Ephesians 6:13-14

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, TO STAND. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about WITH TRUTH, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.

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Friday, July 30, 2010

HOW MUCH MUST A MAN KNOW TO GET SAVED?

For ages Christian Theologians have argued this one question: "How much must a man know to get saved?"

Both sides have dogmatically defended their answers to this question with large treatises and heated debates. And many have tried with large letters and learned rhetoric to explain how much exactly a man must know to be saved.

This debate has even ensued into our own day between preachers. Some, have said ridiculous things like, "A person doesn't have to know anything to be saved, only that he's lost!"

But that won't work, for a person has to know more than the fact that he's lost. He has to hear the Gospel preached, for FAITH cometh by HEARING and hearing by the WORD OF GOD (Rom. 10:17).

But in an effort to not start another debate, and to answer the question quickly, thoroughly, and logically, I'll briefly illustrate what my Dad said one day when faced with this question.

My Dad told me that in the '80s many people were running around debating this question. Each one angry at the other who thought they either added too much or too little to how much a man must know to be saved. And as each one tryied to whittle it down to only a few things, the other would angrily attack him either in print, in person, or in personal correspondence.

My Dad, as he always had a knack to do, decided he's try to help put an end to this on-going debate. So he went into the office of a famous preacher, and asked him, "Bro. So and So, do you really want to know what a man has to know to be saved?"

The preacher immediately became irrate and upset with having to deal with this again, and said, "Oh no, not again. I'm tired, and I don't want to hear any more about it!"

My Dad responded, "That's okay, cause I have the answer, and it is only one word!" And he began to walk away.

Entrigued, the pastor stopped him and entreated him to tell the answer to such an age old question with just one simple word.

My Dad hesitated, for dramatical effect, and then looked the preacher in the eye and said boldly, "ENOUGH!"

Bewildered and angry that the preacher hadn't thought of that himself, he said, "Enough? Well, I guess that's about right! All a man really needs to know to get saved is ENOUGH!"

Dad said that was the end of the debate, at least in the circles he ran in, and it was years before he heard people bringing up the question ever again.

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