How do I get saved? This the the Quesion of the Ages. And, unfortunately, there are many many words written about this that do NOT have to do with the Bible. They have more to do with human psychology which, as far as the question goes, is irrelevant.  People want, need, and deserve simple, concrete answers. If you can't give someone a written in stone, simple answer and you get all philosophical on them, you have done no good and have done actual damage.

NOTE: If you're looking for the quick, Biblical answer without all the explanation, page down to the paragraph that begins with the sentence "

So: How do I get saved? The answer to that question is simple. Paul was asked it in Acts by his jailer. The jail collapsed from an earthquake, a God-arranged jailbreak. The jailer was distraught over the escapes about to happen and made to kill himself. However Paul stopped him. Though we normally use the NIV translation, for this passage nothing is better or more touching than the King James. Imagine the man's frame of mind as you imagine the moment: And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. (Acts 16:27-34)

It really is just that simple. Believe in Jesus. 

However, we all know that the human question-asking doesn't stop there. And that's fine--God has the answers. The next logical question is, "Which Jesus?" After all, there's the Mormon Jesus, the jehovah's Witness Jesus, the New Age or Occultic Jesus, and many others. Which of them is correct? As noted on the "First Things" page, the right source for that information is the Bible. And to capsulize that page, the Jesus of the Bible is the Ancient, Eternal Word, second Person of the Trinity, who became human, lived, was sacrificed, died, and rose again from the dead in His own physical body. He will come back to judge both the Living and the Dead.  

What people often want to know next is this: what are the "mechanics" of salvation? What happens during salvation? Often, this is what people mean when they say, "What must I do to be saved?" Is it long and complicated? Are big, stupid words involved? The simple answer is, "Biblically, no; it's simple; theologically, yes, it's a mess." So let's keep it very very simple. What happens in the "Salvation process"?

There are basically two schools of thought. One is that God chooses who is saved and who isn't and the human in question has no say in the matter. The champion of this point of view is John Calvin and the  Reformed Churches and the Presbyterian Church or Church of Scotland. on the other side are people who believe the teachings of Arminius, who said that a person chooses of his or her own volition "come to Christ." YOU are the one who decides whether or not you will be saved, and all God does is coax. This view is well-represented by most of American Christianity, especially the Protestant Churches which have recently expanded into Africa and South America and some Catholic theologians.  

A Very Personal Note: When I (Darrell is writing this page) was living in a, let's call it "residential hotel", I met a woman named Sharon. She'd been a drug user and dealer but was cleaning up her life and beginning to ask the big questions. She asked this one, and I tried to give a simple, understandable answer. Unfortunately, I found myself usiing words I'd gotten used to as a scholar. Words like "justification," "grace," "atonement." Those words were outside Sharon's experience. She was smart as a whip--there was nothing wrong with her--but she had never been exposed to these "shorthand" terms we in the theology game use. And though there's nothing wrong with the words themselves; it's just that they've become part of the "in-house" vocabulary that only theologians use. When I realized that there was little progress being made and that I was running the risk of making Sharon feel unfairly mentally inadequate (nothing could be further from the truth) then I realized that the vocabulary had to change. Like Walter Martin said in his landmark book Kingdom of the Cults, I had run headfirst into what he called the Language Barrier. For example, when a Christian says, "Jesus," he thinks "Son of God, Second Person of the Trinity, God in human flesh." When a Jehovah's Witness says, "Jesus," he thinks "Michael the Archangel, greatest creation of Jehovah God, but not God Himself." Thus the Language Barrier.

 But Sharon and I were able to scale that barrier, to a point. Where we weren't, it was my fault. But I think she finally got the message I was sending. I don't knw whatever happened to Sharon; I left shortly thereafter. But now at least she has something of an answer to the Question of the Ages.