"I would disagree with the theory that accepting Jesus, as Messiah, is a necessity of "salvation." Being a "good" Christian or Jew requires a certain high moral standard. When one lives according to that standard, I think they probably emulate the life of a "good" Jew or Christian, without actually being labeled as such. Personally, I think God is far more inclusive than organized religion assumes. Regardless, both Judaism and Christianity do provide the tradition and basis for moral living. And moral living, rather than specific doctrine, is most important"
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sarai...
And therein lies the heart of the matter.
Since the whole of the New Testament is devoted to declaring and explaining the exact opposite conclusion, then if you are correct, the New Testament is little more than a compilation of lies. Additionally, since the New Testament purports to be the written word of God, if you are correct it would be worse than a worthless manuscript beneath contempt and it would be an abomination before God. Logically, there is no middle ground - none whatsoever. Either it is what it claims to be or it is nothing more than a pack of lies which renders it useless for anything, much less as a "moral" guide.
From a Christian viewpoint, the Old Testament (The Law, the Prophets, and the Writings) all point to Jesus, the Messiah not only for the Jews, but for all mankind. The Law shows man that one cannot meet the standards of God (as Paul says in Romans, "we all sin and fall short of the glory of God."). So all men are sinners, yet the Old Testament teaches (the story of Cain, the Exodus, and the Law) that the penalty for sin is death, and the only way to atone for sin is through the shedding of blood. In the Law, God mercifully provided a way to atone for sin through a substitutionary sacrifice - something innocent must be killed in the place of the sinner. Under the Law, the atonement was temporary (good for one year at a time) but the New Testament teaches that animal sacrifices merely prefigured the death of Jesus, as the perfect sinless Lamb of God and the ultimate and eternal sacrifice for all who accept it through faith.
So the Bible, both testaments, teach that all men sin and the penalty for that sin is death. Although God's justice demands that the penalty be paid, as an act of mercy toward us He has provided a substitute to die in our place, Jesus - (just as God provided a substitute sacrifice in place of Isaac, when Abraham was told to sacrifice his son.) No man is able to live well enough to please the utterly Holy God, so "living an overall good life" falls far short of what is required - perfection - a single sin condemns the sinner to eternal separation from God. So the bible teaches that we have a choice set before us by God. At the final judgement, we can stand before Him on our own merits, and thus rightly pay the just penalty of our sins, or we can accept the merciful alternative that He provided in payment of that penalty - the substitutionary death of Jesus. The choice is ours, but we do not have the option to not choose - the penalty of sin must be paid.
The Bible teaches clearly and frequently that there is no other option to pay the penalty of sin other than through blood atonement, and the New Testament teaches equally clearly that accepting the substitutionary death of Jesus as your method of payment is the only acceptable way to salvation. There is no other way to God, according to the New Testament.
That is what a bible believing Christian believes - that only by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior can one be saved from the just penalty of his sins. It comes down to whether or not one believes the bible, then whether or not one believes the New Testament. I would argue that the only choices are to believe that they are true, or reject them totally - logically, how can there be any middle ground??? If each person can just go through and pick out what he likes and reject anything he dislikes, then it is a worthless book as any kind of guide to living or leading to any understanding of God, being full of lies and fraudulent statements.
That is undeniably what the New Testament teaches if one just reads the text and does not explain everything away that he does not like. It is up to each individual whether to accept or reject it, but at the final judgement each man will face God without excuse.
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