Maybe you wanted to write...

[2ndRateMind]

...a short, but learned, guide to beginners about salvation. The title might be, following the Oxford University Press format: 'Salvation; a Very Short Introduction' or, following the Wiley Publishing format: 'Salvation for Dummies' .

Where would you begin, and what would you say, and why, and what would you leave out, and why?

Just wondering...

Best wishes, 2RM.

[Elijah John]

Repent, turn to YHVH and call on His name, for "everyone who calls on the name of YHVH will be delivered" Or as Paul would have it, "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved".

[Checkpoint]

...a short, but learned, guide to beginners about salvation. The title might be, following the Oxford University Press format: 'Salvation; a Very Short Introduction' or, following the Wiley Publishing format: 'Salvation for Dummies' .

Where would you begin, and what would you say, and why, and what would you leave out, and why?

Just wondering...

Best wishes, 2RM.

I would perhaps begin by a reading of three passages.

These are chosen to indicate how we start, how we are to live from then on, and what we should aim to say at the end of this life.

Titus 3:

3 For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, led astray, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
5 He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 13:

11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

2 Timothy 4:

6 the time for my departure is near.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

[2ndRateMind]

[Replying to post 3 by Checkpoint]

Thank you for that. I notice that all those things the Bible rails against are individual shortcomings and failures of character. Perhaps this is not at all to be unexpected. The ancients had not yet developed the concepts of society, or of social relationships. Yet, it is far easier to be 'good', if one's society is good, and 'evil', if one's society is evil.

So, I would be more than tempted to argue that:

1) by saving others through providing an example of virtue, we save ourselves.
2) by saving our threatened world, we save both ourselves and each other, not only temporally but also spiritually (the same virtues being required, and needing to be developed).
3) a just God would take into consideration one's social background, come judgement day.

If you accept this, then it would seem we 'merely' need decide amongst ourselves what is virtue, and what is vice. But that, quite possibly, is a subject for another book.

Best wishes, 2RM.

[Checkpoint]

[Replying to post 3 by Checkpoint]

Thank you for that. I notice that all those things the Bible rails against are individual shortcomings and failures of character. Perhaps this is not at all to be unexpected. The ancients had not yet developed the concepts of society, or of social relationships. Yet, it is far easier to be 'good', if one's society is good, and 'evil', if one's society is evil.

So, I would be more than tempted to argue that:

1) by saving others through providing an example of virtue, we save ourselves.
2) by saving our threatened world, we save both ourselves and each other, not only temporally but also spiritually (the same virtues being required, and needing to be developed).
3) a just God would take into consideration one's social background, come judgement day.

If you accept this, then it would seem we 'merely' need decide amongst ourselves what is virtue, and what is vice. But that, quite possibly, is a subject for another book.

Best wishes, 2RM.

Do you mean an actual book, or another thread like this one?

[2ndRateMind]

[Replying to post 5 by Checkpoint]

No, I mean a proper book. I am toying with the idea of doing the necessary research to write on the topic (salvation), so I am grateful for your interventions at this early stage. Incidentally, any such book would take a non-partisan approach and draw on all religions, denominations, and sects and cults where they have something distinctive to say on the matter.

Best wishes, 2RM

[Tcg]

...a short, but learned, guide to beginners about salvation. The title might be, following the Oxford University Press format: 'Salvation; a Very Short Introduction' or, following the Wiley Publishing format: 'Salvation for Dummies' .

Where would you begin, and what would you say, and why, and what would you leave out, and why?

Just wondering...

Best wishes, 2RM.

I think it should include this "reasoning":

Once saved always saved? I think this is the kind of doctrine perpetrated by those who are not saved to justify (to themselves and others) their sins. Frankly, I doubt they were ever saved at all.

This would give readers an introduction to how divisive the unevidenced theory of salvation can be.


Tcg

[Overcomer]

I would say this:

God created humankind to be in a loving relationship with him. True love must be given freely, not coerced. That's why God gave us the ability to choose between loving him and not loving him. Trust is part of love. The devil planted seeds of doubt in the minds of Adam and Eve, making them believe that God didn't really love them and they chose, in result, to disobey him. Thus, sin and death entered the world.

Just as dogs beget dogs and cats beget cats, sinners beget sinners. This means that we are all born with sin natures. We cannot change those natures. It doesn't matter what we do, how hard we try to be good, how much we practice rites and rituals, we remain sinners and there is nothing we can do about it.

Sin separates us from God. He simply cannot have sinners with him in heaven. It is an affront to his holiness. Since we can't change ourselves into sin-free beings and we can't earn our way into his presence, we would be in trouble but for Jesus. Here's why:

In the Old Testament, people atoned for their sins by offering sacrifices. But these sacrifices only covered sins temporarily. So they had to keep giving them over and over again. Note that these sacrifices had to be unblemished.

Only the sacrifice of a human being on behalf of human beings would meet God's terms of justice once and for all. But all sacrifices had to be unblemished. In human terms, that means a human sacrifice would have to be free of sin. But we have already established the fact that no such human being exists.

So God did the one thing that could solve the problem. He sent Jesus who was both God AND man, that is, God Incarnate. Because he was God, he was sin-free, thereby making him the only human being to ever live who could be the sacrifice that God required.

Salvation is a gift offered by Jesus. We cannot earn it. We can only accept it and be grateful for it.

Once we have done so, we are given right-standing with God. The theological term for that is justification. Upon conversion, God brings our spirits, once dead in sin, alive. After that, he fills us with the Holy Spirit. Hence we become born-again and Spirit-filled. We embark upon a lifelong journey in which we clean up our acts under the guidance and with the power of the Holy Spirit. That's the process of sanctification in which we grow more like Christ. We only become totally like him in the next life. That's called glorification.

I have explained all of that without providing Scripture, but I can do that if you wish.

I would suggest that if you want a really clear, simple guideline for understanding salvation, check out Phil Tallon's The Absolute Basics of the Christian Faith.

These are simple and clear as well:

https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritu ... et-it.html

https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian- ... ation.html

For a lengthier, more challenging explanation of it, there's this:

https://bible.org/article/doctrine-salvation

[Divine Insight]

I would perhaps begin by a reading of three passages.

These are chosen to indicate how we start, how we are to live from then on, and what we should aim to say at the end of this life.

Titus 3:

3 For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, led astray, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

You'd lose me right there.

I have no clue who Titus 3 is talking about, but it certainly isn't me today, and was never me in the past.

Starting evangelism on something that I can clearly see is false isn't going to get an evangelist very far at all.

In fact, because I am able to clearly see that your first premise is false there isn't even any need to read any further. One counter-example is all that is required to prove that what you preach is false. And since I'm clearly a counter-example to what you preach, there isn't any point in listening to anything more you might have to say.

[Checkpoint]

...a short, but learned, guide to beginners about salvation. The title might be, following the Oxford University Press format: 'Salvation; a Very Short Introduction' or, following the Wiley Publishing format: 'Salvation for Dummies' .

Where would you begin, and what would you say, and why, and what would you leave out, and why?

Just wondering...

Best wishes, 2RM.

I think it should include this "reasoning":

Once saved always saved? I think this is the kind of doctrine perpetrated by those who are not saved to justify (to themselves and others) their sins. Frankly, I doubt they were ever saved at all.

This would give readers an introduction to how divisive the unevidenced theory of salvation can be.


Tcg

What kind of "salvation" are you talking about?

And what do you mean by "unevidenced theory of salvation"?