Website owner:  James Miller

  EVANGELICAL CRITERION FOR BECOMING SAVED         4/96



   What are the phrases that evangelical Christians use to 
   describe what one must do to be "saved"?  Let us list them: 

         - accept Christ as your personal Savior
         - accept Christ as your Savior
         - accept Christ as your Lord and Savior
         - profess your faith in Christ
         - make a profession of faith
         - surrender your heart to Christ
         - give your heart to Christ
         - give your heart to the Lord
         - serve the Lord
         - surrender your heart to the Lord
         - get saved 
         - be born again

   Let us examine these phrases.  What do they mean?  Suppose a 
   person completely unfamiliar with Christianity, a being from 
   some other planet, say Mars, were to hear them.  What would he 
   think they meant?  Would he find their meanings clear?  Are the 
   meanings all equivalent? 

   Where did the above phrases come from?  How many of these 
   phrases can you find in the Bible?  If they didn't come from 
   the Bible where do you suppose they came from?  Can we guess 
   that they came out of attempts of the founders and forerunners 
   of evangelicalism to summarize what they thought was required 
   in order to be saved? 

   What does it mean to "accept Christ as your personal Savior"?  
   To just say to Christ, "I now accept you as my personal 
   savior"?  Will these words, sincerely said, do?  Is that what 
   is meant?  What support can you find in the Bible for this 
   phrase as the means for becoming saved?  Is it simply a little 
   different wording from the words of Jesus, "Believe in me and 
   you will be saved"?  

   How do the above phrases compare with my own formula for going 
   to heaven: "Turn away from sin and evil, renounce it, and turn 
   to God and be faithful to him by leading an upright, righteous 
   life"?  Are they the same?  My formula focuses on God, not 
   Christ.  But yet, Christ said he was God, so is there a 
   difference?