richardhutnik said: I would also question the concept of "accept Jesus as your savior". The Bible doesn't tell people to do this. It speaks of a lot of other things, which could result in people accepting what Jesus did, but it isn't what is called for. It is a flawed and incomplete Christianity that really isn't of value to anyone for much of anything, but I guess works for people who really don't need God for anything in this life, but are concerned they may be going to hell. |
These are some of the passages that I read to come to that conclusion.
Romans 10:9-10
Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Acts 4:12
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Acts 16:31
And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."
John 3:17-18
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
John 8:12
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Am I misunderstanding this? When I say accepting Christ as your savior, I do mean that literally, but to me, the act of accepting him as your savior is not just saying that you do. It's believing that he is the Son of God (or the sacrifice would be pretty meaningless), that the way he lived is the model after which you should live as well (in the sense that he died to save you from your sins, and he lived a sinless life), and that you love him for what he did for all of us.