What do you need to do to receive this "free gift" of christian salvation?

Question

Do you simply receive it without further obligations?
Or...do you have to:
1) accept Jesus Christ as your lord and saviour
2) believe that Jesus Christ is god
3) ask for forgiveness of your sins
4) be baptized

All the above are obligations that goes beyond merely "receiving" a gift like a gift of money. My contention remains that christian salvation is still an offer, and no gift, for it requires you to fulfill at least some of the above obligations.

Answer 1

I tend to agree. It's like the case of a medieval lord who protects and supports his feudal tenants -- provided they acknowledge him as their sole overlord and grant him unswerving loyalty, as well as regular donations of food and labor.

This is why I prefer religions where the love and favor of the Gods comes without such strings attached. But that's just me. If Christians are happy serving their God in such a way, that's their affair and I wish them success and fulfillment on their path.

Answer 2

If you're looking at salvation as an obligation & something you have to do for God, then yup, 1,2,3, and 4, and if you follow this formula then God is under your control and you merit Heaven on your own.

God's not a telemarketer. You've got it upside down, it's God that chooses His own, predestination from before the foundations of the world were laid.

When you receive a changed heart via the Holy Spirit, he doesn't need your permission to do so. Obligation? What obligation, you DO believe, you WANT to repent, you WANT to be baptized, that's what salvation does! While you were yet DEAD in your sins, Christ died for you, dead means dead, it's God who would have had to do the work.

Answer 3

All the nonsense discussions about what's a free gift and what's not come down to this:

Nobody can force God, the supreme being, to save them. He does so of his own volition, or not at all. So salvation will always remain a gift ... and a free one at that.

The faith that is said to be required to obtain salvation is something that requires allegiance to the principles of God, and constant cooperation with his grace.

Faith without works is dead.

Faith coupled with works, enlightened and empowered by God's grace, is the stuff of heaven.

On that, we have God's own word.

Answer 4

Well you are obviously reffering to my answer to your earlier question.

The Greek term for "gift" is charisma. The Greek term for grace is "charis". Grace means "unmerited favor." The words obviously have a Greek connection.

The Bible says that God's gift is grace. Therefore his gift is one that can not be merited. Merited simply means earned. There may be things you are obligated to do in order to recieve this gift but that does not mean you have done anything to earn it.

If someone buys you an IPOD for Christmas. Well you still have to unwarp the gift, open the box in order to recieve the GIFT.

Just because you HAVE to do something in order to recieve the gift does not mean it is no longer a gift. You can not earn God's gift however.

God also told the Israelities that the promised land was his gift to them. Well they had to fight and some died in battles against their enemies. Yet it was still their gift!

The simple English definition of GIFT is "something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation". So God is voluntarily giving us his favor. We can not possibly compensate for that favor. (fyi: all made possible and demonstated by the sacrifice of His Son)

Answer 5

The Catholic Church has consistently taught that all people who're saved are saved by following a trustworthy, honest and recommended judgment of right and incorrect in spite of non secular association or lack thereof. yet she additionally teaches that the final thank you to have such a judgment of right and incorrect is to be an rather member simply by fact the Catholic Church on my own is in finished possession of the actuality. this suggests that considering that there is in basic terms one reality, no person could be saved exterior the Catholic Church, yet all who're saved are saved by this one reality by an exceedingly particular non secular union with the Church by way of, a minimum of, an implicit purpose. Whoever has the point of doing the marvelous element if difficulty-free is worth of God's mercy. Salvation would be unable to be any different way considering that Jesus on my own is the way, the actuality and the existence. yet in basic terms God could be the decide.

Answer 6

Think of it this way, once you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you'll naturally want to do the other things. Just note that you can't carry out your #1 unless you carry out your #3, and obviously you can forget about #1, #3, and #4 until you do #2. So now we're down to really doing just one thing aren't we?"

Answer 7

1) accept Jesus Christ as your lord and saviour
2) believe that Jesus Christ is god
3) ask for forgiveness of your sins

Answer 8

Repent... Renew yourself. Ending 2 sin. Cleanse of body n soul. And pray about it

Answer 9

Straight up.
God does the saving. All that above mentioned is fine and dandy but not accurate. You have to be chosen by God to be saved. You must first start with acknowledging your transgressions, then with a sincere desire to do things more pleasing to God.

Answer 10

A gift card is still a gift, but you gotta get off your butt, go to the store, and use it if you want it. The gift card is wasted if it's sitting on your dresser, just being looked at.