How To Be Saved

 
It is said that when the famous missionary, Dr. David Livingstone, started his trek across Africa he had 73 books in 3 packs, weighing 180 pounds. After the party had gone 300 miles, Livingstone was obliged to throw away some of the books because of the fatigue of those carrying his baggage. As he continued on his journey his library grew less and less, until he had but one book left—his Bible.
—from "Today in the Word," April 1989, p. 28

What is it about the Bible that causes so many people to find it so valuable—not only more valuable than all other books combined, but, as history attests, even valuable enough to die for?

As most people know, the Bible (although penned by mortal men) is also called "the Word of God." Why? It's because God is its Author, who spoke through certain men as they wrote down the Scriptures (2nd Timothy 3:16). Because God cannot lie (Titus 1:2), wouldn't that make the Bible entirely true and trustworthy?

Farther down on this webpage you'll find links to two PDFs, "A Logical Response to Miracles" and "In Search of Sound Bible Doctrine," which you can view and download.

I co-wrote "A Logical Response to Miracles" to show why all people need to be saved. In that article, I tried to use sound, step-by-step logic:

1. Miracles really did occur in the first century:
a) the eyewitness testimony from John and Peter showed that Jesus performed miracles, and b) the personal letters from Paul showed that Paul and some of the early Christians also performed miracles.

2. Since miracles really did occur in the first century, logic tells us that God exists. God and His power would have to exist in order for instantaneous healings to occur.

3. Jesus' miracles proved that God was definitely with Him.

4. Since God was with Him, Jesus had the authority to speak for God. When Jesus taught, He was teaching the Word of God. When we obey Jesus' teachings, we're obeying God's teachings.

5. Jesus taught that we need to be saved. Jesus was speaking for God, and people should have a desire to obey God and be saved.

I hope you'll read this PDF and seriously think about the message. I believe that salvation is important for everyone.

The article "In Search of Sound Bible Doctrine" contains information that I compiled from various sources, and that article also includes material that I co-wrote with a Christian friend. That article discusses some of the issues that churches disagree about, including baptism issues such as 1) whether water baptism is necessary for salvation, 2) whether the Bible teaches immersion, sprinkling, or pouring, and 3) whether infant baptism is valid. I hope this article will give people the desire to reexamine the issue of salvation.

The Bible teaches that if we sincerely want to find God, we will find Him. Deuteronomy 4:29 says, "You will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul," and Proverbs 8:17 teaches that "those who seek Me diligently will find Me."

Be persistent in your search for God. "He is not far from each one of us." —Acts 17:27

Thank you for visiting my site, and thank you for any time you can spend with the PDF articles.

(Note: This is a lengthy webpage, and I hope you'll scroll through its entirety. Thank you.)
 
INFORMATION ABOUT THE DOWNLOADABLE PDFS
  1. After you download these PDF files, you can view them in Acrobat Reader. You can download that free program from the Adobe website.

  2. After you download the PDF files, you'll need the program StuffIt Expander to decompress them. If that program is already installed on your computer, the PDF files will probably decompress automatically. If they don't decompress automatically, you'll probably need to download the free StuffIt Expander program from the Stuffit (Aladdin Systems) website.

  3. Download the PDF "A Logical Response to Miracles" (download time: 15 seconds)

  4. Download the PDF "In Search of Sound Bible Doctrine" (download time: 15 seconds)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

I want to be as much as possible like the Christians of the New Testament. It seems to me that the only way to be sure (2nd Peter 1:10) that I'm truly pleasing God is by believing, teaching, and practicing what the Christians (and the church) of the New Testament believed, taught, and practiced. Since I see so many different churches endorsing so many different beliefs (even concerning how to be saved and how to worship God), and since the New Testament teaches that there's only one faith (Ephesians 4:5), I can't think of a better way to determine whether I'm genuinely "in the faith" (2nd Corinthians 13:5).

If this line of reasoning makes sense to you as well, I encourage you to visit the website www.asiteforthelord.com
and then click on the link at the left called "Salvation & The Church" to see a list of articles.

That website contains a great deal of information about becoming a Christian and living a Christian life. You're also encouraged to contact the webmaster of that site in one of the ways listed on his contact page. He is more than anxious to hear from you.

If you'd like to study with someone in person, please contact the webmaster of that site. There's an excellent chance he knows of someone in your area who'd be happy to meet with you.



Sunset photograph courtesy of Ross Taylor.


Your comments are very welcome.