| Lord Flashheart said: ManusJustus has it spot on. I'm also tired of hearing I'm going to hell because I don't kneel before Zod, I mean God. Sure i'm a little sarky and don't think much of people but I don't go out and hurt people yet because I don't go to church one day a week I'm condemned. All I would have to do is go to church to be saved, I wouldn't have to change anything about the way I live my life so it appears to me it's not how you live your life but how often you pledge your unwavering subjection to a deity. Doesn't add up to me. It's family members that have said I'm going to hell and they're trying to save me. What a wonderful god that would force family members to say that. I was working on a production line with a guy from Africa and we started talking and he asked me if I drank. As he was the same age as me and I'm not a drunk I thought it would be safe to say yes. So I asked him if he did as I don't care if someones tea-total and he said no. Fair enough until he gave his reason why. He said he didn't because the Lord Jesus never drank and then I knew I was in for it. I had to spend the next 7 hours listening to him preach to me. |
Goodness... your post (and that of ManusJustus) indeed exposes some major issues that plague Christendom, including (but certainly not limited to):
- bizarre misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the Bible (such as "Jesus didn't drink") and ("going to church will 'save' you")
as well as
- grossly inappropriate and insensitive presentations of information (such as "you're going to hell")
Again, I feel the need to apologize on their behalf. In regards to these issues, here's the best advice you will get: when a fallible human being is trying to communicate any sort of biblical and/or Christian information to you, take it with a grain of salt; they could be completely misguided in what they are trying to tell you. Therefore, it is always better to directly consult the source (which is, of course, the Bible) on your own and find out for yourself just what it says. To emphasize how much better and more useful this approach is, let's consider the "Jesus-didn't-drink" comment uttered from your African co-worker:
In chapter 2 of the Gospel of John, Jesus famously turns water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee. If Jesus didn't want people to be drinking, why in the world would he do such a thing? Additionally, it's well-known that Jesus himself drank wine with his disciples at the Last Supper.
Bam. Refuted.
Now, of course, you can (and probably will) come at me with the argument of "you're telling me to not listen to "fallible" humans, yet you want me to refer to a book written by fallible humans?" A logical response. But this argument, the argument of the infallibility of the Bible despite its human writers, is an entirely separate topic from the point I am making. To that end, I would again encourage you to do some of your own research. Many people, such as C.S. Lewis and Josh McDowell, have set out to destroy Christianity by totally disproving the infallability argument... and didn't exactly find what they were looking for.
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