Almost 2000 years ago, a very frightened man asked "what must I do to be saved?" The apostle Paul gave a very simple answer...yet theologians have been arguing about it for centuries. It takes a theologian to do that right?  But what does it mean to be saved?  The issue involves the gospel itself. What is the condition for eternal salvation?

Paul said "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved."

Compare that to an answer from a modern day preacher where after his message, one of his listeners came up to him and the preacher asked him, "is there any reason you should not become a Christian tonight?"  The man responded "No".  The preacher's response was "well, let me give you a few."  So for the next few minutes the preacher began to explain that there was a cost to become a Christian and that he needed to surrender his whole life, his future, his ambitions, his relationships, his possessions, and everything he was to God. Only if he was prepared to do this could Christ then begin to give him eternal life.

The preacher leaned in and asked "so, can you still think of a reason not to become a Christian tonight?" The man responded "well, now I can think of some."  The preacher said, "Well, don't become a Christian until you're ready to surrender to Jesus Christ and you've dealt with every one of those reasons."

So what is the Biblical truth?  

In this weeks' podcast Charlie deals directly with this question.