aspects". There was nothing to miss. What you're doing is DISmissing the obvious teachings of both the Savior and the gospel teachers in the Bible. Rather than address the words Jesus actually told the young ruler, you do exactly what the young ruler did. Always looking beyond the mark. It can't be that simple, what lack I yet? And, like the young ruler, you get what the young ruler got, a convoluted impossibility just as you offered. don't get angry, don't be attracted to the opposite sex. Who is able to do either of those things?
I have news for you, it is that simple. It is not hard NOT to do things. Really, think about it. Don't do this and don't do that... just don't do those things, how hard can that be? The commandments are the center line. One could say it's the fence between good and evil. It's not hard to do better than just not doing bad things. It's also not hard to start thinking about evil things we could do and the rich rewards we might acquire by indulging in them. Either of those things moves us either closer to God or farther away from Him. Where you spend your time mentally usually defines your character and such individuals will continue to test their limits until they are ensnared by their desires and capitulate to sin.
There are no deeper aspects of keeping the commandments. We actually have to keep them. If we put our minds to work on good things, then we will do good things. There is an inverse of being angry or thinking lustful thoughts. Spend time there and you won't have a problem keeping the commandments which are easy to keep. So easy, in fact, that the young ruler was keeping them. Just imagine if he had thanked the Lord and walked away how happy he could have been. But not, instead, he had to do what you guys are doing and beg for more things that he could do. So, Jesus gave him what he asked for. In essence, do what I'm doing and you will be sure of your place in the kingdom of God.
But we can't do that, can we?
These scriptures should help
They don't.
That you are misapplying the scriptures?
There was a ritual law and a "law" that God placed in the heart of people. Adam had it. Abraham had it. Noah had it. we see evidence of the 10 commandments in their lives (moral law) throughout their stories in the Old Testament. Those weren't etched in stone until Moses.
More useless bloviation. Don't get me wrong, this is all true, but irrelevant. All of those good ole boys had to keep the commandments to be saved just like we do.
So how did they live and do what God said? The following scripture tells us:
Hab 2:4
"Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.
NKJV
Doh! Are you suggesting that if they had faith they didn't NEED to keep the commandments in order to be saved? Again, was Jesus lying? Well, one thing is for sure, those guys don't have to worry because they were keeping the commandments, even Abraham with his extra wife.
You guys really don't know what's going on. I'll bet you'll use Abraham's extra wife, obvious adultery - how wrong polygamy is, even though the scriptures testify that he kept God's commandments and that his faith saved him and not keeping the commandments, bring that forward to today, and adultery is okay as long as we have faith, right? I digress. I couldn't resist.
Their faith was demonstrated by keeping the commandments. They believed in the promises just like we do and they act according to their beliefs. Again, remember, the 10 commandments are the centerline (actually the baseline - going to the left of the baseline is almost unrecoverable). All of those guys had more than the commandments. Scholars have found that most of the wells dug in the land that was promised to Abraham were dug by Abraham on land that wasn't his. He did that so others, the sojourner, the lost, could find water and live. He didn't do it for wealth or recognition. He did it because he saw a need and he had the capacity and resources to dig them. He probably also benefited, undoubtedly, by watering his cattle there, but he did not claim them as his own. He didn't fence them off or prevent, in any way, others from using them. He made them but did not consider them his. They belonged to everyone.
One historian described the day the lord came to visit him, he had just returned from traveling out in the wilderness, actively looking for anyone who needed help, who might be lost or in need of nourishment. Having returned to his home, he sat under a tree to rest from a long, hot and lonely trek to be greeted by the lord. Abraham went beyond the commandments, far to the right of them and some might think, needlessly so. But we have to ask, where did Abraham learn to do those things, to lift the hands that hang down, to seek out the fatherless and the widow and to sue for their welfare? Who taught him that that was the way?
Do we have to live that way? Are we willing to invest where there is no return simply for the benefit of others? Is that necessary for salvation? No. Not according to Jesus, it's not. The centerline/baseline is, but the sons of God don't walk the baseline. They walk in the newness of life. They don't need a set of rules. They lift others. They practice true religion. Everyone they meet they try to bring along but at their own pace, line upon line. I think the world would be a better place for it. That's the religion we try to practice in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
