What makes someone a true believer?

[crystal]

Okay this has the potential of being a touchy subject, but I hope that this one can remain civil, much like many of the others here have been so far.

What, in your opinion, makes someone a true believer in God? Or more specifically, what do you think is required in order to obtain your salvation from the penalty of sin?

Honestly, I used to believe that so long as you said the right words, you were saved. But in the end... I honestly believe that it doesn't matter what religious title you call yourself or what you believe. This is only my opinion, but I think that in order for one to be truly saved, there has to be an acknowledgement/submission between the individual and God, and it's a private, personal matter. I believe that only God can know if someone is truly saved or not.

I hope that made sense... I can try and clarify if I need too

[Junk Angel]

As the bible itself directly says - Believe in one God, this clearly removes any doubt, that a true believer has to be utterly uncritical in his devotion towards this deity.

Since doubting his existence, makes you falter in a belief of this one god to either zero, or more than one, and thus makes you brake a sort of agreement you made when you started to believe in him.

[marnaveign]

"What do you think is required in order to obtain your salvation from the penalty of sin?"

In my church, we are taught some basics. First, you must have faith in Jesus Christ. Second, repent of your sins. In some cases, praying to God for forgiveness and working to not repeat the sin is enough. In other cases, one must confess the sin to someone with authority, like a church leader, and follow his guidance. Another important step for obtaining salvation is to be baptized by submersion in the name of Christ by one who has proper authority. Then, one must live as Jesus would. Love and serve one another and all that. The sin must be abandoned, but as often as is needed, a person can repent, as long as they are truely working to give it up.

Those are the basics that I have been taught all my life. I could go a lot more in depth on this topic, but I think this is enough for this question. I can be long winded when it comes to discussions about religion...just see my post in the Churches topic and you can plainly see that.