I am the sole person that I know personally that does not believe in hell. Or not quite, anyways. I haven't come to an actual firm position yet, but I doubt that'll happen anytime soon. Anyways, I'm usually the person with different beliefs, the one that questions everything at my church. It's fun. hehe.
We talked about Grace in class today. And somehow we got to the part where someone said you had to ask for grace and one of our teachers said no, you don't, it's a gift that is freely given. And then she went on to say that as long as you believe Jesus is the Son of God and want to follow him and are baptized, you are given this grace. And I was like, "...is that not asking for it?".
I don't get it. Why is this gift of grace extended only to those who believe? If it is, then is it still grace? What does it mean to be a believer anyways?
I mean, dress it up as much as you want, but when it comes down to it, most Christians believe that you have to believe/do this, this, and this to get to heaven. What kind of God is that?
It also seems like people live to go to heaven. As if this life is just a trial run, just a test, and if you believe in God--> heaven, if you don't, sucks for you, you're going to hell.
I don't think that's a very good way to live.
I dunno, Christianity doesn't really make sense anymore.
Well I could go on and on about this stuff, but I'll shut up now. Discuss? Let me know what you think! :)
p.s. LCD Soundsystem is actually pretty good.
p.p.s If Grace Is True is a book. about universalism, from what I remember.
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3 comments:
idk what i think of all this.
i do believe that living the christian life to get to 'paradise' or to escape hell is not the right way to do it. you're losing a lot through that.
"Religion is for people who believe in hell; spirituality is for people who've been there."
'christianity' is twisted in so many ways... and i think a lot of that is due to 'christian' being used as more than a noun, but also as an adjective.. because we mix 'religion' with it too.
when you're given a gift.. you get to accept it or reject it. you generally aren't forced to take it... and if you are that's not always much fun. Grace can save us. it does. but i think we have to accept it
i discovered recently that many people i know believe you aren't 'saved' if you aren't baptized... that's something i don't really agree with. so yeah i need to blog about that one of these days.. :)
"when you're given a gift.. you get to accept it or reject it. you generally aren't forced to take it... and if you are that's not always much fun. Grace can save us. it does. but i think we have to accept it"
Chrissy. that's almost exactly what I was going to say!
About a lot of this stuff I'm still unsure. It seems like a big muddled up mess in my mind and I feel like I just need to sort it all out. But what I do know I believe is that Jesus Christ lived and died to save us. His grace is a gift given to all. And like Chrissy said, it's up to us whether or not we accept it when that time comes.
I think a lot of things go into the concept of heaven and hell. I'm not sure we can fully understand it in this life. Or maybe not 'can' but 'will'. Like I said I'm still sorting out what I believe about a lot of this stuff.
good thoughts. Personally something that I'm still trying to figure out is why so many people think that they need to put things into what jesus would think of what you're doing and if he would except you. Maybe I'm wrong here but I get the vibe that jesus was a very forgiving person and honestly I don't think he would want people to be using his name to tell people not to do something. If you go by the way some people protray him as (as to what some people say is what he thinks is right and wrong) then he must be a pretty impossible person to get along with. To me, jesus was a very open person into letting people in and taking them for who they are and I don't think that they have to be the ideal Christian to be given grace. I think it's more about opening up to new people and bring them into a newer life and forgiving them. Not giving grace to those that follow every rule and do everything perfect. If that was the case, then no one would be given grace. Just some thought. Not treaty put together and maybe not even making sense. Just some things that I'be be thinking about
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