Religion Questions??

[will22clark]

personally , i dont think theres a heaven or hell after you die (but im not positive) . When you die,you die. But while you are alive, theres a heaven and a hell

[the_future]

ensbergcollector: If you don't mind me asking, which denomination are you?

[fdgowin]

Not sure about him, but my church is non-denominational.

www.bethaltofcc.com

[walt55054life]

Well since I dont believe in god let me inform you on some things i have seen.

I have seen my mother hit by a car going 35mph. I did not need god

I myself have been in a car (honda civic) going 60 mph and the driver hit an 500 pound elk at 40 becuase she could not stop in time. I did not send my Emergency page to god, But while I ate my pancake breakfast at the small town down the road I did hear how lucky i was.

I watched one of my Grandfathers die in ICU and I knew it was coming. I knew god was not going to help.

One thing I have learned is the death is a part of life. I however will not live in fear of it and I certainly will not worry about it.

You can belive what you want but their are people who can live without any god and still turn out allright. FYI I work with special needs children and I do it becuase its a public service and I help families. So I dont need a book or a god to double check my scale of what good values are.

I think you missed the point of my post--you must believe in some type of higher power

[ensbergcollector]

hey guys - two days of no internet!! glad to be back on

[ensbergcollector]

ensbergcollector: If you don't mind me asking, which denomination are you?

Hey,

I am church of christ. Which unfortunately has a lot of stereotypes attached to it that aren't really true.

[ensbergcollector]

But what are they though in religious terms? I mean, doesn't everyone either go to heaven or hell after they die??

There is a lot of debate on whether going to heaven/hell is instantaneous or not. I won't claim to know the answer to that.

The one ghost in scripture had to be called forth. (Samuel)

There is also an instance in the new testament where two people who had already died (Moses and Elijah) came to earth to comune with Jesus.

If I had to state my belief, I would say that going to heaven or hell is instantaneous and that if a ghost is called forth would be pulled away from whichever place they are.

I know that is by no means a clear cut answer but you get points for asking something I really can't claim firm knowledge on!!

[ensbergcollector]

No offense intended but no that does not help me in any way.
Earlier in the thread one "expert" posts that god says you have to these very specific & concrete things to get into heaven... "accept jesus as your personal savior...ask forgiveness for your sins" and then you go and post the passage that these ideas are based on...and it's ANYTHING but specific & concrete.

Saying that "No one comes to the Father except through me." is NOT the same thing as saying that you have to, "accept jesus as your personal savior & ask forgiveness for your sins."

That's what I was driving at earlier - who is making that leap from what is written in the bible to what we are actually instructed to do? What are thier motivations? Who are they?

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." IS VAGUE

Hey man,

I may upset some other Christians here with this answer but I will answer to the best of my knowledge.

There is nothing in scripture that discusses Jesus being your "personal savior." That is something that has been added by some denominations.

The idea of salvation can be followed like this (definately ask for clarification or if I am not making sense):

1. Jesus says "no one comes to the father except through me." So, we need to know what that looks like.

2. After Jesus leaves earth to return to heaven, his disciples are asked in Acts chapter 2 "what must we do to be saved?" Peter replies in verse 38 "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins."

so, based on those 2 verses (and the context they are in) we are saved by repenting and being baptized in the name of Jesus.

Now, if you read through the rest of the New Testament, baptism is brought up nearly everytime someone wants to be a christian. In my denomination, we ask "do you believe that jesus christ was the son of God?" When they say yes, they are baptized and recognized as a christian. There are denominations that believe baptism is not essential and I will be glad to address my stance on that debate if anyone cares.

[WilyWestbrook0]

I have often wondered about baptism since Jesus said the thief on the cross would be with Him "in paradise," but the thief was going to die himself without a baptism. This inclines me to believe that baptism is symbolic, and/or that if a person doesn't have it in this life, there is a period in between life/heaven where it can be given if a person has missed out on it.

[ensbergcollector]

I have often wondered about baptism since Jesus said the thief on the cross would be with Him "in paradise," but the thief was going to die himself without a baptism. This inclines me to believe that baptism is symbolic, and/or that if a person doesn't have it in this life, there is a period in between life/heaven where it can be given if a person has missed out on it.

the response to the thief on the cross is simply that Jesus was still alive on this earth. While he was here, he brought people back from the dead, healed people, etc. Given that, he had the ability to offer salvation to anyone he chose to.
If you read the book of Acts and following, it is hard to argue against baptism (though I know many do)