Who can be saved? Anyone who believes

Sometimes there's a question about who can be saved. Does God care about everyone? Can everyone receive salvation?

The answer is yes. The rules for salvation are generally the same for everyone, and at some point every person will be allowed to choose to follow those rules.

Paul speaks to this idea in Romans 10. Every person who accepts Christ will be saved.

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10 For with the ^aheart man ^bbelieveth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto ^csalvation.

11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

12 For there is no ^adifference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is ^brich unto all that ^ccall upon him.

13 For whosoever shall ^acall upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not^abelieved? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a ^bpreacher?

15 And how shall they ^apreach, except they be ^bsent? as it is written, How beautiful are the ^cfeet of them that preach the^dgospel of ^epeace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

16 But they have not all ^aobeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath ^bbelieved our report?

Note that this emphasizes 2 things in verse 10: believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth. One fair question is, does this mean that works are not involved in salvation? It depends what believing with the heart means. Does it mean a feeling of belief (which is then confessed with the mouth) or does it mean your belief is deeply ingrained within you (like a heart is core to the life of the body) and affects everything you are and do?

I lean towards the latter explanation based on other scriptures, but also because it seems a more complete answer even in this chapter. Consider what calling on the Lord entails? It entails taking the time to think about what to say to him and what to ask for and why you want to confess belief in him. That's work. Also, consider the word believe. It would be helpful to know the initial word used when Paul wrote, and I have read some commentary on this (in the footnotes to the Articles of Faith by James Talmage). Briefly though, the word believe has at its root, "be" and "live". To believe is to "live" and "be" according to something an individual supposes to be true. What's assumed to be true affects the life of the individual. How can the life of the individual be affected without affecting works as well? Wouldn't the works expose what the individual believes? Thus, how can works, words, and belief be separated? Eventually they can't because they all contribute to the same thing, what a person is. They are all so highly correlated that it can be hard to distinguish one from the other over the long run (i.e., if you know all of someone's words and all of their works, it becomes obvious who they are and what they believe; it's true that people can hide portions of their words and works depending on the situation, but you can't fake everything always).

Therefore, I think to believe with the heart and confess with the mouth is to say and act in all ways, even to the deepest center of a person, that Jesus is the Savior. I want to live like that.

Paul also comments on the need to "obey the gospel" in verse 16. That speaks to following rules, which is an action. Also, on a side note, there's a need not only to hear the word of God, but to have a preacher who is sent to preach that word correctly. Who sends the preacher? Authorized servants send authorized preachers. What's the authority? The priesthood - See Hebrews 5 and 7.

Have a great day.

Prayer - Do your best and God will understand your intentions

Sometimes we worry about saying the perfect prayer or making sure we say everything the right way. It's important to know that God understands our heart and that if we're doing our true best to express to him what we need and want, it doesn't need to be perfect. We really just need to try.

It's important to say the right words because that can help us know that God is helping us with the things we ask for, but our desires will make prayers effective. Consider these verses in Romans 8:

26 Likewise the Spirit also ^ahelpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should ^bpray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh ^cintercession for us with ^dgroanings which cannot be uttered.

27 And he that ^asearcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh ^bintercession for the saints according to the will of God.

The Spirit helps us with God by communicating what we truly want to Him. The Spirit searches our hearts, so our true desires will always be understood and helped by God.

Becoming Children of God; liberating or captivating

Sometimes people think that following rules can be restrictive. While it's true that when there are "restrictions" that limits you in some ways, technically speaking, generally restrictions free you up to do other things or avoid pitfalls.

Paul speaks about the idea of being a child of God. What is a child of God?

Paul says (Romans 8):

14 For as many as are ^aled by the ^bSpirit of God, they are the^csons of God.

It's critical to follow the Spirit to be a son of God. Based on previous chapters it appears that we've learned the following from Paul:

1) circumcision isn't necessary to be a "son (or daughter) of God" (Romans 4 and 5)

2) baptism is (Romans 6)

3) following the Spirit is necessary (Romans 8)

4) Continuing to sin isn't consistent with being a son of God (Romans 6)

Paul addresses the idea of "bondage" to God in Romans 8:15:

15 For ye have not received the spirit of ^abondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of ^badoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

As we do enough things to be "adopted" by the Father, both we and he have a change in relationship. We consider him a Father, and he is able to bless us more.

16 The Spirit itself beareth ^awitness with our ^bspirit, that we are the ^cchildren of God:

17 And if children, then heirs; ^aheirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we ^bsuffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

When we have become his children we become heirs to what he has. All of the blessings and experiences that come along with being a joint heir with Christ help make this not a "bondage" but instead a very good father/son relationship.

Baptism - a new opportunity

Paul speaks of coming to Christ, leaving sin, and receiving grace in Romans 6. He ties this in to baptism, thus it becomes quite clear that baptism is necessary to come to Christ (while circumcision clearly isn't based on Chapters 4 and 5).

Also, continuing to sin is not okay - just because Christ can cover your sins doesn't mean that you should sin so that grace can abound. Important to not sin once you've accepted him, in your heart and through baptism.

Here's a few of Paul's thoughts on baptism, accepting Christ, leaving sin, and grace:

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that ^agracemay abound?

2 ^aGod forbid. How shall we, that are dead to ^bsin, live any longer therein?

3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were ^abaptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

4 Therefore we are ^aburied with him by ^bbaptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the ^cdead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should ^dwalk in ^enewness of life.

5 For if we have been planted together in the ^alikeness of his^bdeath, we shall be also in the likeness of his ^cresurrection:

6 Knowing this, that our ^aold man is crucified with him, that the^bbody of sin might be ^cdestroyed, that henceforth we should not serve ^dsin.