What is Acceptance
Acceptance: is a person's agreement to experience a situation, to follow a process or condition without attempting to change it, protest, or exit. (can be positive, neutral, or a negative or uncomfortable situation)
Acceptance as a concept appears in Eastern religious concepts such as Buddhist mindfulness, and in human psychology. Religions and psychological treatments often suggest the path of acceptance when a situation is both disliked and unchangeable, or when change may be possible only at great cost or risk. Acceptance may imply only a lack of outward, behavioral attempts at possible change, but the word is also used more specifically for a felt or hypothesized cognitive or emotional state.
The term acceptance is defined as a noun: in which it shows to have three different meanings.
The First is known as the act of taking or receiving something offered. For example, if someone is giving you a gift and you receive it, then that person has accepted the gift; therefore, having acceptance.
The Second: definition of acceptance has to deal with positive welcome; favor and endorsement. In which, a person could like someone and, have acceptance for them due to their approval of that person.
The Third: description of acceptance is that it can be act of believing or assenting. For instance, Christians believe (accept) that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior.
In Religion
Within Christian beliefs acceptance is characterized as forgiveness.
In the Muslim community, acceptance of Allah as their higher being is similar to people that are considered Christian and how they accept God as their higher being .
As for Judaism it has showed to have some similar beliefs in that they accept the Ten Commandments as a way to live and have a good and fulfilling life (Mcdowell and Stewart, 1983). Beliefs can be used in different ways to be related to acceptance especially in everyday life although beliefs may be more based on religion.
Beliefs and acceptance overlap, however, they can be very diverse. The acceptance of ones beliefs is important to show commitment and structure of ones life. Not only is it vital for survival it is a utility that is used in everyday relationships. For a single person to be accepted from a friend of theirs has shown to have an impact on an individual's self esteem and well being. In fact, without the acceptance could lead to psychological issues.
What is Belief
Belief: is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.
Religious belief: refers to a mental state in which faith is placed in a creed related to the supernatural, sacred, or divine. Such a state may relate to the existence, characteristics and worship of a deity or deities, divine intervention in the universe and human life, or values and practices centered on the teachings of a spiritual leader. In contrast to other belief systems, religious beliefs are usually codified.
While the term religious belief is often considered to have the same meaning as religion, the latter term usually deals with both ideas and practices. Religious belief can be seen as a focus exclusively on ideas.
What is Faith
Faith is the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, concept or thing. The English word is thought to date from 1200–50, from the Latin fidem or fidēs, meaning trust, derived from the verb fīdere, to trust.
The term is employed in a religious or theological context to refer to a confident belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. However, some atheists and agnostics consider the term to be a euphemism for religious superstition.
Since faith implies a trusting reliance upon future events or outcomes, it is often taken by some people as inevitably synonymous with a belief "not resting on logical proof or material evidence." Thus, faith disqualifies reasoning in favor of "transcendent reality".
Faith is in general: the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true, belief in and assent to the truth of what is declared by another, based on his or her supposed authority and truthfulness. Informal usage can be quite broad, and the word is often used as a mere substitute for trust or belief'.
What is Baptism?
In Christianity, baptism (from Greek. baptizo: "immersing", "performing ablutions", i.e., ritual washing)is for the majority the rite of admission, almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition. Baptism has been called a sacrament and an ordinance of Jesus Christ.
In some traditions, baptism is also called christening, but for others the word "christening" is reserved for the baptism of infants.
The New Testament reports that Jesus himself was baptized The usual form of baptism among the earliest Christians was for the candidate to be immersed totally (submersion) or partially (standing or kneeling in water while water was poured on him or her). While John the Baptist's use of a deep river for his baptism suggests immersion, pictorial and archaeological evidence of Christian baptism from the 3rd century onward indicates that the normal form was to have the candidate stand in water while water was poured over the upper body. Other common forms of baptism now in use include pouring water three times on the forehead.
Accepting Christ Jesus
- Most people in the world accept that there is a God. and that takes an act of faith. Even people who claim to be atheists are believers in their way of thinking. We all believe in one thing or another. But how do we believe in the unknown. It is very difficult, In fact, by definition, it is literally impossible. There may be unknown elements, or unknown proofs, but there is always the "known of" factor to any form of "belief".
At this time we are going to look at the elements of Accepting Christ Jesus. the first part of Accepting Christ is already done, we all know of Him, we have all heard of Him, and we may just not know anything about Him.
