Running "ask a zealot" thread

Let me add a logical part here.
IF God exists, and IF He wanted a way for us to know him, then it wouldn't be beyond our scope of understanding.

 

Well, that's my question, I guess. I respect the fact that you feel 99/100 percent certain of your own salvation.

But how do you reconcile that belief with the contradictory fact that most of the rest of the world will be doomed -- through no fault of their own -- if your belief turns out to be true? And how do you reconcile your belief with the fact that if you yourself were born in another time, in another place, that you'd be 99/100 percent likely to join them in hell -- again, through no fault of your own -- if that belief is true?

 

It's not "no fault of their own." It's all of our sins. I'm not happy that anyone goes to Hell, and I don't believe God is either. But I think He made it just about as easy as He could for people to be saved. The problem lies with us, not Him.

 

But that's the thing. I didn't have a choice whether I was born in Maryland or Myanmar. But if I were born in Myanmar, there is an 89 percent chance I would have been born to Buddhist parents and raised in a Buddhist community. Buddhism is a wonderful and peaceful religion, so my life would have been just fine (except during cyclone season), and I likely wouldn't have questioned my beliefs and my background any more than I do now. I would have lived and died like a normal Burmese citizen ... except because I was born in Myanmar, and was rarely exposed to Christianity, I'd be going to hell instead.

And to you ... because God made it "easy" for me to be saved, it's "my problem" that I'm going to hell. Regardless of my circumstances. Regardless of the fact that my culture has its own beliefs, and we live good lives perfectly in accordance to God's wishes ... doing no harm and loving ourselves and our neighbors ... except for the fact that we didn't accept Jesus Christ as our savior.

So, now all those people are going to hell? Sucks for them, right? I think it's an awfully simplistic view for something as important as a soul's eternal fate.

When your fate could -- no, would -- have been totally different if you had been born in a thousand other places than where you actually were.

That might not bother you too much, but it doesn't sit well with me. Not at all.

 

Yeah, that's what this country needs. More "theologians."

The First and Second Great Awakenings were long-term social failures, and so this one will be, too.

 

I resent that comment quite a bit. Based on this thread, I believe in an afterlife, while I'm not sure if you do. How can it bother you more that people are going to a Hell that you at least aren't sure about than it does me, who is convinced it is real and is trying to do what he can to tell people about it?
It bothers me a great deal, but I also can't spend all my time focusing on that or I'd go nuts. All I can do is my part.

 

Does it make me a hypocrite if I listen to my church's primary tenants, but disagree with its stance on controversial topics?

 

I inherited my mother's religion and eyes. I'm OK with both.

 

I'm a deist. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

No. I often disagree with my church.
Again, the church is fallable, as are we all.
You have to decide what you believe, not what your church does.

 

What do you consider the line between "church" and "cult"? Are there any churches that are? Or do we just think that because their beliefs and practices are unfamiliar to us?

 

To me, the difference lies in what they ask people to do, not believe.
If they ask you to give up your family or freedom, it tends toward a cult. If they won't tell you the secrets until you get more "advanced" in the organization, that's a big red flag.