Let's say, at face value, the selected quotes by LM are a thorough representation of the soteriology of GES and these men. And for argument's sake I need look no further than these selected quotes and LM's intimations.
My response would be this:
Many believers can and will, particularly those coming to faith at an early age, testify to the fact that there are many details of the work of Christ executing the plan of God for man's salvation that they did not know and cannot say they believed at that moment. They can state clearly that they knew they were a sinner, deserved hell and believed Christ died for their sins. The minimalist, "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved".
However, (and again I invoke the first paragraph, everything being as LM presents it) anyone approaching the gospel as described by LM in his description of GES and these men, is making a mistake and that is the mistake of isolating the most minimal experience of one or some and placing all humans at that point in their lives regarding the gospel.
All me to illustrate what I mean.
Picture a pool of water and a man lying right next to the pool, then a woman 25 ft away from the pool, then a boy sitting in a swing 100 yards away and then a man in his car two blocks from the pool city in his driveway.
How does each one get in the pool? Why jump of course. However, each person has unique obstacles before they can jump. While some are right by the pool, the obstacles are minimal and while some are not. And while each person may traverse their unique obstacles, until they jump...i.e. believe...they will not get in the pool. But attempting to place all subjects by the pool and disregard their real position and the real obstacles to genuinely placing them where they can jump is foolish and naive.
So the woman 25 yards away must travel 25 yards. What does that represent? Take your choice but obviously she must deal with more than the man lying next to the pool.
Take the child who grew up in a home with the gospel. I did. The gospel was clear, I knew I needed to be saved. I grew up understanding I needed to be saved. I knew Jesus was my Savior, I was as positioned as one can get, by the pool.
But go to someone without that frame of reference, they are further from the pool, i.e. the truth of the gospel. They need a frame of reference in order to respond to something. No one in their right mind honestly responds to something to which they don't properly understand or for which they have little or no frame of reference. Does it mean each and every doctrine related to salvation has to be covered? No, it means you as the Ambassador of Christ must use discernment to determine what obstacles are present that must be covered that they may be brought to the edge of the pool. Maybe it is the deity of Christ or maybe another issue or several, but as an effective witness you must make that area clear that they may continue on to the edge of the pool.
And in this way, those that ignore where each person uniquely stands regarding their capacity and frame of reference to understand the gospel will rob from that person the true path to the "pool". Instead they will simply tell the man or woman 100 ft or a mile away, jump and your are in the pool and it simply is not true.
While it is TRUE for some and it is true for ALL once they get beside the pool, when we witness to someone we must DISCERN where they are, the obstacles and the distance they are from understanding the gospel that they may indeed be brought next to the pool and it is there we can implore them: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and Thou Shalt Be Saved"!
