Christian religious question

[DABANSHEE]

What about people who have had no contact with the christian religion are you saying all the American Indians who died before 1492 went straight to hell.

Or are you all going to say that the 'protective umbrella' that protects young children from going to hell (till they are old enough to comprehend god) also protects adults who have not come into contact with the Xian religion, from hell to.

In which case, whats the point of christians going out & spreading the word? If they just kept it a little secret to themselves & not sent missionaries everywhere, then no one would have gone to hell, anyway.

 

[Whitedog]

Living and pretending God doesn't exist just doesn't fly D.. hehehe

I've actually been told by very wise preachers that perhaps those totally cut off from the gospel are in league with those children and brain dead people too... After all, your point stands, that some poeple just never hear the gospel their whole life and couldn't be held accountable for their actions.

I think God's view is if you Hear the word and reject it, you won't be rewarded with eternal life.

I think most people have their focus turned the wrong way anyway. Most people focus on what is said will happen to them if they "choose" to "reject" God, rather than to focus on what they will "receive" if they "choose" to accept Christ and his ways, which is eternal peace and life.

I think people are drawn to what they focus on. Someone who is determined to focus on the "burning in hell" will always have the attitude of "rejection" of the word of God..

Someone who focuses on Eternal life, peace, Heaven... they are drawn by it, and eventually are drawn by God's spirit (which is how you are saved)... Trust me, it's all in your "Focus". People don't necessarily seek to get saved... it's just they have a focus on what it would be like, Eternal life in a PEACE world. Eventually things become clearer and clearer and eventually you're face to face with God's spirit. Wow! IT's awesome I tell ya. It's really something to experience I say!

I'm telling everyone there that hasn't been saved... you have Nothing to be afraid of, unless you choose not to. You're really transformed into a new person. Feels GREAT to be alive!

 

[UG]

So, what about all the millions of people who lived before Jesus's successors decided that judaism wasn't enough to their personal liking and re-invented it as christianity? Are those who were never christian to be spared because they never knew the christian's holy spirit? What makes the post-jesus misfit christians more all-seeing than any other persons, and the final arbiters of morality and universal truth?

 

[Merkat]

>So, what about all the millions of people who lived before Jesus's successors decided that judaism wasn't enough to their personal liking and re-invented it as christianity? Are those who were never christian to be spared because they never knew the christian's holy spirit? What makes the post-jesus misfit christians more all-seeing than any other persons, and the final arbiters of morality and universal truth?<

Judaism degenerated into a primitive display of territorialism(modern day Israel). Heebs were genocidal maniacs... unless of course there is another explanation for all of their &quot;thou shalt kill everyone who gets in the Hebrews way&quot; religion.
Christians represent the tested &amp; refined &quot;Jew&quot;. Not everything is as it seems. Christians know the &quot;truth&quot; about this world. Christians are the finished product of what God began with the Hebrew. There are many Hebrews who know &quot;The Way&quot; &amp; instinctively go to the &quot;Light&quot;.
The only &quot;misfits&quot; that there are in this age are those who &quot;love this world&quot;.

 

[apoppin]

I wasn't going to say anything (I read the thread days ago when it first posted). However, lots of criticism is currently being posted about those who are &quot;going to hell&quot; for living and dying before coming into contact with Christianity.

What you are overlooking is the Bible speaks of a &quot;resurrection both of the just and unjust.&quot; (Acts 24:15; Revelation 20:12,13). Here the dead get to be judged by their deeds after their resurection and education (new &quot;scrolls opened&quot.

Sorry guys, greater minds have come up with far better criticism - all the bases are covered by the Bible.

 

[DRGrim]

Christianity, and all other religions, were created thousands of years ago to explain things which people did not understand, such as volcanoes, earthquakes, and the creation of the Universe. Now that we have a fuller understanding of such things, its time to forget all the outdated 'theories', and get on with your lives!

 

[apoppin]

Well, let see, we still don't know about the creation of the universe . . . So many many theories to choose from.

Did you say creation?

 

[UG]

Hmmm, degenerative territorialism.

Do you mean, like the insistence that public schools and all their defensless students, regardless of their personal religion, should be forced to conform to christian beliefs as though public schools are exclusively christian territory?

Genocidal maniacs. Hmmm, you mean like the armies of the crusades? Like the men of God who burned 'blaspheming heretics' like Giordanni Bruno?

<...Christians know the &quot;truth&quot; about this world. Christians are the finished product of what God began with the Hebrew...>

Dream on.

 

[UG]

<...all the bases are covered by the Bible...>

With sufficient clarity of ambiguity as to say everything about nothing.

 

[apoppin]

&quot;clarity of ambiguity&quot; ?

As you wish to believe, UG.

 

[UG]

From Relativity: 'Absolute knowledge' has meaning only on a local scale where shared experience leads to agreement as to what it is.

From Quantum Mechanics: The closer you look, the less certain you can be that you are seeing anything at all.

From christianity: <...Christians know the &quot;truth&quot; about this world. Christians are the finished product of what God began with the Hebrew...>. <...all the bases are covered by the Bible...>

There doesn't seem to be much shared experience in evidence. Indeed, it would seem that the Universe cannot provide the conditions necessary for christianity's certainty it knows the irrefutable truth and all the means of arguing it has sole, proprietary possession of it.

 

[DanC]

I can help you out.

The first thing out of the mouth of a dying man is &quot;GOD!&quot;

I rest my case.

 

[Paul]

God is a mercifull god.

 

[Athanasius]

UG:

Thoughtful Christianity doesn't presume to know with absolute certainty all of life's mysteries. Even Paul, who wrote a large chunk of the New Testament, said, &quot;We see through a glass darkly.&quot; However, Genuine Christianity does claim that certain mysteries have been &quot;revealed.&quot; Without that revelation, those mysteries are beyond the scope of human reason. They are not purely rational, but they are certainly not irrational.

For example, Christ reveals the mystery of God in human form, in a way we can understand (see Colossians 2:2-10).

I understand a reaction against authoritarian religion that abandons informed idealism and squelches dissent in a blind attempt to maintain control. This is the medieval religion that silenced Galileo. But is that mindset a genuine representation of Christianity?

Ptolemy, in his Amalgest, in the third century A.D., informed the world of his day that, compared to the size of the universe, the earth was so insignificant that it could only be measured as a mathematical point. Yet this did not offend Christianity. In fact, Christianity prospered in learning centers during the third and fourth centuries. Consider Alexandria, Egypt. Genuine Christianity recognizes that God is immense, that His paths &quot;are beyond tracing out.&quot; (Romans 11:33-36) If such a God is the infinite and immense Ground, then an immense and often untraceable universe is the logical Consequent.

Furthermore, genuine Christianity has always taught that the physical universe is much like the universe that qunatum physics is now perceiving.

You use the following scientific terminology:

<< From Relativity: 'Absolute knowledge' has meaning only on a local scale where shared experience leads to agreement as to what it is. >>

But Scripture, in a more poetic and philosophical form, says much the same thing:

<< He who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. >>





<< From Quantum Mechanics: The closer you look, the less certain you can be that you are seeing anything at all. >>



But Scripture says, &quot;For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.&quot; (2 Cor 4:18b) Just before that verse, Paul contrasts the &quot;light and momentary&quot; nature of this physical world and all its trials with the &quot;weighty ang glorious&quot; world of the Unseen.

Genuine truth flourishes when:

1) the saint is free to say his prayers and experience the blessings of the Unseen (and seek to communicate them to others).

2) the scientist is free to conduct his experiments and use his increasing knowledge of the natural realm for the physical benefit of mankind.