I think that a lot of people that are Christians need a lot of answers, so Iâm here to help out with them all the answers you have, and I will help to the best of my ability. I hope I can help. : ) -pc123
Which is what your talking about in and is forgiven by jesus
My next question: are the applications of the implication of Jesus' resurrection retroactive?
I'd also like to point this out- the changes in the sets of laws and the conditions for one's salvation suggests that not only is the way of righteousness changing, but that way of thought about salvation also changes.
How about that!
When you go to hell, you're soul is tortured and labored for eternity,(right?)
Well, I've always been curious about this. Could you point me to specific references to the nature of hell within the Bible itself? I encounter a fair bit of debate on this topic, some going so far to say that there is no Biblical evidence that hell is 'a real place'.
My actual reply though is this: what is love? Is it possible to suffer and be loved? I'd just say that is the result of an unrequited love :P
The 'God is benevolent and therefore beneficient' argument seems to be popularly used against Christianity- one reason for atheism is that God can't exist if he's benevolent and beneficient and so much suffering goes on in the world. Even those who have been given no chance to express or form any relationship with God are taken from this world in a multitude of horrific ways. But perhaps by definition, God loves them all the same.
This leads to my next question, and it's a tough one: what happens if you were arguably not given the chance to believe in God? Does that mean eternal damnation? Are you given another shot at life? Purgatory? At what point could one say that they were being given such a chance such that one would end up going to either heaven or hell?
Strop I think I can answer your last few questions from a Christian stand point.
Not given the chance to believe in God? - I have heard a number of Christians say yes, they will perish in hell. Apparently some Christians think all the dudes from the Old Testament are in Hell because they weren't Christian.
Then on your notions of Hell - This has always made me curious, too. I have studied a lot about Jesus and his possible REAL message. What he was striving to make everyone understand is that the Kingdom of Heaven is within you. So, let's go from there. If the kingdom of heaven is within you, then why wouldn't the pits of hell? Maybe it is personal struggle. Maybe Jesus was saying that there is no afterlife...
What he was striving to make everyone understand is that the Kingdom of Heaven is within you. So, let's go from there. If the kingdom of heaven is within you, then why wouldn't the pits of hell? Maybe it is personal struggle. Maybe Jesus was saying that there is no afterlife...
I will not tell you my (figurative) reaction to this here- Dan would probably ban me from the forums.
Let's just say I was hoping for a little more squirming from the others, but I find this gives rise to what I consider to be the strongest, most consistent interpretations of Christian doctrine.
To which part was that addressed to? If it's the first, I can't tell you :P
If it was about the squirming- I've frequently asked this question of going to hell etc. to different people and been given many different answers, none of which were actually internally consistent. I was kinda hoping to see some of those here so I could point out such. Furthermore I am concerned that too much of the practice of the faith and religion centers on the afterlife as a byproduct of being so scared of death. It runs the risk of becoming about as irrelevant as a suicide cult.
Thus I feel that in order to really take the lessons on how one might 'build their relationship with God in the Earthly realm', that one interprets this eternal life as merely a tool by which to believe that everything actually matters here and one ought to practice a mindfulness at all times.
If one considers heaven and hell to be a personal struggle, perhaps they might be given to understanding that the relationship between oneself and God requires a certain awareness of self, and that the ramifications are still relevant here. The 'eternal' can be thought of simply as the fact that everybody affects something in some way, leaving an 'eternal footprint' on reality (by which I do not mean history, as in being famous).
Also from this, one could define hell on a set of criteria that could be more strongly linked to an adaptive morality which, to me, would be more satisfactory. That baby who was never given the chance to declare their belief in God never faced any hell for they did not experience such a conflict or, really, hatred. To me, the clearest analogy of hell would be hatred and the distress that it brings.
I think we are somewhat on the same page on the issue of heaven and hell. Humans are hell-bent (no pun intended) on the physicality of things. That we will GO somewhere when we die. Of course, our body becomes part of the universe in a different way than before, so I suppose we are all technically still around.
I agree that afterlife notions are directly related to a fear of death. It is the end of your conscious being as you know it, and that is not a good thing for most. So, Heaven seems more appealing, I suppose. I take comfort in doing things on earth, though.
I meet too many people now who act like they have to believe that they are going somewhere when they die. But I don't think that place is necessarily Heaven or Hell.
And, to address the concern of afterlife notions, yes. They are related to fears of death and what happens at that point. I say that it's the end, that everyone has to deal with it, throughout your life you will know people that die. And then it will happen to everyone one day. But, we have our lives for a reason. There's something we have to do here.
But, we have our lives for a reason. There's something we have to do here.
At this point I'd like to bring up my usual "there's no reason for living" stance. Because it appears deceptively shallow.
As I was brought up, I first thought of the question "what is the meaning of life"? I figured that was a poorly phrased question, so I decided to define it a little more rigorously: "Why do I exist?" "Does life have a purpose?"
Arguments in the affirmative quickly rose and fell for me. None of these arguments seemed sufficient; I couldn't separate them from some subjective arbitrator that was myself, therefore I couldn't externalise any of these arguments. That's when I turned around and faced that subjectivity.
What is the risk of letting go of the idea that life has some kind of purpose? Some don't let go for they believe without this reason, they will achieve nothing with that life- a self-fulfilling prophecy, so it seems. I started instead to look at our natures and see if it was more sensible to approach the matter from the understanding that humans themselves are limited.
It worked! I feel now that I may have motives that are driven by any number of factors that don't constitute a 'reason to live', but nonetheless I have motives as that is the way things are. To say that things 'simply are' is not necessarily to give up, but it is actually possible to construct a system of thought that is consistent and versatile on this understanding. But it's like one has to pass through trials first, and go through that whole process of questioning, because it is this process that gives you the experience, so once you come around to that position, your perspective has been permanently changed from one of insistence to one of acceptance.
Why are lots of people who belive in God racist. The bible says people are created equally yet there are lots of racist peple who belive in God. Will they go to hell or does they belief balance out the racism?
@woody_7007 Anyone can be racist and anyone can be saved. Simple as that. Belief&servanthood to God and christ gets you saved regardless of what sin you have commited. Murder, homosexuality, racism, or cheating on that last test...it don't matter.
Strop, i will have to adress your questions to me later, as i have very very little time except to answer an easy question ^^there
Woody, I think I understand what you mean. Those are the same problems I have with the 3 "western" religions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism). They all think the others are bad and persecute them. Where as a number of black people are Islam, those crazy radical Christians dislike Islam. I think it is all just whose _ _ _ _ is bigger whose.
Well, the fundamental cognition of differentiation and separation underlies both. That is to say that the motive to believe exclusively in a faith: "To prove my faith right I must be able to prove yours wrong," is the same one as to believe in the superiority of one's own race: "Our races are not equal, and mine is superior."
Just how susceptible to this one is might have a lot to do with the likelihood of such thinking permeating all their rationales.
