If I was the nicest guy on earth, helped anyone who needed help
donated money, never swore, basically a saint (im not saying this is me lol) , but I was raised to believe that there was no god or was raised as a different religion would I still go to hell?

But to believe in a "going to hell" and for it to matter one bit - then you by definition must be buying in to some kind of religion with ties to hell.

Any semi-fundamental christian would say yes you are going to hell unless you accepted JC as your personal savior. So say that to yourself (doesn't have to mean anything - thats all 99% of christians do anyway) & then I think you are safe & can sleep well at night.

maybe this makes me a bad christian, but i disagree. i think it doesn't matter what you believe while on earth, if you warrant a place in heaven, it will be offered to you. call me a heretic if you must, but that is the only hope more than half the world's population has. i somehow doubt that all the men that died before christ died are in hell... if so, talk about wrong place wrong time....

I am a christian and i feel that a life lived full of love of yourself and fellow man/woman warrants entry into heaven. Ignorance will not be held against good people.

The big question is....IS THERE EVEN A HELL TO WORRY ABOUT?

Worry about heaven and hell when the time comes. Sounds like some kind of fairy tale - in fact one of the instruments of guilt & fear proposed by the catholic mind-fuck church.

Originally posted by HaVoK
I am a christian and i feel that a life lived full of love of yourself and fellow man/woman warrants entry into heaven. Ignorance will not be held against good people.

I agree. So many of the hard core religious types get caught up in these ultra-technical interpretations of everything. "You'll go to heaven, but only if you've been baptised, but not if you were baptised before you were 14, and only if you have never been a homosexual, because that's unforgivable, but you will if you killed someone and asked forgiveness . . ." Screw that - you're either basically a good person and are going or you weren't, and you're not.

hayryan, i agree with just about every other post in this thread.

1. if there were a heaven, then if you lived your life well and kept your heart full of love for life and your fellow man then you're gettng in no matter your religion.
2. i strongly disbelieve in hell.

I see everyone in this thread say, as long as I love and am nice I'm going to heaven. Ok lets say there is No hell, then even if you are a sh** head, your still going to the next stage. Does God give a sh** about who you loved, or which human you were nice to? I have my beliefs just like most of you, but can humans even began to know anything about God, or what he wants?

mad, I think that it points back to having to figure out if the bible is what it says it is.

I dont' think that I being "fundamental" for interpreting passages of the Bible literally. I think that if you pick which parts you believe (i.e. God is a God of love) but then throw out parts that make you feel uncomfortable (i.e. there is only one way, truth, and life, through Jesus Christ), then you are inconsistent at best.

I don't live in fear of hell, but there is a requirement to get into heaven, biblcally speaking, and that is through what Drew M said, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

I don't follow the teachings of the Bible, and I still believe in being nice and all that stuff. The Bible is not the only religion out there...

Here is something to think about, another Christian said this on another forum. If you do or don't believe in hell is not really the question, if God created EVERYTHING then did he not create hell also?

Hayryan, are you a catholic?

there is a requirement to get into heaven, biblcally speaking, and that is through what Drew M said, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ

But what is a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" - if somebody professed to a personal relationship with some invisible unknown beyond JC then their doctor would prescribe some insanity pills.

A lot of christians use that terminology and my guess is that for the most part none of them have a clue what it means - understandably so because it's off the wall and a bit nuts. They'd claim a personal relationship with a ball of green cheese if it was "part of the teaching" and follow along in just the same way - dissmissing any challenge to that concept as "you just don't know until you have it...."

Religions have a great ability to stop people from thinking rationally and close out any ability for them to question. Challenging is good - faith does not mean don't challenge or believe something because somebody said so. Faith is about having faith in uncertainty.

What I could understand is if this term meant that a person lived by and followed some of the teachings by JC in the bible - which, no matter what religious beliefs you may have, some of those teachings just make plain good sense.

But the 'personal relationship' like he is some entity - is a bit far fetched.

I wonder - if Jesus could have known what he was going to create 2000 years into the future - what would he have done? Probably called the desciples to a meeting "Ok lads the whole thing is called off - we are pulling the plug - it's really going to end up being a mess, they miss the point by 1000 miles, not to mention the endless persecution, so lets just go put this idea back in the files - finito - and that means no more walking on water in case you are all wondering"

hayryan,

No you won't go to hell. But you will be able to hear people from hell screaming and grinding their teeth.

"But you will be able to hear people from hell screaming and grinding their teeth."

creepy.

sputnik,

creepy.
I had a dream where I was next to somebody, then all of a sudden their skin slowly begin to burn from their feet up. The persons scream travelled through my whole body. After the fire had consumed their soul, it attacked the rest of the body. Like being electrocuted it caused the muscles to convulse. Their uncontrolling jaw grinding their teeth to produce a terrible screeching sound.

have you ever considered psychological help? Burning from the feet up.. was this person a friend of yours? an enemy? somebody you -wanted- to burn? if so... SINNER!!! GO TO HELL AND ROT THERE!!

actually, hell has some wonderful real estate...


