A Question About Belief

[jwoodie]

Modern Christianity seems to require "belief" as the only thing required for eternal life. But belief in what, exactly? That Jesus was the "Son of God?" What does that mean? Was he human or not? Did he "die" on the cross? Was he "resurrected" as a human? Did his body ascend to Heaven? Is Heaven a physical place?

There are a variety of answers to these questions given by devout Christians. Are some of them right and some of them wrong? Does that make a difference? It seems to me that "belief" without substance is a tenuous guarantee of immortality.

 

[September]

Many Christians believe that they must "accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior", by praying to Jesus and sincerely accepting Jesus into their Heart (As their Lord, and everything he represents) and thus become saved and forgiven for their past and future sins... so long as they maintain their Faith, belief in, and connection to Jesus and all that he stood for- Faith that he died for their sins so that if they truly believed in Jesus and his purpose, and embraced his teachings, that they could experience everlasting Life in Heaven with Jesus for the rest of eternity.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting Life"

​

 

[Flopper]

Modern Christianity seems to require "belief" as the only thing required for eternal life. But belief in what, exactly? That Jesus was the "Son of God?" What does that mean? Was he human or not? Did he "die" on the cross? Was he "resurrected" as a human? Did his body ascend to Heaven? Is Heaven a physical place?

There are a variety of answers to these questions given by devout Christians. Are some of them right and some of them wrong? Does that make a difference? It seems to me that "belief" without substance is a tenuous guarantee of immortality.

Faith is about trusting in God when you don't have all answers and sometimes when you don't have any of the answers. For some Christian denominations, a belief in Christ is enough. Others take the path that if you are a true believer, you will follow Christ's teaching in your daily life. Others have other requirements. On one end of the spectrum you have the hell fire and damnation crowd who take ever verse in the Bible literally. On the other end, you have those that take the Bible less literally and are more liberal in their views.

 

[jwoodie]

Many Christians believe that they must "accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior", by praying to Jesus and sincerely accepting Jesus into their Heart (As their Lord, and everything he represents) and thus become saved and forgiven for their past and future sins... so long as they maintain their Faith, belief in, and connection to Jesus and all that he stood for- Faith that he died for their sins so that if they truly believed in Jesus and his purpose, and embraced his teachings, that they could experience everlasting Life in Heaven with Jesus for the rest of eternity.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting Life"

​

I respect your faith, but you didn't really answer my questions. Perhaps they are not relevant to your beliefs?

 

[MaxGrit]

Modern Christianity seems to require "belief" as the only thing required for eternal life. But belief in what, exactly? That Jesus was the "Son of God?" What does that mean? Was he human or not? Did he "die" on the cross? Was he "resurrected" as a human? Did his body ascend to Heaven? Is Heaven a physical place?

There are a variety of answers to these questions given by devout Christians. Are some of them right and some of them wrong? Does that make a difference? It seems to me that "belief" without substance is a tenuous guarantee of immortality.

Salvation is by the grace of God alone. God will cause you to be born again by the Holy Spirit, who draws you to Jesus Christ, God the Son. You truly have Faith of Christ as your Lord and savior.

 

[September]

Many Christians believe that they must "accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior", by praying to Jesus and sincerely accepting Jesus into their Heart (As their Lord, and everything he represents) and thus become saved and forgiven for their past and future sins... so long as they maintain their Faith, belief in, and connection to Jesus and all that he stood for- Faith that he died for their sins so that if they truly believed in Jesus and his purpose, and embraced his teachings, that they could experience everlasting Life in Heaven with Jesus for the rest of eternity.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting Life"

​

I respect your faith, but you didn't really answer my questions. Perhaps they are not relevant to your beliefs?

Oh I am definitely not a Christian, nor do I follow any religion. There is Power to be found in all of them. If anything, I have developed my own spiritual/ religious system of Henotheistic Sumero-Abrahamic Paganism.

I would like to see the "Christians" answer your questions to the best of their ability... yet I get this feeling that I could speak on behalf of their religion far better than most of them can.

​

 

[Igrok_]

Modern Christianity seems to require "belief" as the only thing required for eternal life. But belief in what, exactly? That Jesus was the "Son of God?" What does that mean? Was he human or not? Did he "die" on the cross? Was he "resurrected" as a human? Did his body ascend to Heaven? Is Heaven a physical place?

