DarthKoopa Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 So I have really been thinking about it. What is it that "saves" Christians? Why did it make so much sense to me before. If salvation is through grace and not works then what choice does anyone have? God would be choosing the who gets the grace. It seems like the requirement to get saved is to first think Christianity is true and then accept it. (The sinners prayer is not biblical at all!) But couldn't it be said that even thoughts are a work? If I can no longer logically accept a belief in God then am I condemned by the very mind he gave me? The mind that works the way he supposedly ordered it to work. I guess there is really only one sin that sends you to an eternal hell, and it is a thought crime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 According to the Bible there are over 200 ways to be saved. http://dwindlinginunbelief.blogspot.com/2006/08/28-ways-to-get-yourself-saved.html "It's almost as if The Bible was written by racist, sexist, homophobic, violent, sexually frustrated men, instead of a loving God. Weird." - Ricky Gervais May 26, 2013 It seems like the requirement to get saved is to first think Christianity is true and then accept it. In order to get a scam to work you must get the victim to believe it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExCBooster Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 *shrug* I guess Christians are "saved" by anything their particular flavour of Christianity believes they will be saved by. "Sin" is a problem specific to Christianity, so I guess you can make up any old fake cure for any old fake problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megasamurai Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Don't forget that you have to love Jesus more than anyone else. Emotion crime is also damnable. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackCat Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 So I have really been thinking about it. What is it that "saves" Christians? Why did it make so much sense to me before. If salvation is through grace and not works then what choice does anyone have? God would be choosing the who gets the grace. It seems like the requirement to get saved is to first think Christianity is true and then accept it. (The sinners prayer is not biblical at all!) But couldn't it be said that even thoughts are a work? If I can no longer logically accept a belief in God then am I condemned by the very mind he gave me? The mind that works the way he supposedly ordered it to work. I guess there is really only one sin that sends you to an eternal hell, and it is a thought crime. Good points. I have often thought this myself. A Christian called Martin Zender couldn't agree more with the points you make. Check out his short video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1zXb8XNsLw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Prayer is nothing more than thinking to god (oneself) so only thinking can save you from a thought crime. My head hurts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhim Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Most Christians will tell you that thinking/faith is not a work. However you're right that it seems to be thought that saves you, in the Christian context. That's why Christianity is so insidious. By replacing concrete requirements with ethereal ones, people are often driven to seeming insanity trying to figure out how to simply avoid going to eternal hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megasamurai Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 I was taught that you were to do everything the Bible tells you to avoid hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhim Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 I was taught that you were to do everything the Bible tells you to avoid hell. An evangelical would be quick to jump on that and say that you're saved by grace through faith, apart from works of the law. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megasamurai Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 So you're required to obey the rules to avoid hell, but it doesn't save you? What? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geezer Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 So you're required to obey the rules to avoid hell, but it doesn't save you? What? Yep. Another way of pointing out the absurdity of this thinking goes like this: Doing good works will not get a person one inch closer to heaven, but not doing good works will keep that person from getting into heaven. Huh? "What must I do to be saved?", is the most important question facing an unsaved person (according to Christian beliefs), but those same Christians cannot answer that question in a way that would be accepted by the entire Christian community. All the various factions would likely respond with a different answer, while insisting the Biblle is inerrant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RipVanWinkle Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 The bible says, according to Paul, that Adam and Eve sinned and their sin is passed on to everyone born after them. So god made it impossible to be saved by following god's law. God gave the law to the Hebrews after Adam and Eve had sinned. Why? People were already condemned, even before they were born. Also, on this basis it is clear that when babies die they are condemned to hell. What a bunch of shit. bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boftx Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 This all becomes much, much simpler once one asks, and answers, this question: What can I, a mere speck on a speck in the Universe, do that could so piss off an omni-everything "God" that is deserving of eternal damnation? Once one can reject the premise that damnation is just and deserved (or that it even exists at all) it is easy to see that much of religion is based on a desire for justice. If justice can not be had in life then there must be some form of afterlife. And once one can see this argument then it becomes simple to recognize and accept that "God" has been created in Man's image, and not vice versa. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megasamurai Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 I've been told it's because God is hurt that someone loves someone else more than him. It's hard to feel like he has much right to whine when billions of people worship him. Torturing them will not stop that person from loving someone or something more than him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeCycle Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 The method(s) of salvation and the conflicts it caused are was started by adventure along Heathen road which resulted in my unbelief.... Here's the problem. Belief is involuntary. I can no more make you believe in He Man as a real person than you or anyone can make me believe in Jesus. Just as you can't flip a switch and start believing in He Man due to all your life's experiences and circumstances - many are the same with Christ. You can tell them all about it but if their life's experiences, lessons and circumstances lead them to think it's all a myth, what fault is it of theirs? Circumstances they/we are largely unable to control and the same goes for what we experience and learn... So essentially, one's ability to believe is controlled by forces largely outside our control which boils down to luck. Or God's divine selection process... Both systems are faulty and certainly unjust yet implemented by a "just" god.... The massive piles of contradicting bullshit this creates could stink up the entire planet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megasamurai Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Unbelief is supposedly voluntary to Christians and unbelief is equated to hating God and wanting to be separated from him. By that logic, if you don't believe in Spider-Man, you hate Spider-Man and choose to be separated from him after you die. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeCycle Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Unbelief is supposedly voluntary to Christians and unbelief is equated to hating God and wanting to be separated from him. By that logic, if you don't believe in Spider-Man, you hate Spider-Man and choose to be separated from him after you die. Right. It's their irrational way of explaining it away, irrationally. Makes perfect sense! Welcome to Christianity, brother! Praise Jeeeeebus! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RipVanWinkle Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 boftx: I'm not sure people want justice so much as mercy. bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boftx Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 boftx: I'm not sure people want justice so much as mercy. bill Actually, people want revenge, pure and simple. We just call it "justice" because that is a nicer way to say "fuck you". 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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