I want to ask you a question in a different way. Apparently we all seem to have different views of what Jesus has done for humanity, if anything at all.

My question is, What do you think Jesus came to this earth for, and what has he accomplished?

I will not correct or try to debate them. I just want hear what you have to say. If I don't understand a statement, I may ask you to clarify it. I want to see what you all have to say about this. I will not post here except to say that I collected them. Maybe I'm not sure where you all stand on this and may have made some assumptions. So please put in writing what you think why Jesus came to this earth, and what he has accomplished.

Thanks,
Boyd

I'll follow suit Boyd. Other than to post the reply to address your question, I won't post any other discussion on this particular topic.

What do I think Jesus did for mankind?

Jesus' life, death and resurrection was the ultimate rescue plan. The word Salvation translates directly to "Rescue". When we read "... you have been saved" or "... you will be saved". It is the equivalant of "... you have been rescued".

From nearly the start of the world, the 3rd chapter of Genesis until today, the world has a need of being rescued from itself. Christ's purpose was to rescue that world and restore the order of the Garden, culminating sometime in the future, in that restoration.

What are some of my basis for this belief?

The Old Testament is filled with "types and shadows". The ark is one of those types. The purpose of the ark was to rescue Noah and as many as would come with him from the impending flood. That salvation helped to cleanse the world from the sin it was caught in. It didn't eliminate the sin, however.

Next, Israel was chosen by God to be a light to the people around it. Deut 4:5-8 reads:

“Look, I now teach you these decrees and regulations just as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy. Obey them completely, and you will display your wisdom and intelligence among the surrounding nations. When they hear all these decrees, they will exclaim, ‘How wise and prudent are the people of this great nation!’ For what great nation has a god as near to them as the Lord our God is near to us whenever we call on him? And what great nation has decrees and regulations as righteous and fair as this body of instructions that I am giving you today?

As a result, Israel was to point the peoples around it to God. As you can see by reading the Old Testament, that didn't work out so well. God was able to keep his promise to David, however, and bring a King into the world that would reign forever. That King was Jesus who's purpose was to save us from our sins.

There has been a lot of debate here on who Jesus' death redeemed (there is a reference to the sin sacrifices in the law). John 3:16 states that Christ loved the world, sent his son for that world so that all who believe in him are rescued.

Do all people receive that rescue? No, not all people believe in Jesus. Could all people be rescued? Absolutely.

Here is my view in a nutshell. I believe the world is on the highway to hell. I may be wrong but I perceive in Boyd's doctrine that when Jesus came he took that highway and U-turned back to God. In my doctrine, the world is still on the highway to hell. The difference is that when Jesus came he made an exit ramp. This ramp is open to all humans (how I group most inclusion scriptures)but,it is up to the individual to take the ramp. This view lines up with the scripture that talks about broad is the path to destruction and many go there, but narrow is the way and there be few that find it. (paraphrasing).
However, I am not trying to win a debate and I have a few problems with this view. While I feel my doctrine lines up with the whole flow of the Bible, some things are not covered or don't fit right.
1. We preach about the age of accountability for young people. This is the belief that if a person is too young to make a decision for Jesus they will be saved anyway. There are only a few scriptures that have to be really streched to make this apply.
2. What about the mentally handicapped? The only scripture says to comfort the feeble-minded.
3. Look at the example of Hurricane Ike. People were told that if they stay they faced certain death. Some stayed anyway! The Gospel works the same way, no matter what we do or say some will not receive it.
4. What about those who have never heard the Gospel? Paul said that those who die without the law shall be judged without the law. The Bible gives an idea that in some ways you are better off if you never have heard the Gospel. In one verse it says that it's better to have never heard the Gospel than to backslide.
These are some problems that I have with my doctrine. I know God is a fair and Holy Judge, however I wish He wasn't so vague about some very important topics. May be in this discussion we can hash out some answers.

It is hard to put into words Jesus mission and a accomplishment.

Ultimately, Jesus came to earth to reveal God's love for all of human kind. This revelation comes through the sacrifice He made for each of us so that we may enter an eternal relationship with the Father. A relationship that is only available to us because of His atoning sacrifice.

While here, He established His identity and revealed the power of the Holy Spirit through miraculous works. He both taught and revealed that the power of the Holy Spirit was available to us through a relationship with the Father.

He taught the next level of living, beyond the letter of the law to the spirit of the law. This allowes us to move to living rightly because of a motivation of love rather than fear. It also allows us to move from religious practices to a direct relationship with God.

He also confirmed that there will be an ultimate accounting but it will be based on our trust in Him rather than the scales of good and bad in our lives. He called us to a life of service but our attitude toward Him out weighs any work we do.

This is great everyone, keep it up!

thanks

Boyd

I may address other aspects of this discussion, but for now I wanted to reflect a little about the age of accountability...

BGB said, "1. We preach about the age of accountability for young people. This is the belief that if a person is too young to make a decision for Jesus they will be saved anyway. There are only a few scriptures that have to be really streched to make this apply".

When we go to sleep each night, we lose the ability to reason in any meaningful sense of the word. When we sleep, we are not consciously cognizant of our relationship with Jesus (nor lack of it). We are completely reliant upon the covenant that we made with God when our minds were awake and alert.

We need not fear the senility that sometimes comes with old age, because it too is a form of sleep of the conscious mind, but does not negate previously made covenants with the Lord.

Even death cannot break this covenant nor separate us from the love of Jesus.

But what if the covenant had never been made because our intellect has not formed sufficiently to make a decision to follow Christ. When Jesus gathered little children to him, he would have had plenty of opportunity to say that their souls were lost or dead to him. Instead, he said, "Let the children come to me for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven".

It would seem that the experience of innocence, increased knowledge and a subsequent fall from grace are common to the human experience, relived within the life of each child as he or she grows up.

Yet the Bible makes it equally plain that not all are saved, and some never will be. For this to transpire, there must come a fall from grace. For their to be a fall from grace, there must be an age to which each child is mature enough to answer for the sin in his or her life. (barring those intellect remains forever impaired).

It seems obvious that the age of accountability varies with each child.
So what would God do with the soul of one who died too young to understand what it means to become a disciple of Jesus? The Presbyterians used to teach that children of this tender age went to hell if their parents were unsaved, whilst children of the saved would receive grace based upon their parents profession of Christ.

When Jesus said "let the children come to me". It implies that these very young ones are naturally drawn to the goodness and love of Jesus. He did not say, "make the children come to me". They just come to him! (unless you do something to hinder them.

God in the flesh came to earth and was born and given the name of Jesus. He came to "seek and to save the lost." Luke 19:10 He did that by shedding His own innocent blood on the cross. Nothing more needs to be done for our salvation, for Jesus did ALL that was necessary on the cross and declared "It is finished." God's atoning work for our redemption was done.

What He accomplished was to provide redemption for all who would accept His free gift of forgiveness and redemption. "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Isa. 64:6 God will not accept filthy rags as payment for sin. He will accept only the best, and he provided that.

Jesus did many things, so many that John wrote that he supposed the whole world couldn't contain books written about His life! But I feel His primary purpose was to save us. He did this, first by living the perfect life, the only one in all human history; then by sacrificing Himself to death, since there was no other effective sacrifice and sacrifice was absolutely needed; then by rising from death and thus foretelling our own resurrection. All His teachings, miracles, and the loving brotherhood He established to spread His gospel were secondary. "For God so loved the world..." Praise His Name! Hallelu Yah! Amen.

He came to "seek and to save the lost" as stated in Luke 19:10. What He has done is to give peace, hope, love, joy, contentment, forgiveness, everlasting life, and so much more to those who come to Him.