Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: gt5448b@prism.gatech.edu (CORBETT,JAMES FRANKLIN) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: One way to Heaven Message-ID: Date: 22 May 91 04:37:11 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology Lines: 72 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article x7mx@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes: >x7mx@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes: >>>I have not seen anything that explicitly states >>> >>>not follow Jesus (explicitly ie by name) ==> not saved > > [ Biblical references deleted ] > >I'm afraid you would have to do better than this. The above passages *do* >state that Jesus is our sole source of salvation (or something to that effect). >This I accept happily. Unfortunately none of these specify that the explicit >act of becoming a Christian ("accept Christ as my personal Savior" -- where >did *that* come from?) is needed to receive the salvation that Christ offers. Two passages that come to mind are Romans 10:9-10: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with you mouth that you confess and are saved. In answer to your question of going through Christ for salvation, John 14:6 states: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes unto the Father except through me. When we "accept Christ as our personal Savior" we recognize that when Jesus died on the cross, he bore the sins of the world and died in our place. In other words, before the birth of Christ, people had to sacrifice their best lamb, cow, or whatever they had and give it to God as atonement for their sin. But by Jesus' death on the cross, we do not have to sacrifice anything to God. Jesus was the perfect man and therefore the perfect sacrifice. All we have to do is believe that He died for us and confess our belief before men as is stated in Romans. The passage from John just confirms that through Jesus is the only way to salvation. Just doing good works isn't enough as hard as that is to believe or accept. >Did Jesus state that one must call his name explicitly (Yesus, Jesus, or some >appropriate translation of that name) to gain that salvation? Not in the >passages you quoted. Whatever the commandments that Jesus explicitly gave, >none of them had to do with "You absolutely MUST use my name, spelt whatever >way you choose, to gain the salvation I intend to give to everyone". They >have more to do with love (your neighbor, God etc), which non Christians >can do. > >Finally, non Christians can easily argue the following: > >1. I follow God >2. Jesus is God >3. Therefore, I follow Jesus. (even if not explicitly) > >This is especially true of Jews and Muslims, though you would never hear this >from them. That they worship God the Father is beyond dispute. How can we >claim a monopoly on salvation? The issue of Muslims is that they do not acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah. They say he was a good man, but do not believe that he died for us. As for the Jews, not knowing much about the Jewish belief, I cannot answer that question in good faith and don't want to put my foot in my mouth. I realize that my statements are kind of before the question, but I am new to posting things so please forgive me. -- CORBETT,JAMES FRANKLIN Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!gt5448b Internet: gt5448b@prism.gatech.edu