How People Accept Jesus
Now there are a lot of mainstream pastors that will say that if you repeat these words then you have accepted Christ Jesus, " Lord Jesus, I accept you as my Lord and Savior, teach me your ways, enter into my heart and make me the person that you want me to be". Now this is fine, in fact I say words like this every day. These pastors are really leading the sheep to the slaughter if they think that they are saved.
I have also been to a lot of different denominations, (over 200) that have had every head down and every eye closed and asking people to raise their hands to accept Christ. It's an alter call that they are doing. and this is OK too. They are impressing on your hearts to accept Christ. And most every time half the crowd is sitting their wishing they had the courage to raise their hands, but only one or two actually do. They were all being impressed by the Holy Spirit, but pride and fear from Satan blocked the majority. Now some churches think that you are now saved.
Baptism
There are other organizations that say you must be baptized in order to be saved. And that you are really not accepting Christ unless you are publicly baptized. Well public or privately is a debate that we can expand on in future studies, but for today, I do want to point out the scriptures below.
Mark 16:16
He who believes and is baptized will be saved;
but he who does not believe will be condemned.
John 3:5
Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water
and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
So here is the answer in the Bible, You must be baptized in water and of the Holy Spirit to be saved, so in all reality, accepting Christ Jesus means getting baptized. i will have studies about baptism in later lessons, but for today, we just need to keep in mind that the Bible states over 50 times the need for being baptized. WOW that's a lot!! It must be really important. YEA!!!
The really amazing part of this factor is that there are actually Christian organizations that don't see the need for baptism, they say it's not necessary, and I will be the first one to tell you, that is not what the Bible teaches. In fact if a church is teaching salvation without baptism, I guarantee you that it is not a Bible based church from Christ, in fact I would certainly be claiming it as a deceptive church of Satan. It's really that simple to know the differences between the churches who have the truth of God and the churches who are practicing deceptions. This is actually the first step to elimination of churches that are ungodly. I will have to make a page just for this process of eliminating the ungodly churches. You can't be saved without baptism! That's exactly what the Bible says over and over. So why in the world would you ever be a part of a church that is conducting practices keep you from being saved.
When we know exactly what the Bible says,
we know exactly who is not conducting themselves according to the Bible.
The other point about being baptized that I would really like to point out is that as much as the Bible says that we need one baptism for the forgiveness of sins, I really doesn't say that we have to be baptized in one church or another, it really doesn't even say that we have to be baptized in a church at all. It is however the fact that we are taking great reverence in our decision to be baptized and that we are being baptized into the family of Christ Jesus. So I would certainly take great caution as to what church you are getting baptized into. Some churches even have the mentality that unless you are baptized in our particular church or denomination, you are not saved, this is not a Biblical teaching. It is actually a requirement by certain denominations that you be baptized in their church in order to be a member of their church, and that's OK too. You can always get rebaptized. Even though God only requires one baptism, you can certain rededicate your life to Christ.
There are yet other churches that will conduct a baptism to people as babies by a sprinkle of water on the head. This is however not what the Bible teaches. Baptism by definition is to be completely submerged in water, and that is the way that Jesus was baptized. It has only been thru the devil's changing of practices, and the traditions of man that these ungodly practices of baptism have developed into what they are today. We can even look at these scriptures to back up this truth:
John 3:3 (baptized as a man refers to adult, not child, as an adult not as a male)
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.
Matthew 3:16-17 (Jesus submerged in water, came up from the water)
When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
There are also other scriptures that will validate these elements. And with the truth again in the Bible, we can clearly see that there is again a big difference between what the Bible says and what the false churches of the world have evolved into. Satan is so good at deceiving people, especially thru time and generations of gradually changing things and developing them into the traditions of man. Must people just don't know any better. that's what I'm here for. To show you the truths of the Bible.
Once Again - When we know exactly what the Bible says,
we know exactly who is not conducting themselves according to the Bible.
Accepting Christ Jesus
Accepting Christ Jesus is as easy as raising your hand or saying a prayer, we can accept Christ Jesus any time any where. In fact you can accept Christ right now, and I would strongly suggest that you do that !!! We never even got into the proof of Christ and that will certainly be covered in other lessons, It really doesn't take a lot to prove the truth of the Bible, if that's what you need is proof, you can certainly study it out and you will find plenty of proof to validate the Bible. And if you study things out, you will never ever find any actual truth to anything that is contrary to the Bible. I do want to share these couple scriptures:
Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Ephesians 1:12-14
that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Acts 8:12-14
But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.
John 20:28-30
And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"
Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
Acts 22:15-17
For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.'