At the core of Christianity is the idea of salvation: how we are spared from eternal darkness and torment and reconciled to God. As such, there exists theology surrounding the idea of salvation (or justification). This is known as soteriology. Biblical Basis Naturally, there is a lot of evidence in the Bible surrounding soteriology seeing as the entire story of the Bible is how we were reconciled to God through Christ. Despite this, there are different views among denominations on how the process of salvation works. Essentially, the two extremes on the spectrum are Calvinism (predestination) vs Arminiansim (complete free will), which I will cover in depth in another post. Most denominations and schools of thought fall somewhere in between these two ideals. The non-negotiable aspects of soteriology are the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Christians universally agree that these are the proverbial cog in the salvation machine. This can best be summarized in 1 John 3:23...