****

thank's for that insight, maddy.

my friend maddy has been to hell a few times, actually. she rather likes it there.

seriously though, that's wierd...

what are your religious beliefs?

have you ever considered psychological help?
Because of a dream, no never. Do you seriously think it would help :D

what are your religious beliefs?
I believe in the Gospel. And you?

"I believe in the Gospel. And you?"

i'm an atheist.

Cool.

So does that mean you don't believe in a Higher Being?

well if you define atheism as disbelieving god, then that's me. it's not me to come out and say "there is no god" since i can't prove that any more than anyone can prove there is a god. i guess i would be somewhere between agnostic and atheist, i'm not sure what the word would be for that exactly. but i know what my beliefs are so it doesnt' really matter whether i know the word or not.

i know what my beliefs are Cool.

I wonder how many people who go to church know what their true beliefs are.

well i thought to post from the islamic point of veiw... if no one has any objections?...no?...well then il continue :)



If I was the nicest guy on earth, helped anyone who needed help
donated money, never swore, basically a saint (im not saying this is me lol) , but I was raised to believe that there was no god or was raised as a different religion would I still go to hell?

heres the short.... yes you would! it has been reported from the prophet (pbuh) of islam that all non-believers who did good in this life would get their reward in this life so that on the day of judgement they will not be able to say that they did not get any good from their good deeds... and there is no one that does not receive the message of truth before he/she dies...and in islam we are taught to question the beliefs of our parents because in the end we are responsible for our own beliefs, so it is not good enuff to say this is what we found our parents doing (that is what all the pagans said to their respective prophets (may the peace and blessings of God be upon them).

Originally posted by Abu Ali
heres the short.... yes you would! it has been reported from the prophet (pbuh) of islam that all non-believers who did good in this life would get their reward in this life so that on the day of judgement they will not be able to say that they did not get any good from their good deeds... and there is no one that does not receive the message of truth before he/she dies...and in islam we are taught to question the beliefs of our parents because in the end we are responsible for our own beliefs, so it is not good enuff to say this is what we found our parents doing (that is what all the pagans said to their respective prophets (may the peace and blessings of God be upon them).
In that case...I would not worship this god, as obviously he is a childish, sadistic god sending people to hell even though they lived a good life.

In that case...I would not worship this god, as obviously he is a childish, sadistic god sending people to hell even though they lived a good life.

you have missed the point, God has given you the intelligence to find the truth, so if you are arrogant towards the truth, you have nothig but yourself to blame, there is not one person among us that will not come face to face with truth, its up to that person to accept it or deny it (at his own risk). denial of the truth is the greatest crime.

Originally posted by Abu Ali
you have missed the point, God has given you the intelligence to find the truth, so if you are arrogant towards the truth, you have nothig but yourself to blame, there is not one person among us that will not come face to face with truth, its up to that person to accept it or deny it (at his own risk). denial of the truth is the greatest crime.
Has he now? Tell me, how does God expect us to find the one true religion out of hundreds? How can we tell if Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or even atheism is the true religion? There is no way to say which one is right.

Originally posted by Abu Ali


you have missed the point, God has given you the intelligence to find the truth, so if you are arrogant towards the truth, you have nothig but yourself to blame, there is not one person among us that will not come face to face with truth, its up to that person to accept it or deny it (at his own risk). denial of the truth is the greatest crime.

and truth is subjective. every person believes a different thing to be true. i fear you confuse the idea of truth witht he idea of faith, but in many religions those two words could, for all intents and purposes, be interchangeable. my personal belief lies in a god willing to accept souls based on the life they lived, not the prayers they prayed. prayers, in the end, are lip service. only through the faith of your heart can you be judged.

Abu;

I have to agree with the others here, that is your belief(truth). I'm not saying your wrong but maybe alittle arrogant to try and scare folks into your belief. God is everything, everywhere and for a human to say this is what God wants or feels is bull hockey. I have yet to meet one person that has met God so I don't think anyone can tell us what God wants.

Originally posted by hayryan
If I was the nicest guy on earth, helped anyone who needed help
donated money, never swore, basically a saint (im not saying this is me lol) , but I was raised to believe that there was no god or was raised as a different religion would I still go to hell?

Yup!!! No doubt about it. You do not go to heaven based on what you did on Earth. Good deeds are what you should want to do once you are saved...they won't get you into heaven.

Originally posted by ugababe117
Yup!!! No doubt about it. You do not go to heaven based on what you did on Earth. Good deeds are what you should want to do once you are saved...they won't get you into heaven.
Tell me, what then would stop me from, say, going off and killing a bunch of people? It doesn't matter, it's a matter of saved/not saved, so why even live a good life?

Originally posted by ugababe117
Yup!!! No doubt about it. You do not go to heaven based on what you did on Earth. Good deeds are what you should want to do once you are saved...they won't get you into heaven.

This is a load of horse dung, show the proof of what you preach.

and why should i do good deeds if i'm saved? i'm already getting into heaven, right?

Heaven or hell I want to live my life being kind and living life good. If you can go to bed at night felling good about yourself isn't that all that matters heaven or hell aside. If you believe in God and you worship Him to the best of your ability you have to go to a better place! well that's just my opinion!!!