Running "ask a zealot" thread

Don't know what to tell you here. My religious beliefs fall in line most often with Republicans, but I'm a Democrat. I did vote for Gore/Lieberman and would still vote for Obama if he were a Muslim. God can use all people, even if they aren't a Christian.

 

Note to self: DO NOT get into any kind of argument with a certain someone in Seattle.

 

But if religions were following God's wishes, they wouldn't demean or downgrade women within the religion.

 

We'll talk about tattoos and beer and baseball. Anything else is off-limits.

 

It's not about how you are born but about how you die. If I were anything but a believing Christian, then yes, I believe I would go to Hell, because I would have no way to atone for my sins.
By the way, I don't believe God wants anyone to go to Hell. We are NOT "sinners in the hands of an angry God," but he cannot allow sin into Heaven and we have to be cleaned somehow. That's why he took it upon himself to go through perhaps the worst death ever devised by mankind to get the job done.
We just have to take the small step of accepting that sacrifice.

 

Which is why I don't subscribe to most organized religion. I'm a lapsed Catholic. Actually, my wife's church (a very liberal Methodist sect) is more to my liking. Hell, we were married by a woman. Ask Joe. He was there.

 

Agreed, but as Doc pointed out, religion is run by imperfect people.

 

And you're OK with that?

If you have any empathy toward your fellow man, I find it hard to believe you can accept that as the truth. If you truly put yourself in someone else's shoes, or truly try to envision your own life in the "un-fortunate" circumstance of being born somewhere where you might not ever be exposed to Christianity ...

 

Sure, but recognize that you're talking about a needle in a haystack of thousands. Why couldn't he have been a talking turtle, or a pagan altar, or a sword of justice?

I understand that faith is ultimately the thing, and that you have that (and in a weird way, I respect those who do). But if God wanted us to know Him, He might have shown up as some kick-ass omoeba 4 million years ago, or as an amazing hologram 1,000 years from now. It just seems awfully convenient that we showed up at the right time.

 

That's why Jesus said to go forth making disciples in all nations. We should try to spread the word as much as possible.
What happens if a person dies having never heard of Christ? I don't know. I'd like to think they are somehow given a chance to accept him.
But whatever the truth is, it is not effected by what I believe. It doesn't change just because you or I find certain aspects of it uncomfortable.
Again, though, I believe I'm just as deserving of Hell as most non-Christians and more deserving of it than plenty of them.

 

What is the right time? He made himself known to Adam and Eve in the beginning and His message has carried through from then to today.
If He wanted to make sure all of history had a chance to hear it and yet leave room for faith, I'd say He's done a pretty good job.

 

Not a religious, but a scientific, take on that, AB. In Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything," he makes a pretty good argument that the human race exists as it does precisely because we happen to be in the exact right place at the exact right time. Any deviation one way or the other and we're all swimming around in the organic soup.