Salvation

No. I think it literally said ocean in it or something like it.

Kind of off-topic, but I would like to know what it was that turned you away from paganism. And also what specific kind of paganism you were associated with.

And you're proud of this?
Remember, if there is no love in you all your works are for nothing.
Seems to me you're in this for entirely selfish reasons.
First of all you are not becoming a christian to be "saved"
You do it because you love God and Jesus.
If you don't have that, your faith is like a currency you're trying to throw into a vending machine and expecting salvation to pop out of it.
Not how it works.

Also, if you love God, if you reaaallly love Him, you don't expect anything from Him. You accept whatever he has in store for you.

Becoming a christian in order to be saved is completely egocentric. Cutting off your friends because they might "look bad" at the final judgement is incredibly selfish and loveless.

Get some inner character development going, you are not being a good person right now, and yes, it matters.

If your primary concern is in learning the genuine saving faith, then I highly recommend that you go back and read the writings of the earliest christian writers in order to make sure that your theology is in line with theirs. Scripture is, indeed, essential, and a perfect place to start, yet even in earliest centuries you had various heresies such as pelegianism, the idea that one could be worthy of salvation of their own works/merit, nestorianism, the notion that Christ was two distinct persons, God and man, and not one, and arianism, the heresy that Jesus was merely a divine messenger that nearly dominated the true faith in the 4th century and has seen resurgence in modern times in parts of the pentecostal movement. All of these heresies sprung up from people who trusted their personal interpretation rather than holding fast to the traditions they recieved, as Paul says in 2 Thessolonians 2:15. Therefore, I recommend that you begin with the Didache, a 1st century guide to the christian faith, and then move on to the epistles of Irenaeous, Justin Martyr, and Polycarp, all of whom lived in the second century and the last of whom is traditionally believed to have been a direct disciple of John. These episles should give you a clear idea of what the earliest christians believed in regards to topics that are not universally agreed upon in modern christendom, such as the necessity of charity and the strict avoidance/repentance of sin and the authority of the church. I pray you discern well friend!

Becoming a christian in order to be saved is completely egocentric

Attached: tumblr_p86dqaCjCx1syf5uzo1_100.jpg (92x112, 2.6K)

Life is communion with God, Who is Love. Or rather, "life" is the uncreated grace of God that gives us existence and purpose. God created us so that He may share His Trinitarian love with us, and this is "life".
Maybe it would be good to first look at what "death" is. "Death" is separation from God. "Death" does not have an existence in itself but it is a symptom of the disease we have contracted when Adam used his free will to disobey God. "Death" is an unnatural state, according to which the body decays, ceases to function, and rots, while the soul is imprisoned in Hell, weakened and bound by its own sins. Communion with God is severed (but not completely - otherwise we would cease to exist), and so we do not have "life" anymore.

With that said, let me cite the Creed:

And what my catechism says about what "salvation" is, since that is your thread title:

St. Isaac the Syrian said:
Maybe you're thinking of that?
There are also many verses in the Bible where the Holy Spirit is called the water of life, and as such it is also called a river of life flowing from God.

Yes it is.

Hm. Here is some more content from my catechisms (warning, this will be long):

...