Christians, have you ever considered this?

You know what i dont understand is how all these people can be absolutley sure of what happens after we die, and how are they 100% certain that there is even a god who cares. we are mearly humans how could one put themselves on a pedastal and say that they definitely know what happens and all the details to this.

WtF! sorry your not that important.

dont get me started on the Christian view of free will...OMG.

you know what i believe? I DONT KNOW and how could I claim to know?

If you believe that then I'm afraid you have been listening to the wrong Christians. None of us are perfect. That's why Jesus offers us release from separation from Him. We simply have to accept it. I do believe God has a 'plan B'. That may offend a lot of fellow Christians.Let's face it there may be those who never heard of Jesus or those who witnessed such a bad example from those who claim to be Christians such as some poor folks in Iraq who were anything but terrorists or militants whose kids were killed by American bombs by order of a president who claimed to be a Christian.

The Hindus & a number of other religions believe in reincarnation & that we perfect ourselves through many lives until we are ready & perfect enough for Heaven. Well I guess you could say Jesus offers us a free ticket without having to go through all that. Other religions believe you work your way to Heaven through good deeds if your good ones outweigh the bad. Then there are those who believe the observances of religious ritual will perfect the soul & ready one for Heaven. Those types are often the most intolerant of those who don't adhere to their creeds & they can get quite violent. Jesus taught one thing only & that was Love. His dying to cleanse you from the sin that separates you from God was a manifestation of that Love. He loves you so much He cannot bear to be parted from you & see you hurting so He did something about it. He's not asking you to be religious. Just to let Him take control of your life so He can help you to do a bit better & allow Him to guide you a little toward that end by helping you to be a whole lot more loving. And as far as all those good deeds you may have done,as a Christian or not, well He'll look at your motives & judge or reward accordingly.

God knows the thoughts of each person so knows what perception of the truth each person has had, and how they responded. We do know deliberate rejection of Jesus will deny a person salvation, however as to what is the case for someone somewhere who has just experienced partly right ideas, as would be the case for religions that know nothing of Christ, or deny Christ's significance, is for God to judge. However I do believe everyone who will be in heaven will of necessity had their sins been removed through Christ. But it quite easy for a person in even Mecca, say, where non-muslims are not allowed to be, to access Bible teachings via the internet, and any open-minded and even slightly inquisitive one probably would.

Think about this: all those Old Testament people who had faith in God are saved, although they had a less-developed concept of God, and no ability to be born-again.

Its not about how great you are.

No one can be good enough to get to Heaven. That is the whole reason Jesus died on the cross. So we could be forgiven all of our sins through his salvation.

Im glad God is not fair. He is forgiving and merciful.

The Lord is perfect and we all fall short of his glory so therefore He IS better than you and me.

How is he stuck up and what are talking about with the baby out with the bath water?

edit to your edit: I answered your question, if you want to call it that. More like a trick question. You said "But why would you want to spend eternity with a stuck up jerk....sentenced an otherwise great person to eternal damnation?"

It has nothing to do with being a great person. What is the definition of great? You? Mother Theresa? You still didn't answer my question in my original post.

"otherwise great person"

How do we know what a "great person" is?

By what standard?

Christians believe no one meets the "great person"

standard, only Christ, and to follow Christ is the

only way to eternity. It at least has no

inconsistency to it and to be a "great person"

because of Christ is a free gift, not one earned

since no one can earn it. No one is stuck up,

only the ones who refuse a free gift and think

they are great without God.

No, our sin is not misunderstanding, it is

worshiping self and thinking we are good on

our own. God knows every person and

what he/she would choose if/when given the

opportunity and will judge correctly each and every

person. God does not want any to perish without

the true creation life, the true spiritual life in them

that loves and worships the creator! Being without

God spiritually is like being without water physically.

You can lead a horse to water but can't make it

drink as the saying goes!

I was brought up Christian, and YES, I have considered that.

In reading the Bible for myself, I've found that MANY precepts of the various forms of Christianity AREN'T THERE! Christ actually said that no one has gone to heaven except he that came from heaven (meaning himself). There are THREE "hells" referred to in the Bible, including the "hell" of the grave (THAT'S where Christ went for three days). And ALL of us die.

There is also something known as the "White Thrown Judgment" where all people will be judged according to their DEEDS and character, and the truth will be directly offered to them. Who is sent to the "Lake of Fire" depends on who FINALLY rejects the truth.

Whether or not you believe any of this, it's best to look at the Bible with your own eyes, instead of just accepting what you were told is in it. That's an instruction from the Bible anyway! 1 Thessalonians 5:21 ("test all things").

I am a Christian, and believe that God, as an all-knowing and all-loving being, would not condemn anyone to hell...which is why Jesus died to save us from sin, etc.

Oh, and by the way...thanks for lumping all of the Christians together; I appreciate that. It's not as though we're individuals and think for ourselves or anything like that. Yes. We are completely brainwashed. We all blindly agree with whatever the church has to say. You know...just like all atheists are jaded and live out their lives in skepticism and ignorance. :)

If Hell is ONLY eternal separation from God, then it would be OK... and since the vast majority of mankind will end up there, well, we get all the good ones, in fact...

Imagine how incredibly boring Heaven will be. What do they do all day?

Simply by this. If you've accepted Christ in your heart, then your works will show your faith. We are not saved by works, but rather for works. Therefore, if someone was saved, then not only were his bad works erased, but he will start to do good works. Unsaved men's works will always fall short of God's glory. I hope that made sense.

As for why would I want to spend and send men to those respective places for eternity, look at it this way:

Why would we let someone who was too blind to see the truth into paradise?

Why would we kick someone out of paradise who believed the truth and acted on it?

The only reason anyone would go to hell is because of their sin. Not religion, beliefs, political party, skin color... just sin. We are all in that boat, because we have all sinned.

God does not send anyone to hell. However he does send a Savior to rescue us from hell.

Hell was intended for Satan and his daemons, to quarantine sin. Satan decided to take as many of Gods creation, made in Gods image with him as possible.

We tend to think sin is no big deal. Everyone does it. Your just as good as the next guy...

Look at sin from Gods perspective. He sees sin for what it is. He sees everything, every pain, every injustice, every act of unspeakable cruelty. He sees it all. He sees what it has done to this world from week one.

All sin, no matter how small, represents a disobedience to how God wants things to be. He is not going to let any sin be unpunished. Hell is a place furthest from the presence of God where sin is punished and quarentened for all eternity. That is how bad sin is, it deserves eternal punishment.

God from the beginning of time devised a plan to save us by sending His perfect Son to rescue us from hell.

Sin always tries to get in the way, keeping us from God. Christ perfect sacrifice cleanses our sin so we can live eternally, with God, like in the beginning. His salvation is available to all. No restrictions or exceptions. It is those who reject Christ's work of salvation who restrict Christ through their beliefs.

So you see, it is we and our sin that condemns us to hell, not God. The entire plan, laid out in the Bible, is His rescue plan.

Like any gift, receiving the gift and belief(faith) in the gifts value is required if the recipient is to benefit from it. God is not going to force anyone to receive his gift, but the gift is freely available non the less.

Some people do not want anything to do with God. Some love their sin too much to let it go. For these hell is the option. God is not going to force those who do not want to be with God into heaven.

How do you judge if someone is a great person? The only way to be a truly good person is to never sin. No matter how hard someone tries they are still going to sin at some point. Therefore it is impossible to be considered to be good in God's eyes without Jesus, because we aren't.