You Must Believe Jesus Christ Is The Son Of God...

[Chandra21]

Actually, most Christian religions state that you have to believe Jesus IS God or you will go to hell, but you had the right idea. Sounds a bit silly to me. In that sense, a person who believes in the Judiasm but devotes his whole life to helping the poor and sick and donates 25% of his income to charity, never smokes or does drugs, never swears, never steals, never lies, never gambles, and loves an respects his wife, children and his fellow human beings... Is going straight into the lake of fire. I find that very hard to believe. God is eternal love... She is not some irrational monster that will condemn someone forever because their beliefs about her are not entirely spot on. I, personally, don't believe that Jesus is God. I never have. I believe in him and love him very much as my savior, but I will never consider him my God...

[Seshatneferw]

In that sense, a person who believes in the Judiasm but devotes his whole life to helping the poor and sick and donates 25% of his income to charity, never smokes or does drugs, never swears, never steals, never lies, never gambles, and loves an respects his wife, children and his fellow human beings... Is going straight into the lake of fire.

Sounds about right. The way I've been able to deal with this doctrine is to think that it's all about attitude. If you believe that you are doing everything right and deserve to get to heaven (unlike the gay couple living next door), you are essentially telling God what to do, which in itself is a big no-no. If, on the other hand, you admit that however hard you try you are still imperfect, then you are forgiven. This is in fact a bit like what I was told in basic training during my military days: it's all right to screw up, everyone does that on occasion, but trying to cover up those screwups is bound to get you in big trouble.

The bottom line is, the requirements are strict enough that there is no way a mere human can live up to them. Just accept that and ask God to forgive you, and He will. Whether you choose to attach the name Jesus to the aspect of God that deals with this part of the human relations ( ) is, I suppose, secondary -- the main point is that if you try to tell God what He should do with you (instead of asking nicely), He will get you on one technicality or another.

  Nfr

[David W. Shelton]

One thing that a lot of Christians seem to forget (if they ever knew it at all) is that hell is a relatively new creation (historically speaking, of course). There was never any mention of hell in the Torah or the Tenach...

It wasn't until the time of the Pharisees that the idea of hell became commonplace in religious teaching. And Jesus loved to talk about hell... to smack down the Pharisees... who were the ones who adopted the teaching of it in the first place. And why did they adopt "hell," the burning garbage heap? Why, to control of course!

The bottom line in Christianity is grace. Anything else just gets in the way.

[Omika]

One thing that a lot of Christians seem to forget (if they ever knew it at all) is that hell is a relatively new creation (historically speaking, of course). There was never any mention of hell in the Torah or the Tenach...

It wasn't until the time of the Pharisees that the idea of hell became commonplace in religious teaching. And Jesus loved to talk about hell... to smack down the Pharisees... who were the ones who adopted the teaching of it in the first place. And why did they adopt "hell," the burning garbage heap? Why, to control of course!

The bottom line in Christianity is grace. Anything else just gets in the way.

I never knew this, and now that I do, I am happier.  Happier, I say!

~ Blair

[Pysgod]

One thing that a lot of Christians seem to forget (if they ever knew it at all) is that hell is a relatively new creation (historically speaking, of course). There was never any mention of hell in the Torah or the Tenach...

It wasn't until the time of the Pharisees that the idea of hell became commonplace in religious teaching. And Jesus loved to talk about hell... to smack down the Pharisees... who were the ones who adopted the teaching of it in the first place. And why did they adopt "hell," the burning garbage heap? Why, to control of course!

The bottom line in Christianity is grace. Anything else just gets in the way.

I never knew this, and now that I do, I am happier.  Happier, I say!

~ Blair

The place mentioned in the Torah and Tanakh is Scheol. Depending on a persons interpretation. Took me a minute or two to figure out the word I wanted to use. Getting a bit old. Hehe. It could either be a valley somewhere in the  Egypt,Sinai,Israel area where a battle was fought or a place of rest for the soul. It was not considered an ends all point for the soul but acted as waiting area. The Greek place known as Hades also served the same purpose. The Elysian Fields were also located in Hades.

[Yvonne]

You Must Believe Jesus Christ Is The Son Of God...

  I must?

[cindianna_jones]

Yvonne, for you we'll make an exception!

Cindi

[tinkerbell]

Yvonne, for you we'll make an exception!

