Repentance
Repentence isnt a "work. Not a work in a religious sense (that false religions try to do). For a non Christian, clarity on "repentance" is needed.
Repentance is a change of mind, a turning from and turning to. You need to change our mind about who is on the throne of your life. No longer living as "I am on the throne" of my life, and change that to God being on the throne of your life. Because He is as ruler over you as Creator and God. It is about turning to Him.
When a person understands who God is, he realizes the seriousness of his sin crimes, understands all sins are all done against God, and that He will judge you for every one of these crimes. As the perfect and good God he is a just and righteous Judge. This means he must damn you to permanent eternal Hell... with that knowledge, a person will do one of 2 things. 1. Keep living how they are [continuing to do sinning]- Maybe feel remorseful [cuz God has designed humans in His image; they are a creation with morals. They know right from wrong, God's law is written on their hearts.] And humans conscience convicts them that they are sinning/doing wrong. But these people in scenario 1 may or may not feel bad about doing wrong. They might feel remorse and not be changed, like Judas, and go kill themselves due to guilt or act religious & deceptively appearing to have a clean life. Or they might be like 2. With a humble and contrite heart... call out to YHWH and ask forgiveness for their sins. This kind of repentance leads to salvation. They are repenting once and for all. And with that repentance they are seeking forgiveness. But God [YHWH] has very clearly revealed in the Bible that forgiveness is only available through Jesus Christ. There is no forgiveness and no salvation, outside of Him. So those who seek salvation will come to Jesus for He is the way to obtain it.
God commands all men everywhere to repent for he has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man [Jesus] whom He has ordained. Acts 17:30-31
Romans 5:10
10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son [Jesus], how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
John 3:16-21
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son [Jesus], that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
John 16:8-11
Jesus said, "When he [the Holy Spirit] comes He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world [Satan] has been judged.
John 12:46
Jesus said, "I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness."
John 12:44
Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one [God the Father] who sent me."
John 10:30
Jesus revealed, "I and the Father are one."
More detailed topic info about Jesus & his deity is very helpfully provided in the muslim answer link above.
More clarity on repentance
Jesus said, "unless you repent you will perish". Luke 13:3
Repentence is absolutely necessary for salvation.
So we covered "repentance" but now need to explain "believe"....
When the Bible says believe in Jesus (and believe the Gospel), it is meaning: what all of Christian Scripture reveals about Jesus, (who he is, and the work he did to bring salvation to mankind, etc). This information is condensed into a summary in the Gospel.
Jesus said, "Repent and believe the Gospel." Mark 1:15
Jesus said you must be born again.
John 3:3,7:
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again....You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
Hopefully this page gave you a bit of clarity to help you understand Christianity more.
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What is the Gospel that God calls all men to obey?
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