There are a variety of answers to these questions given by devout Christians. Are some of them right and some of them wrong? Does that make a difference? It seems to me that "belief" without substance is a tenuous guarantee of immortality.

There is a "Symbol of Faith" in Catholic and Orthodox Churches, maybe ever more. And there are main beliefs of such people who belong to it.
Also, there is a history of inception of every religion and experience of every person. So these things are crucial, as to me.
The thing you have to do is to try each on your own and choose.

 

[Meriweather]

Modern Christianity seems to require "belief" as the only thing required for eternal life. But belief in what, exactly? That Jesus was the "Son of God?" What does that mean? Was he human or not? Did he "die" on the cross? Was he "resurrected" as a human? Did his body ascend to Heaven? Is Heaven a physical place?

There are a variety of answers to these questions given by devout Christians. Are some of them right and some of them wrong? Does that make a difference? It seems to me that "belief" without substance is a tenuous guarantee of immortality.

I would say 'faith' (rather than 'belief') is the watchword of Christianity. Many of us believe that we enter into eternal life here on earth and that it extends into the afterlife. It is faith that grants us entrance into the 'kingdom' the faith to be a disciple of Christ and follow his commands and teachings. "I am the way..." he told us. "Follow me."

Following Christ means to repent (turn away) from all wrong-doing and to seek the will of the Father. It is to love God with our entire being, and to love our fellow man as oneself. We are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned, teach the ignorant. The Beatitudes are there to inspire us, and we are to proclaim the Good News--repentance for forgiveness of sins.

I would say the only requirement is enough faith to put into practice the ways and teachings of Christ.

 

[Dajjal]

Oh I am definitely not a Christian, nor do I follow any religion. There is Power to be found in all of them. If anything, I have developed my own spiritual/ religious system of Henotheistic Sumero-Abrahamic Paganism.

I would like to see the "Christians" answer your questions to the best of their ability... yet I get this feeling that I could speak on behalf of their religion far better than most of them can.

​

Goddess Ashtara, you might find the following link interesting. It is about Guru Raj Ananda whose meditation group (I avoided the word cult) I attended for several years during the 1980's He designed a symbol for the group which included symbols of most of the main religions. You can watch a video of him talking and you can sense the power he had, even from that.

Gururaj Ananda Yogi Let my love be measured by giving and not by gain

 

[Igrok_]

Modern Christianity seems to require "belief" as the only thing required for eternal life.

Not only belief, but also doings

 

[jwoodie]

So the Mormons aren't the only ones to dodge these questions...

 

[The Irish Ram]

While Christians may differ relating to certain doctrine or church dogma, to be redeemed I believe we all agree that, Christ was the Son of God, that He died in our place as propitiation for our sins, and rose the third day. That Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no man goes to the Father except through the Son. That is the belief of a person that puts his faith in Christ.

If you eat fish on Fri. to honor God, it is counted unto you as righteousness. If you avoid fish on Fri. to honor God, it is counted unto you as righteousness. It's not the fish that counts, it's the heart. Dogma is inconsequential to the work on the cross. Belief in Christ trumps dogma.

 

[Meriweather]

So the Mormons aren't the only ones to dodge these questions...

Is this more what you had in mind as a response to your opening post?

"Son of God" was used in the Old Testament to describe people who had any special relationship with God. For example, kings and leaders who were seen to have received authority from God were called, "Sons of God." But as time went on, it began to be used to describe the Messiah, the elect of God.

Christos, or Christ, has that same connotation, the elect or anointed of God, and this is how the New Testament references Jesus. But there is more. At Jesus' baptism, a voice was heard, "This is my beloved son..." The Gospel of John tells us that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was made flesh. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Jesus was fully human. He is fully divine. He is one in being with the Father.

Jesus did die on the cross. He descended to the dead, and the same body that suffered death was resurrected. He ascended body and soul into heaven.

Heaven is described as more than a place, it is also described as a state of being with God.

People are not judged on how much knowledge they have, or how 'right' they are, but on the greatness of their love and righteousness. Knowledge is beneficial only when it moves us closer to understanding God. Since God's ways are far above human ways, the people who understand God most correctly are probably a foot closer to God than everyone else--in other words, probably not enough to matter greatly as there is still a magnitude left to know and understand. In addition, Scripture tells us that the people who probably know and understand God best are those the world regards as fools.

It is belief, faith, knowledge without love that puts people in a tenuous position.