Marduk

“How can you have a basis for the offer of forgiveness and eternal life, if you reject the scripture that defines it?”

On the one hand you have a 2000 year old story someone wrote and claimed came from God, on the other you have an actual God saying to your face “you fucked up, I could send you to hell or you may take my offer of salvation, now make up your mind I have a 10 O’clock waiting outside.”

Tarnaak

According to scripture;
When you die, you sleep until the rapture. The Catholic viewpoint from my perspective ( and I have done research) is that you can pray to the Virgin Mary or any other Human made Saint and basically be forgiven of whatever no matter how many time you do it.

If you read the Scriptures it is quite plain that REPENTACE (turning away from) and a belief in Christ as God the Saviour is required for acceptance into Heaven. There is also the forgiving 70 times 7. Let me expain the differnce between Catholic and actual Scripture.

The Catholic believe they can continue doing THE SAME EXACT thing day to day and as long as they do their "praying the necklace", they will be forgiven.

The Scriptures state that one is to Repent, to turn away from whatever sin one is commiting. However, if you repent, but one day down the line you "give in" to a sin (sin, is that Behavior which God finds offensive), God is faithful and just and will forgive you that sin if you are sincere in asking for forgivness.

Demigawd

Study, Badfish, study. Compare and contrast religious beliefs evident since the multiple beginnings of record-keeping. Do some research into the metaphysical beliefs of the Sumerians and the Egyptians.

The scripture so near-and-dear to your heart is not the monolithic divinely-inspired revelation you appear to believe it is, but an amalgom of beliefs filtered through cultural interaction.

Badfish

Nope...

Demigawd

Spoken like a true brain-washed cult zombie.

Tarnaak

What you dont understand you make light of....

Stephen T-B

So, Badfish, I’m going to hell “Because you have heard the Gospel and have rejected it.”

That’s exactly what I meant in my OP which referred to believing the people who “believe Jesus Christ was the Son of God” when they tell me that that’s my fate.

Then you asked: “Have you heard and studied the gospel enough to come to a satisfactory conclusion for yourself?”

OK. Where do I start? My father was a Church of England clergyman. We read the Gospels at home and every Sunday. At school we had a subject called Religious Knowledge in which we read and studied the Gospels.

I think very small elements of them may be true: I think there was an historical character called Jesus; I think he developed ideas which were already current and being discussed by progressive Jews; I think he emerged as a charismatic leader and was regarded as dangerous by the Conservative establishment within Judaism; I think he was denounced to the Romans who regarded him as a dangerous nationalist leader and crucified him. I think subsequently his birth, life and death were mythologised and that the Gospels record versions of the myth.

And according to the people who believe it, I’m going to Hell for not sharing it.
Well, that’s OK with me because Hell is as mythical as Christ's divinity.

DoubleDutchy

Acquiring power.
A trick that works.

Sabine Grant

Salut DoubleDutchy.... the trick becomes a motivation to convert only to those who come by fear... however that is not the motivation for all converts. As far as control is concerned, for some christians, their faith is a way to let go and give control to God.
I have found that the reasons why people convert to christianity differs in various cultures. In the US society, there seems to be a trend to dictate and coherce into christianity and make it a " hail and grimstone" phenomena. Among the african christians I socialized with, it is a different way of living their faith.

DoubleDutchy

Enchanté Sabine, je suis votre très humble serviteur..

I didn't intend to capture all of Christianity in six words; there certainly would be some more to say. However, like it or not, fear and terror (exploitation of fear in order to acquire power) undeniably are elements of the overall picture and should not be overlooked. Stephen T-B 's question was adressing precisely this aspect, I think my answer was to the point. To be fair, I have known Christians that think likewise.