Fellow Christians, I have questions

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Have you tried to find out if her beliefs are true or at least based on anything you can verrify?

I'm an atheist, but I do have what I consider to be a pretty decent amount of knowledge on the subject.

From what I've heard, you just have to accept the Lord into your heart and accept him as your "savior". That is being saved. Calling on the Lord and telling Him that you need Him. It depends on your denomination of Christianity, however. Baptists (hence their name) heavily emphasize baptism, for instance.



If you "call on the Lord" and accept him into your heart, you're saved. According to Christianity, God doesn't choose favorites.



Christians = Yes, everything about us is due to His decisions.
Me = No. Just no.



The Christian faith says so.



It doesn't hurt to do so.



God put humans on Earth to spread His Word. If you don't do so, you're not doing what God intended, so you're not a "good person". Simple as that. You're not fulfilling your purpose. I don't mean to sound harsh, but that's what some Christians have told me.


Now, as far as my beliefs... my signature.

Thats why Im here.

Or tried to have thoughts for yourself?
If you feel a connection and want to believe in it, that's fine, but only believing in something because someone else did is... meh.

Well, it's good that you ask questions here. But nothing can substitute looking for yourself.

I think there are alot of answers we'll never find.

John 3:16 (New International Version): For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

This means that the only thing you need to do is believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins, and to turn away from sins and attempt to be more like him. As long as you do that, you are fine.



No where does it say prayers are instantly done. Her life will get better soon, I am almost sure.



This question is making a big assumption, but raises a bigger question - what makes a person good? In God's eyes, no one is good. Each sin, be it lying, adultery or even murder is equal in his eyes. No one is a good person. God will punish all who do not follow his word, and the only reprieve to his punishment is to take his bail; that bail is obviously Jesus. Think of Jesus like how I put it: a bail. God is the judge. If you are caught speeding, you must pay a fine. If you do not pay that fine, you are to go to jail. Jesus, in this case, is the money by which can make you free. Do you understand, Guitar_Girl?

Since you signed off of FB...
Are you a Christian?

Sorry. My computer crashed.

But uh, I don't know really know anymore. I am fascinated by religious debate though, between Christianity vs. Atheism.

I suppose that uncertainty is the price you pay for knowledge.

A bail is not the best analogy. In real life you still need to return to court after you have payed the bail. However, Jesus paid it once and for all, so pretty much its as if you did not commit the crime at all.

The basic premise is conveyed, however.

Do not get analytical.

Thanks for explaining it both of you. Metaphors are good for me to understand something,

Hi. Personally, I believe that you must ask Jesus to forgive you for your sins (all humans have sinned) with a sincere heart and ask him to come into your life and be your Lord and Savior. I don't think that someone who is saved will go to hell for not being baptized, but I would suggest talking to your pastor about this. However, you definitely need to believe in Jesus and trust in Him for your salvation. Be sure to read The Bible and attend church on a regular basis to stay strong in the faith. I hope this information helps.

There is no hellfire. Let me see if I can reason my comment this way. What loving father would punish his child by holding his child's hand in a fire? How much more must the very idea of hellfire be repugnant to our loving heavenly father! In fact in Jeremiah 7:31, inspired though Jeremiah, Jehovah writes, "they have built the high places of To′pheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hin′nom, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, a thing that I had not commanded and that had not come up into my heart." So you see in ancient times many worshiped Baal. One of the requirements of Baal worship was to burn their sons and their daughters alive in fire; yes, alive! Not only did Jehovah not command this but the very idea had never even come up into his heart. You might ask does God actually love? Of course he does! In 1 John 4:8 and 4:16 both say in plain words "God is love." Then you might ask what sort of loving God would permit hellfire? None! Hellfire, or some sort of hell where people go to be tormented forever, is a false doctrine taught in virtually every religion around the world. They should be teaching the truth. The truth is death is a sleep like condition (Compare Genesis 2:7 with Ezekiel 18:4, and Ecclesiastes 9:5). That this happens shows that God even has mercy for wicked people. (Matthew 5:45) He doesn't want anyone to suffer in some sort of eternal hellfire. A loving God wouldn't do this. In fact in Romans 6:23 it reads, "for the wages sin pays is death." Our death are the wages that pays the debt of sin we inherited from Adam (Romans 5:12). Now that you know the truth about death you can take steps to free yourself from other false doctrines. (John 17:3, John 8:32)

Hell is a place of eternal separation from God. As such it very much IS a real place. And the state of the soul apart from the care and nurture of God is such that an existence beyond His presence is, by nature, a place of torment. A clear picture of what hell is like is painted throughout the New Testament. To suggest that there is no such place is to deny the Bible, and that is heresy.

