Simple Religion question

[ClubMed]

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Like Sundays, church was created for man, not God. It's a place where we make sure we dont' forget who he is.

[anewme]

As for myself I believe hell is real. I have spent sometime studying the bible. The bible is very clear about hell. God separates himself from sin, in doing so if you have ever committed a sin you can not ever be in the presence of God, no matter how good of a person you are. News Flash everyone sins. So the question is raised is everyone going to hell? No, God allowed his only son to die for our sins. One could look at this as a free gift that is out their and paid for just waiting to be picked up. A lot of people put too much weight on this gift. You do not have to change your life style or even start going to church. It works on a belief system. All you have to do is accept the fact that you are a sinner and believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that he can to earth to die for your sins. Express this belief to God and ask for forgiveness for the sins you have committed even if you can not remember all of them, God knows and will forgive you. And as I said before you do not have to make a life style change but most of the time after accepting Christ as your savior your life does change.

[butch81385]

I disagree on some points anewme. For some people a life style change may be necessary. What good is "asking forgiveness" if you intend to repeat the same mistake? No one is perfect and God knows that, but I would assume he would at least like some effort on our part.

But what it all comes down to is the fact that we are all humans and sinners. And guess what: the fact that we are these things and not God means that we don't have control or even the knowledge of who goes to Hell or not.

If you look in the Old Testament you can plainly see that God is not afraid to dish out some fury when it is needed. But, if you take a gander in the New Testament you will also see that God is very compassionate. I mean, there is even a part in the Gospels where the apostles tell Jesus that there is a man disbanding demons in the name of Jesus, even though he was not a direct follower of Jesus. Jesus told them that if that man was not against them then he was for them. That shows me that God is compassionate to those who have faith, even if the faith isn't entirely in the right place.

So, in summary: Live a good life, believe what you think is right, and hope that God's mercy extends over you when it comes time for your judgment.

[rmw@psychobolic]

There is no hell. There is no heaven. There is no god. It is as simple as that. Treat others as you would like to be treated and try to enjoy your life - it is the only one you're going to get.

[shawnwmodel]

We all TRULY know what is wrong and what is right, but for some those right and wrong lines are very blurred.

Men now corrupted religion, it is written by men who wants more power and used as an excused to do what they please (crusades, jihads).

The root of religion is all the same, to love, to care, to treat others with respect and to accept who they are. And many believe in one god, unfortunately this ideal was lost and corrupted by men. How else can you explain the many rifts in one religion?

For example Protestants, Catholics and Christianity, its the same thing people, but differences between MEN has ripped our beliefs and humanity apart. Look at the Muslims fighting among themselves in Iraq because one's Sunni and one's Shite. We cant even find peace among our own religions, how are we ever going to find peace in others?

Take the time to learn about other religions and realize this, the teaching are very similar and the similarities are the words of god, the teachings that are different and destructive are the words of men and unfortunately it is already widespread and are in all religious texts.

No religion is truly wrong, they all answer to one creator.

All have now been warned.

[Sylee]

In the original post it was asked about how it was possible that such a significant portion of the world population that is not christian is essentially going to go to hell, regardless of how good they were as a person because they were not 'saved' according to the some people's definition. This, including children and babies that aren't capable of understanding and accepting such religious dogmas.

However, rather than taking an issue with God, you should take that up as an issue against the person preaching such beliefs. Not all religions have such a fixed and restricted criteria on salvation that is predicated on beliefs alone - for example, in Islamic traditions it is taught that 'action is judged according to intention', therefore our salvation is dependent upon our sincerity and whether we sincerely followed what we believed to be the truth - so even if we got a few things wrong, God will be forgiving and overlook our mistakes as we didn't intend harm.