A question for the religious and non-religious alike.

[Axtech]

But we do know that God loves everyone and wants them to join him in heaven. He welcomes everyone in. The priest said that when someones soul arrives all sins of life are forgotten and the soul is welcomed into the waiting arms of The Lord.

Except that we don't know that. We don't know if there is a God, never mind what his intentions are.

[Rusty]

Let me rephrase it then. Those who belive in God believe he loves us all.

[Joe Cooler]

plus if god loves everyone and forgives everyone .. what's the point of hell then? why is hell even necessary if everyone is going to be forgiven for their actions anyway?

First off you have to ask for forgiveness.

But again, how do you determine that? How bad is pretty bad? Someone commits one murder, they're sorry for it, they'll never do it again .. will they go to hell? Someone commits 5 murders, hell worthy? How can you judge someone based on their actions and who's considered 'evil' and who isn't .. gah.

From the Christian/Catholic stand point we all sin, we all are not perfect. Were all going to hell unless Jesus takes our sins upon himself. In Gods eyes no crime is worse than another. The results of your sins on earth may be different but eternally they are not. Lying, stealing, killing, and raping all result in the same destiny. However anyone of these crimes can be forgiven.

Exactly, so we're supposed to just live our lives based on 'what ifs' all the time?

Who wants to live like that? Who can live like that and call it living?

Your right, what kind of life, is a life of what ifs. Thats why I choose not to live like that. I believe that i've been forgiven and will be forgiven of my sins because of what Jesus did for me and no amount of failure or mistakes can take me away from that. I'm all for absolutes.

[Joey]

i see, so we can go on killing sprees and murder and rape whomever we want .. in the end all we have to do is ask for forgiveness and our sins will be forgiven? and hell is for the people who don't ask for forgiveness then?

there's something seriously wrong with that.

[Joe Cooler]

I'm not the one to judge Joey. All I know is what I've learned from the Bible and i've learned very little. I'm no theologian. I just answer to the best of my knowledge so please excuse me if i'm wrong on some of my doctrine.

I can say this though. Anyone who knowingly kills people or rapes people simply because they know they can ask for forgiveness probably wont get that forgiveness. Why? Because theres no way they would be sincere when they asked for it. God knows the hearts of men.

[Joey]

i'm not meaning this to come off like i'm judging you at all ..

i just have a hard time understanding religion .. it all just seems to contradict itself.

[Joe Cooler]

I dont think your judging me at all. I just wish I had better answers for you.

[Rusty]

religioun is complicated to explain.

[Joe Cooler]

But any follower of religion should be very well versed in it. They should know exactly what they believe and be able to defend it. Something I definetely need to work on.

[Rusty]

I believe in it. I'm just saying it's a long on going debate. Someone well versed in religion may still have a hard time finding all the answers against somone who doesn't believe. There's pretty much an endless amount of questions and answeres for both sides.

[Joe Cooler]

Of course.

[.:x:Marissa:x:.]

I just finished reading The Da Vinci Code. Everything stated about Christianity in the book is factual...it reveals a darker side of the church and Christianity. Quite interesting.

[Rusty]

darker side?

[.:x:Marissa:x:.]

Ok maybe darker wasn't the right word to use...my bad.

Just it shows a different perspective to christianity.

[Rusty]

oh cool

[Joe Cooler]

I'd really like to read the book but i'm a little hesitant. From what i've heard a lot of the "facts" stated in the book are false or slightly twisted. Regardless I'll pick it up when I can.

[gerri_cherry]

Ok maybe darker wasn't the right word to use...my bad.

Just it shows a different perspective to christianity.

like what sort of things does the book tap into? i want to read that book but i'm not sure if i should waste my time or not

[Axtech]

Here's Aerin's very recent review from her LJ (since it's not a friends only journal, I think it's safe to post it. hope you don't mind, Aerin! )

So I finished The Da Vinci Code, which, all in all, was a good read, although certainly not everything it's cracked up to be.

The premise of the novel is an interesting idea, but not one that I'd place any stock in -- after all, this is fiction. What I find really amusing, then, is the Christian response to the book. There are at least four books that scramble to refute Brown's claims from a Christian perspective - Cracking Da Vinci's Code, Breaking the Da Vinci Code, The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code, and Fact and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code. Interesting. Because, last I checked, Dan Brown wasn't claiming to be revealing the absolute truth about Christian history, he was writing a novel. You know, novel? Those things that people make up?

I find it especially ridiculous how at least one of these response books (Cracking Da Vinci's Code) tries to spin it like Dan Brown has an "agenda". Now, I don't know Mr. Brown, but I'm fairly sure his "agenda" is, at least in part, to make a lot of money, and he's been extremely successful in doing so. But this author would have us believe that Mr. Brown is an agent of the devil or some dastardly fringe group, trying to lure Christians away from the faith. Well, if there are indeed people out there who don't understand the difference between fiction and non-fiction, and are going to abandon their lifelong faith because a poorly-written best-selling novel said that maybe Jesus was married, well... if I were Christian, I'd say "good riddance, dumbass." But that's just me.

But if you're in the market for fiction that makes perfect sense, and could be true, and would be really neat if it was true, check out Orson Scott Card's Atlantis. Sometimes it really does suck that fiction is, in fact, just fiction.

[gerri_cherry]

eh thanks. i may still go and check the book out though. i'm a bit intrigued now

[Rusty]

If I wanna read a book about christianity, I'll read the bible instead.