But... if it's really that simple, as in, you just have to say the words: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, to be saved. And once you've been saved you're always saved no matter what.. What then, do we have the whole Bible for. If it's really that simple, then why did God give us a Bible, that is filled with History, Laws, Prophets and the Gospel?
If its all just that simple, why don't we just have a leaflet, that says something like, "Dear sinners/naughty children (you all need saving), please, follow the following steps carefully. This will only take a moment. Step 1: Say you believe "as follows". Great. We're just about done here. Now, if you've done this, please proceed on, to step 2. Step 2: If you have successfully followed step 1, then, you may now rejoice! You're saved now, forever. No matter what. Nothing else matters. Don't sweat it, don't worry about anything, don't worry, when you see bad things or bad people and especially, don't waste time or energy, thinking about silly and unimportant things, such as striving to be a better person, as that would just be a pointless distraction and it's of no importance whatsoever, anyways. We don't care at all, about that stuff. Just have as much fun as you are able, but tell others to follow the steps, so they can be saved forever too. It's ok if you want to use this situation to make some money.. why not?? Who doesn't like that. Have a ball, have at it! Make some wars too if you like. Who cares? None of this has any meaning, it's just stuff that happens because, why not? Who cares right? Oh and when you've had enough partying... please feel free, to then proceed to aisle 2, where you may collect your ticket to heaven at your convenience, which will be waiting for you, at the checkout. Sure hope this didn't take up too much of your valuable partying time. Hope this didn't cause you any worries. Because, nothing really matters (but the 2 steps). Happy travels."
Why does it say, Jesus said not everyone who calls Him Lord, Lord.. only those who do.
Are all people who call Him Lord, Lord, not saved then? If they say, Jesus is Lord and that is what we call Him. Are thy not? How do you know then, who is who?
Why do we have the Bible, and not a 1 page leaflet, if that is all it takes anyone?
If it's really that simple, why can't we just print the leaflet and use it to quickly go and save everyone?
And once we're saved, why can't we then just go? etc. etc. etc.
If it's once saved always saved, then why does it say all the other things that it does?
How does that and probably a million other questions that could be asked like it, make any sense?
Because if it was like that, then well, we could just, Hey! Great to meet you all. You been saved? Yes? Ok. that's great news, it means we don't have to do anything, because job's done! You gonna hang around here some more, too? Yes, me too. I guess we all just do that, but we don't ask or wonder why, cause you know. Ok! Sure hope you all make it to heaven, I've got nothing more to say. Seeya around, and seeya there.. (hopefully..maybe?) Dang, those pesky questions keep coming back.
This is starting to seem almost like having to work.. I think I need a break.
To answer some of your other questions, just saying you believe in Jesus , isn’t what saves you.
I went through my first 20 years of life wanting to know God, hearing the Gospel, saying I believed yet never getting saved.
It was confusing because I didn’t have the assurance of salvation that I thought would come from merely saying I believed. I would pray for God to save me, but always doubting if it “worked”.
I know now it was because I was not saved. And that was because I THOUGHT I believed, but I really didn’t, because I did not even truly UNDERSTAND the Gospel.
I was told to believe it, so I said I did, but I didn’t get saved because I did not even KNOW WHY I needed salvation.
I did not know that I was already on my way to Hell when I died. I thought you had to be REALLY, REALLY “bad” to go to Hell. I had never raped, murdered, or done anything that would make myself or those around me say, “You are a bad person”.
So, I ignorantly assumed I would go to Heaven.
NOBODY actually broke it down for me & showed me directly from the Bible that my assumptions were indeed FALSE, and that I was NOT “good”, as I had thought.....my pride kept me blinded for so long, and I just went through life as usual.
Then my younger brother was murdered in October 2003....months before his 21st birthday. I was closer to him than anyone else on earth. At his funeral a couple of his friends told me who did it....they were there, but afraid to go to the police because they were terrified they would be “silenced”.
I spent the first several months afterward in denial, drinking & using drugs to self-medicate until that no longer worked.
