Is repentance essential for salvation?
If your belief in Jesus Christ does not cause you to turn from your sin, then this kind of faith will not save you. Unrepentant faith is what the devils have and they will burn in the Lake of Fire and be punished forever. (James 2:19)
If repentance was not essential for salvation, why did Jesus command it to be preached to all nations and all people? There are so many verses in the Bible that speak of the necessity of repentance (a willingness to turn from one's sin and seek after righteousness), one can only conclude that those who preach salvation without repentance, are unrelated to it themselves. "Easy Believism" is the modern day, evangelical movement that says one only needs to believe in order to be saved.
Common hermeneutical errors.
Rightly dividing the Word of Truth requires the knowledge and application of hermeneutical principles. When these principles are not observed, many varied interpretations of the same verse will result. One of the least understood and perhaps the most abused aspects of biblical explanation is interpreting the Bible grammatically. One cannot interpret a verse contrary to its grammatical structure. Many good men have stumbled at this point.
Throughout history various groups have mistakenly divided the kingdom of Heaven and the kingdom of God. All the prophets up to and including John divided the kingdom territorially. They thought it would be a physical, earthly kingdom. In the 1800's this same error became a common fault of that generation. At some point in the evolution of the Watchtower's theology they came up with two classes of people and fitted them into two physical kingdoms: one an earthly kingdom which they called the "other sheep" and the other a heavenly kingdom they called the "little flock" or the 144,000.
The Challenge Of Our Generation "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" The answer to the question is simple---we do what...
If one were to talk with ten different people who are "cult experts," most likely he or she would get a different definition of what a cult is from each of them.
