Originally posted by ShakyamunisonNo it's not complicated at all.
So, it's more complicated then what you are telling people?
Do you want to be saved from your sins and go to Heaven? Simply ask Jesus Christ to become Lord of your life and to wash away your sins.
It's that simple.
Romans 10:13
13FOR "WHOEVER CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE
SAVED."
I see. So the stuff you said about God "detecting your sincerity" DOESN'T have biblical support? Because that WOULD make it more complicated.
Come on JIA, I want to hear you say "I lied about Benjamin Franklin being christian". Just say it. You're a mature person who should be able to accept this. Ask Jesus to forgive you for lying. He will. You don't have to avoid confessing your guilt. Hell you're supposed to confess your sins.
The truth is that it is not simple at all. You have to want to change, and then you have to change. This leads to a direct contradiction of the fact that works do not get you into heaven.
The fix for this contradiction is the fact that heaven is not a place you go when you die. You also cannot get there through the forgiveness of a dead man. Heaven is simple to attain. All you have to do is change your point of view.
Originally posted by Red Nemesis
Does 'changing one's mind' refer to thinking differently about the afterlife you're going to get no matter what you do (making lemonade, if you will) or changing the thought patterns that lead to a "bad" afterlife, however impermanent it may be?
How does an afterlife help this life?
Originally posted by Shakyamunison
So I can do that and continue being an evil, hate full person?
No one is perfect but your salvation is not based on your good works or bad works. Your salvation is based on the finished work that Jesus Christ accomplished at Calvary.
However, if you harbor unforgiveness in your heart towards someone that you refuse to forgive then God cannot forgive your trespasses.
Originally posted by JesusIsAlive
No one is perfect but your salvation is not based on your good works or bad works. Your salvation is based on the finished work that Jesus Christ accomplished at Calvary.However, if you harbor unforgiveness in your heart towards someone that you refuse to forgive then God cannot forgive your trespasses.
I was just pointing out to you that it is not as simple as you are making it out to be.
As far as I am concerned: I'm not bound by your mythology.
Originally posted by King Kandy
Come on JIA, I want to hear you say "I lied about Benjamin Franklin being christian". Just say it. You're a mature person who should be able to accept this. Ask Jesus to forgive you for lying. He will. You don't have to avoid confessing your guilt. Hell you're supposed to confess your sins.
I am going to keep bringing this up until I hear it.
Originally posted by Shakyamunison
I was just pointing out to you that it is not as simple as you are making it out to be.As far as I am concerned: I'm not bound by your mythology.
God did not make salvation from sin difficult for people to receive man did. Man created all of these obstacles and religious rules about how to get to God. They said you have to say a bunch of hail marys, confess to a priest, get baptized, go to church, read your Bible, take a pilgrimage to Mecca, pray five times a day, meditate and seek to become enlightened, live an ascetic lifestyle, etc.
None of those things will get a person to God or wash away their sins. Getting baptized, reading your Bible, and going to church is the fruit or result of a person who has asked Jesus to save him and has become born again, not what causes him to be saved from sin.
Originally posted by JesusIsAlive
God did not make salvation from sin difficult for people to receive man did. Man created all of these obstacles and religious rules about how to get to God. They said you have to say a bunch of hail marys, confess to a priest, get baptized, go to church, read your Bible, take a pilgrimage to Mecca, pray five times a day, meditate and seek to become enlightened, live an ascetic lifestyle, etc.None of those things will get a person to God or wash away their sins. Getting baptized, reading your Bible, and going to church is the fruit or result of a person who has asked Jesus to save him and has become born again, not what causes him to be saved from sin.
But believing in Jesus is just another one of those difficulties you are talking about.
I don't believe that salvation is anything real.
Originally posted by JesusIsAlive
God did not make salvation from sin difficult for people to receive man did. Man created all of these obstacles and religious rules about how to get to God. They said you have to say a bunch of hail marys, confess to a priest, get baptized, go to church, read your Bible, take a pilgrimage to Mecca, pray five times a day, meditate and seek to become enlightened, live an ascetic lifestyle, etc.None of those things will get a person to God or wash away their sins. Getting baptized, reading your Bible, and going to church is the fruit or result of a person who has asked Jesus to save him and has become born again, not what causes him to be saved from sin.
You have to be baptized to be saved.
Originally posted by King Kandy
"Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." Mark 16:16You have to be baptized to be saved.
Originally posted by JesusIsAlive
http://www.gotquestions.org/baptism-Mark-16-16.html
Originally posted by Shakyamunison
How does an afterlife help this life?
This post appears to be written in response to my question. Is this intentional?
I ask because the text you wrote does not answer or relate to my questions in the least. I was not commenting on or making assertions about the present utility of an afterlife, but rather the effect of your earlier prescription of 'changing one's mind' on the afterlife in question. So the jump to the topic of how an afterlife helps this life is a bit of a non-sequitur.
If you mean to imply that there is no afterlife, that there is only life, then I will be incredibly disappointed. Such semantic trickery does not serve to clarify your positions at all, especially since I hold no personal belief in such a state and am merely interested in your position, which has thus far dealt with the concept of an afterlife as a given. (I think.)
The only other interpretation I can think of (the set of which is a very small subset of the possible interpretations) is that the 'change of thought' you referenced in the post that originally caught my attention is only relevant in the part it plays influencing decisions and outlooks while the individual in question is still alive. If this is the case, however, then I have to wonder how it ties to the question of Heaven and Hell.
Originally posted by Red Nemesis
This post appears to be written in response to my question. Is this intentional?I ask because the text you wrote does not answer or relate to my questions in the least. I was not commenting on or making assertions about the present utility of an afterlife, but rather the effect of your earlier prescription of 'changing one's mind' on the afterlife in question. So the jump to the topic of how an afterlife helps this life is a bit of a non-sequitur.
If you mean to imply that there is no afterlife, that there is only life, then I will be incredibly disappointed. Such semantic trickery does not serve to clarify your positions at all, especially since I hold no personal belief in such a state and am merely interested in your position, which has thus far dealt with the concept of an afterlife as a given. (I think.)
The only other interpretation I can think of (the set of which is a very small subset of the possible interpretations) is that the 'change of thought' you referenced in the post that originally caught my attention is only relevant in the part it plays influencing decisions and outlooks while the individual in question is still alive. If this is the case, however, then I have to wonder how it ties to the question of Heaven and Hell.
Sense you didn't quote me, I wasn't sure if you were asking me the question.
In Buddhism, heaven and hell are two worlds out of ten. These ten worlds are the ten states of conciseness that we inhabit at all times.
What I was getting at with the question was; how are the worlds we live in every day effected by an after life?
This is the after life, in a sense. Each and every life is an after life to all the other lives of an Entity.
Do we have an experience outside of life? I don't think so. We are born, live and die. We are just an animal on a small planet, in an unimportant part of the universe. However, we are connected to all other lives, and this is reflected in the idea of reincarnation. The truth is, we really don't know. This life is too important to waist, preparing for an after life that may or may not exist.