Page 7 - How to Be a Victorious Christian - eBook
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Editors, p. 25. I hasten to add, it is not a "do-it-yourself" book, for Christianity is not
a "do-it-yourself" religion.
While this is emphatically so, it is just as emphatically not a "do-nothing" religion.
"The work of gaining salvation is one of co-partnership, a joint operation. There is to
be co-operation between God and the repentant sinner." The Acts of the Apostles, p.
482.
Cooperation suggests a plan accepted by the parties involved. Ellen White puts
cooperation on a high level when she suggests there is a science to the plan of
salvation. "The Bible contains the science of salvation for all those who will hear and
do the words of Christ." -Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 187.
In context, the term science suggests there are established principles in Christianity
that may be discovered and understood, and that, being faithfully adhered to, will
result in freedom from sin, and finally the reality of eternal life. This is further
suggested in the familiar words of the Bible:
"All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete,
equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3: 16, 17, R.S.V.).
Not by Spiritual Osmosis
Salvation, then, is not obtained by some sort of spiritual osmosis, or because God is
very gracious and reluctant to destroy sinners-which is, of course, true-but because
the sinner cooperates with certain spiritual principles.
This joint cooperation is not a haphazard, hit-or-miss, accidentally accomplished
enterprise. The road to heaven is not discovered, or continued upon, by luck. We do
not step into it by some mysterious providence guiding our feet in spite of our
rebelliousness, carelessness, neglect, or indifference. We shall not walk at last
through the gates of the city beyond the stars because we happened to drift at random
into the company of those who shall walk there. Blind chance has absolutely no part
to play in salvation. 1
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