What is salvation? Its being saved, basically. It means that you are going to live for eternity in the presence of God, the Creator, the Almighty. But how do you get salvation? What do you need to do for it? Hopefully, the following will answer some of your questions about Christianity and why we believe in the Son of God.

First of all, why do we need salvation? Why do we need to be saved? Common philosophy these days tells us that we can make it on our own, that if we put our mind to something we can achieve it, no matter what. Unfortunately, we are never going to succeed by ourselves alone. As you have probably also heard, no one is perfect, and theres no such thing as pure happiness (at least, on this Earth - we will get into that later).

We need salvation because we are imperfect. We sin. Every one of us has a conscience, and our conscience is our heart telling us whats right and wrong. Even though you may enjoy it, and not care about the consequences, somewhere deep inside you know that its wrong to steal. Its wrong to murder. Its wrong to be jealous, because that will never get you anywhere. God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments, rules for living their lives, early on in history. They included things such as You shall have no other gods before me, (Exodus 20:3), You shall not murder, (Exodus 20:13), You shall not steal, (Exodus 20:15) and You shall not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14). You may look at these and say Ive never broken any of these commands before. Im not a murderer, I dont steal, and I dont commit adultery.

However, everyone sins (1 Kings 8:46 - for there is no one who does not sin).

God is perfect. He is holy (Isaiah 6:3 - Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.). Holy means that there is nothing wrong with Him, and that there is no way for any imperfection or sin to live within Him or in His presence. And, God demands perfection. Since to be in his presence in heaven you need to be perfect, none of us can get into heaven (Romans 3:23 - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God). Again, the expression nobodys perfect is completely true. God demands perfection, and we cannot deliver. So, if he was to stick to his original rules, none of us could get into heaven (Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.).

However, later on we learn that the law was not there to be the thing that decides where a person goes after death. The Apostle Paul reveals in Romans 6:20 that The law was added so that the trespass might increase.

You may be astounded right now. You may be thinking Why would a God of supposed love want to send more people to hell than necessary? The law was added to show our imperfection, to show how nothing we could ever do on this earth would get us into heaven. It showed us that we needed someone to intercede for us, to save us from eternal damnation in hell.

That someone is Jesus Christ.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. That is probably the most well-known Bible verse, John 3:16. It plainly states that Jesus Christ is Gods holy Son, and he was sent to earth to atone for our sins. Jesus took all of our mess ups, our failings, and took them off of our backs. He died for us; when we should have died and sent to hell for our failings, He took the punishment. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

This is profound. Jesus Christ saved us from eternity in hell -- forever in hell, eternal pain and anguish from being completely cut off from God. And then, to show his godliness, he was raised from the dead three days later. He was resurrected.

So what can we do to be saved from hell? Jesus died for us already, we just need to accept his free gift of salvation. We dont need to do anything in return for an eternity in heaven. We just need to put our trust in Jesus Christ, and admit that we cant go it alone in this world. That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

Its as simple as that. If you make Jesus the Lord of your life, and pledge to follow him always, you will be saved. You will not have to go through torture forever after you accept Jesus into your heart, but you will be eternally happy in the presence of the most holy God.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2) Jesus has died for your sins, and you are forgiven in the eyes of God. You will be safe and happy for eternity.

The only thing you need to do is accept Jesus Christ. I cannot stress this enough; you can believe that Jesus is God but still not be saved. You need to submit your life to Him, and say that you will make Him your Lord.

Not to say that there will never be bumps along the road of life. However, you can be sure that, if you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, that your place in eternity and heaven is secured, and that the difficulties of this world will be no more. And remember: If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)