>> being a Christian means confessing that one is a sinner, totally surrendering ones life to God, and fully believing that Christ’s resurrection paid in full for our sins.<<
You are confusing sanctification/discipleship with salvation and distorting simple faith.
(1) Confessing that one is a sinner — to how many others, in what specificity? Any juicy details? Did the Ethiopian eunuch do this before Phillip baptized him?
Also, on that list, you didn’t include baptism — maybe??? That’s what the Church of Christ teaches.
(2) “Totally surrendered” to God. That’s pretty tough for an unbeliever to muster,very difficult to work up to. (What if the Lord wants me to leave home and preach to the Inuits and I don’t want to?) You’ve got to give that convert lots of kudos if he gets there. He’s got BIG bragging rights in heaven.
(3) Believing in the resurrection as being propitious? I thought it was the death of Christ. The resurrection is actually God’s affirmation of the work of Christ — NOT US!!!!
Try this: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
My friend, even Satan and his minions "believe" in Christ. Even they know without a doubt that Christ is real. But they chose to NOT follow or surrender to Him.
I think the verse you quoted must be taken in context with the entire scripture. In that Acts 16 verse, Paul was answering the jailer who asks how he can be saved. It was a quick, general answer, but both Paul and Jesus Himself went on to tell us more details. Merely "Believing" is a works-based action. Saying, "I believe, thus I am saved", is self-centered rather than God centered. Thinking that we only have to "believe" and we can then stop sinning and live a Godly life al on our own strength is where many of those that will miss the Rapture have gone wrong. We must surrender our will to God so that His Holy Spirit can teach us to stop sinning. I do have faith that if one truly "believes" in a sense that he/she believes that ALL that Jesus taught is true and right, then the surrendering part will naturally happen. If you truly love Jesus more than yourself, then how can you not surrender your whole self to Him .... this is why we call the "Church" the Bride of Christ. I am not judging what is in your heart or what is your relationship with the Lord. I just wanted to say all this in case any readers were confused by the only believing part.