Your argument of "What loving father would punish his child by holding his child's hand in a fire?" is a blatant appeal to the tenderheartedness of the reader and is intended to be deceptive. Such an appeal to emotion is unnecessary in an honest exposition of Biblical principles.

Hell is actually in part an act of mercy in addition to its role in eternal punishment. God grants to us the gift of human will to make the decision whether to accept Him or not. As I've said in perhaps a dozen posts by now, a good, just, and merciful God would not be a good, just, and merciful God if He condemned someone who either didn't believe in Him or outright HATED Him to an eternity in His presence. Heaven would actually be a worse punishment than separation from all that is holy. Eternity in hell is preferable than outright annihilation.

Your question "What loving father would punish his child...?" makes sense if, and only if the child in question is His child. You're trying to apply that concept to ALL people whether they are God's children or not. It also, though somewhat less, implies that the Father does not punish His children. On the contrary, the Bible informs us that our Father DOES punish those who belong to Him in order to establish the discipline of those who belong to Him. The Israelites wandering in the desert because of their lapse of faith, Moses forbidden to enter Canaan, the dissolution of the kingdom of Israel, the banishment of the Jews during the Babylonian captivity, the many trials of Job, Jonah in the whale, and all the times that the first Christians came under attack from others for no apparent wrongdoing--all these things work towards the discipline of those who belong to God. Sin need not directly precede trials that God allows in order to build up those who belong to Him. But consider a Christian teenager in a contemporary context, perhaps a promiscuous young woman who ends up pregnant. Would it not be more merciful for God to simply make the baby go away? Or does God prefer to allow us to face the consequences of our actions? While I'm certainly not an absentee in my own family and my responsibilities as a father, I absolutely REFUSE to deny my children the gift of teachable moments that inevitably arise when they do those things they know they ought not do.

Discipline is always preferred to a lack of self-control; likewise God's vengeance on those who persecute His children is always preferred to a free ride for the faithless. God is a God of justice, and we eagerly await the day of God's justice. God will not eternally punish those who belong to Him, but those who do not come to God through faith in Jesus Christ have condemned themselves and thus God is not responsible for those things which they bring upon themselves.

Further, death is NOT a state of sleep. The Bible informs us that if we believe in Christ, we will be with Him in spirit when we die until the resurrection.

2 Corinthians 5:1-8--For we know that if our earthly house, a tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And, in fact, we groan in this one, longing to put on our house from heaven, since, when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. Indeed, we who are in this tent groan, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life. And the One who prepared us for this very thing is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment. Therefore, though we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord--for we walk by faith, not by sight--yet we are confident and satisfied to be out of the body and at home with the Lord.

Clearly the Bible teaches there is an intermediate state in death. We do not sleep. Here's some more:

Luke 20:37-38--Moses even indicated in the passage about the burning bush that the dead are raised, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not God of the dead but of the living, because all are living to Him.

This indicates that spiritual life continues after bodily death by saying that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still alive.

Luke 23:43--And He said to him, "I assure you: Today you will be with Me in paradise."

Enough said.

Phillipians 1:23-24--I am pressured by both. I have the desire to depart and be with Christ--which is far better--but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.

Paul couldn't have been inspired to write that he'd rather be in heaven with Christ if the soul merely sleeps.

The theology of so many things you've brought up here is questionable. It would do you some good to take some time to give the Bible a more objective reading and study. I'll be glad to answer any questions you may in order to help you reach unbiased conclusions consistent with Biblical teaching.

Would you please stop replying to my posts? First, my comment wasn't address to you. It was addressed to the original poster.

Second, please do not call me a heretic. I have never once given anyone on this site such a vile label. We may disagree on points but I would never say "you're wrong and your beliefs make you a heretic." To label me a heretic is the same as calling me an apostate. Do you have any idea what apostates are or even calling someone an apostate even means? I doubt you do.



Respectfully, you simply have no idea what you're talking about. You would do well to research the history of Christendom to find out the origins of many doctrines you find most sacred, including hellfire. But I somehow doubt you will because you're blinded by the god of this system of things. Actually your line of reasoning seems to indicate that you not only don't know what you're talking about but you also don't even care to know if what you write IS the truth. The Bible warns there would be many people like you, and that the truth of God's word wouldn't be able to penetrate your heart. It also warns people like you have a heavy price to pay for misleading people with your words.

I wash my hands of this discussion because to continue with people like you is foolish insanity.