Mr Khan said:
Slimebeast said:
Vertigo-X said:
... is a bribe to the hearts and minds of humanity.
The idea behind the major religions seems to be if you follow God's/Allah's laws, you will get to go to heaven. If you're a good person, you will have a pleasureable afterlife.
To my eyes, this is merely a bribe to convince people who can't control their baser instincts alone. A reason to behave.
If there is a God out there, I would think that, through acts of kindness and compassion, He is/was trying to show us the virtues of being 'good' through our own decision making process. To use logic and reasoning to overpower our urges and lusts. To understand that hurting others has rammifications in *this* world, not to be bribed with 'behaving' for a treat some time down the road in another world.
Thoughts?
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You have a simplified and flawed view of the Christian concept of heaven (I don't blame you though, as even the Church back in the day had become so corrupt regarding this concept that Luther had to come and reform it in the 16th Century, which eventually also affected the Catholic church for the better).
The key concept in Christianity is that a human can not be saved through his works, but only through God's grace.
The concept of salvation through God's grace allows humans to gain eternal, perfect life despite being piece of shit beings in this life on earth. You just have to become aware of that fact and ask God for mercy.
Now good works are still an ideal and they hopefully come naturally from the change in a person who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, but a born again Christian is still a sinner and dependent on God's grace.
Good works can lead to rewards in Heaven but not to salvation itself.
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That is only the belief of the protestants. Catholicism still holds onto the idea of good works, its just abandoned the idea that "anything you do for the Catholic Church is good," (whether it is in fact morally correct), and lost the idea of indulgences
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It's not that simple.
One could say that the Catholics have a paradox on this concept - on one hand they acknowledge that salvation is ultimately all up to God's eternal grace, but at the same time they emphasize the "a true faith is not without good works" more than Protestants do (kinda like the paradox of the mystery of the Trinity - that some would describe as a logical inconsistency).
Also remember that Catholics have a very strong emphasis on the confession (which personally I think is a great thing, it's just that scripture doesn't dictate it has to be made in front of a priest), which makes your bad deeds abolished, you just have to confess and admit them regularly.
I see it more like Catholics believe you have to "take up your cross" daily instead of just relying on a one time moment á la Protestants and violá, you're saved for all eternity.
