Page:What Is The True Christian Religion?.pdf/48

 man can do has any effect in saving him, why follow the injunction of Jesus to repent and change his life? It is far easier to believe in a dogma and get to heaven by a miracle, or acquire a Christian character without effort.

Genuine repentance evidently means to give up ones evil and by the Lord's power to overcome. It represents human effort. "He that overcometh", we are told, "shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son," That does not sound like the statement that a man can do nothing of good that will contribute one iota to his salvation but is like a stock or scone when it comes to salvation.

When Jesus said, "If any man will man come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me", we can find no trace of the Plan of Salvation, but rather the idea of becoming at one with God by the effort to give up one's evils, which is the conflict involved in bearing the cross, and following Jesus daily in the unselfish life. Christian character, it is perfectly evident, can no more be acquired without personal effort than can an education. If that is true, what about the Plan of Salvation where we have only to believe?