reply to post by blocula
Real quick 101 in Christian thought to get some perspective. Not trying to preach a religion to you, just show you, you're in a agreement with the
Bible on a certain issue.
First if Jesus went to Hell or not, people will argue with you about if that's true or not. I'm personally not gonna touch that issue here.
The point is after that he ascended to Heaven after that. So theoretically, Hell or not, he shouldn't still be there. He should be in Heaven now.
Anyway, back to the 101 in the mainstream Christian thought. To the issue of nothing is good? Jesus said that no one is good. Not even He was good!
Only the father in Heaven is good.
Of course this was a slight of hand. To claim he was good would not be very humble so he probably couldn't say that.
Anyway, the moral of the story. Nothing is good. No one is good. Even when you think you're doing good you're really just doing it for your own
selfish desires. The only way even do good is listen to the Holy Spirit but what it wants you to do is probably not going to be what you want to
do.
You may not be "bad" per-se, it can mean that, but the context here. All the good that you could do is insignificant to that of a god. Good and bad
are relative. And if you believe in God it's all relative to God, the only objective thing in existence you could compare anything to.
Your good compared to that isn't really all that good and it's never gonna be enough "good" to get you into Heaven. It doesn't work that way.
The idea isn't that anyone is going to be saved because they are good or for something they have done or not done. You can't get yourself into
Heaven.
You can't pray your way into Heaven by praying 20 times a day. You cannot donate to charity your way into Heaven. There is nothing YOU can do to get
into Heaven. All will die a second death and be cast into the fire when they are judged. Every single one of us. But there's a way out.
Christians don't believe they're going to Heaven because of something THEY did.
No, Christians believe they are saved because of something Jesus did. He lead a sinless life and was sacrificed as the scapegoat. The Bible is
basically where the term comes from. In the Bible they sacrificed animals to pay the debt of people's sins. But this was not a working solution.
Jesus, God himself, offered himself up to die unjustly for our sins instead to end the sacrificial system. And in doing so saved us from judgment. All
of our sins have been paid thousands of years ago. Jesus took our punishment for us. That normally would be where it ends, but since Jesus was God, he
had the power to raise himself from the dead. So, he is called the living God.
When they save Jesus is the savior they mean that he saved us from the Judgment itself. So we don't have to be judged. Just know that when the NT
talks about Hell and judgment, what it is really talking about is, that's what you'll go through if you don't let Jesus save you from that judgment.
However, he is perfectly willing to save you from it. You need not go through it.
For believers there will be no true judgment at the end. Jesus will stand in our place and be judged instead and since he is sinless and blameless
there will be no Hell.
If we were to be judged we would all be damned because NO one is good. But Jesus stepped in. Why did he do this? Because there was NO OTHER WAY. If
there was any hope of surviving judgment, he had to do it.
And all we have to do is simply repent and believe and we will not be judged for those sins. Basically, to get into the afterlife, all we have to do
is ask. It doesn't need to be anymore complicated than that, because no matter how complicated it was, it wouldn't have worked anyway. Only God is
good enough to get us into Heaven.
So, now the point of the story. Not trying to get you to believe in the Bible. I hope you will consider it. However, that's not my point. The point of
the story is simply that Christians don't believe they're saved because they're "good" or for something they've done. It has nothing to do with
anything they did. We were incapable of doing anything good enough to save ourselves. That's why we believe we need a savior in the first
place.
edit on 23-10-2011 by tinfoilman because: (no reason given)
edit on 23-10-2011 by tinfoilman because: (no reason
given)
edit on 23-10-2011 by tinfoilman because: (no reason given)