Website owner:  James Miller

  CONDITIONS FOR SALVATION                     1/92
  

   Suppose we are reading an advertisement which makes some 
   promises to the reader.  Suppose in one place it states, 
   "Whoever drinks a cup of Colombian coffee will be sent on an 
   expense paid trip to Hawaii".  Suppose in another place it 
   says, "Whoever throws a stone across the Potomac River will be 
   given an expense paid trip to Hawaii".  Let us now suppose that 
   in another place it makes the statement, "Anyone guilty of 
   adultery, lying, cheating, murder, hatred and other such sins 
   will not be eligible for an expense paid trip to Hawaii".  Let 
   us now ask a question:  Doesn't the phrasing of the statement 
   "Whoever drinks a cup of Colombian coffee will be sent on an 
   expense paid trip to Hawaii" imply that drinking a cup of 
   Colombian coffee is the sole condition required for eligibility 
   for a trip to Hawaii, that it is as simple as that, and there 
   are no extra conditions (such as not sinning)?  If this is so 
   doesn't the last statement prohibiting those guilty of certain 
   sins from eligibility for a trip to Hawaii sort of contradict 
   the promises of the first two statements?  Isn't the author 
   sort of going back on his first two promises when he imposes 
   the condition of the last statement?  If this is not a 
   contradiction then aren't the first two promises rather 
   incomplete and misleading?  

   In the Bible we find a number of statements in regard to 
   eligibility for salvation.  We read "whosoever believes on the 
   Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved" and "whosoever confesses 
   Jesus with his mouth and believes in his heart that God raised 
   him from the dead will be saved".  And then in other places we 
   read statements like "no one guilty of adultery, fornication, 
   murder, lying, hatred, etc. will go to heaven".