Cindi

LOL 

Yvonne, IMO MUST is too strong a word.  It's always our choice to believe or not to believe.

tink

[jamesBrine]

Dave could you further explain this: "And Jesus loved to talk about hell... to smack down the Pharisees... who were the ones who adopted the teaching of it in the first place. And why did they adopt "hell," the burning garbage heap? Why, to control of course!"
    I'm not quite sure what you mean by "to smack down the Pharisees." Could you please give me an example from scripture so I may better understand your point.
   
   Second, this point, "And why did they adopt "hell," the burning garbage heap? Why, to control of course!," seems to be speculation. Could you offer some proof or reasonable argument that the Pharisees "created" the concept of hell to try and control the people.

      Thanks.

[David W. Shelton]

Dave could you further explain this: "And Jesus loved to talk about hell... to smack down the Pharisees... who were the ones who adopted the teaching of it in the first place. And why did they adopt "hell," the burning garbage heap? Why, to control of course!"
    I'm not quite sure what you mean by "to smack down the Pharisees." Could you please give me an example from scripture so I may better understand your point.
  
   Second, this point, "And why did they adopt "hell," the burning garbage heap? Why, to control of course!," seems to be speculation. Could you offer some proof or reasonable argument that the Pharisees "created" the concept of hell to try and control the people.

      Thanks.

this is a pretty indepth topic that I'll probably go into a little later. The word used for hell in Hebrew was also "gehenna," which is that garbage heap thing.

I'm going to hold off on any further explanation for now, though... too tired to think at the moment!

See ya,
David

[katia]

You Must Believe Jesus Christ Is The Son Of God...

  I must?

No you mustn't 

[Emerald]

The concept of an conscious afterlife destination for the dead is abundant, ancient, and found in vast numbers of cultures. These after-death planes of existence are variously described as good, bad, and neutral. The concept of a hellish place of punishment has been around much longer than the word 'Hell' itself.

The word 'Hell', in English, comes from Norse Mythology where 'Hel' was both the name of the realm of the dead, and the female giant who ruled there. From the English speaking Christian point of reference, the word 'Hell' is often translated from and used interchangeably with Sheol, Hades, Tartarus, and Gehenna (as found in Biblical scripture), along with the Latin word 'infernus'.

Sheol - the ancient Hebrew term for the common destination of both the righteous and the unrighteous dead, the common grave of mankind. The term is found more than 60 times in the Old Testament. By the first century (Jesus' time of birth),  many of the Jewish people had come to believe those in Sheol awaited the resurrection either in comfort in the bosom of Abraham or in torment. The belief is reflected in the Biblical parable of Lazarus and Dives found in the New Testament [Luke 16:19].

Hades - the ancient Greek term for both the misty, gloomy underworld and the god of the dead. All mortal souls went to Hades regardless of reward or punishment. The KJV translates Hades as 'Hell' ten times and once as 'grave'. (Much of the New Testament is translated from original Scriptures written in Greek.)

Tartarus - from Greek mythology, both a god and a place of afterlife punishment in Hades. Plato (c. 400 BCE) wrote that souls were judged after death and those who received punishment were sent to Tartarus. The term is found only once in the Bible [2 Peter 2:4].

Gehenna - word derived from both Greek and Hebrew roots, it is a place name, literally 'Valley of Hinnom's son'. It is first mentioned as a deep, narrow ravine at the foot of the walls of the city of Jerusalem where all kinds of refuse was burned outside the city [Joshua 15:8]. Bodies of executed criminals or others deemed unworthy of a proper burial were taken there. Jewish tradition holds the Canaanites sacrificed children to their god Moloch in this place. In the New Testament, Gehenna is known as a place of "unquenchable fire" [Mark 9:43].

Infernus - the Latin word meaning 'being underneath', below, southern. The word is related to 'inferi' meaning those down below, the dead. (No fire here! Surprise!)

The word 'Pharisees' comes from the Hebrew word meaning 'separate', as one who is separated for a life of purity. The Pharisees were highly regarded as pious and extremely honest in their business dealings, honorable and most trustworthy. The Pharisees were, at various times, a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews that flourished about 400 years during the Second Temple Era (536 BCE to 70 CE, the time of the destruction of Herod's Temple and just a few decades after Jesus' death).

Back to you, David!
-Emerald