I worried about where my brother was, which was something no doctor, scientist or specialist on earth could answer. So I sought out God with ALL my heart, soul, mind, spirit and might.
I cried and begged Him to show me where my brother was, that I just wanted to know the truth, even if it was bad.
I felt like He wasn’t listening. A couple more months passed.
Then came the RAGE. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before and is indescribable. I was furious at God—for allowing my sweet brother who was caring, kind, unselfish and so easy to love—-to be brutally ripped from my life forever. He would never finish school (he wanted to be a pediatrician), never fall in love, never have children, never make it to his Praciat ceremony scheduled a week after his death for completing Muay Thai training...nothing. It was just over, he was gone, and God did not even allow me the choice to let Him take me instead.
The rage I felt so powerfully grew into vengeance. I knew who did it, found out where they lived and loaded a revolver & a .45 to go avenge my brother’s murder. As I headed to the car, I stopped. I looked around at the night, it was a misty April night and the street lights were blurry through my tears.
I quickly came up with a plan: drive over to the murderers house, pull a kick door and rain bullets on any adult in there. I anticipated the feeling of revenge that would follow as I took from them what had been mercilessly stolen from me. .....it was potent, gave me a strange high followed by a presence that surrounded me that felt larger than the universe itself.
It felt like God Himself had intervened in the midst of my revenge fantasy & was holding up a mirror that “showed” me how I appeared in that moment, and it SCARED ME.
I no longer enjoyed the feeling that I anticipated, and it felt like pure evil. That terrified me to my very bones.
I immediately began to rethink if I should go through with it.
I didn’t see this presence, but I heard Him. He knew what I was thinking and that I was debating if I should go kill those people, when I distinctly heard a booming voice that tenderly warned, “But then you will become like them.”
My heart softened and I dropped the guns and fell to the ground sobbing. I no longer wanted revenge. Murdering them would only make me a murderer too....something I never thought I was capable of, yet just moments earlier I was relishing the idea of.
In that moment, and for the first time in my life, I saw why I was a sinner, why I was not good like I thought I was, why I could never enter Heaven. And I never felt so alone, wretched, abandoned & forsaken, and an overwhelming grief that I cannot explain with words consumed me.
I whispered up to the presence (I am not sure if it was God, an angel or what, but I believe now that it was the Holy Spirit) to please help me.
And in a millisecond, everything I had ever heard about Jesus—-His sinless life, virgin birth, death on the cross to pay for our sins, His resurrection, His Sonship to God the Father—-EVERYTHING, suddenly became completely clear, as if God Himself was showing me it was TRUE, and that it was done so long ago for my sake (and everyone’s) to save a nobody like me, over 2,000 years later, because He knew I could never save myself but did not want me to go to Hell....for no other reason except He truly loves us.
I distinctly felt like this was offered to me personally, but not forced. I could have rejected this gift and walked away, but I WANTED it.
Not only was it the best news I ever heard in my life, but it was the truest, most pure expression of love, one I never dreamed existed, and I asked God then & there to please give that gift, that love, that salvation.
And no sooner did those words leave my lips, something happened to me, faster than lightning striking, my spirit was brought to life.
And I knew that I was saved, reborn, quickened to spiritual life from death forever.
***Curiously, a few weeks after that, I found a green spiral notebook on my brother’s closet shelf. I had NO IDEA where it came from....we had cleared out his entire room the day he died.
In the notebook I found 2 journal entries my brother had written. His unique handwriting was unmistakable. The first was written 2 weeks before he died, and stated that he was afraid his friends were going to kill him, and he was scared & didn’t know what to do.
The second and final entry he wrote was exactly 5 days before he died. He wrote that he now knew his friends were going to kill him but he was no longer afraid because now he “knows Jesus, and the love of God” and that he “understood”.
What he knew, and why he died, I will not know until I meet him again in Heaven.
That is my full testimony, every word is true, and that is how I came to be saved by Jesus Christ.
