Truly appreciate the full and detailed view point.
So if Jeffrey Dahmer or Hitler accepts Christ on their deathbed and the Dali Lama (sp?) remains a Buddhist to his last breath, Dahmer is going to heaven and the Dali is going to hell?
That seems like a recipe for tribalism and justification of horrible behavior. As in, as long as I eventually join the right religion, all misery created is forgiven. And no matter how good and pious someone else is, if they don’t accept a certain religion it’s for naught and they are eternally damned.
Too harsh a take?
Warning, the topic has background and those with ADHD or no real understanding of the bible will not understand any of this and so do NOT read…it is lengthy. First, I am not currently an active reader of the bible or supplemental books pertaining to such and haven’t been for a few years. No doubt there are many better versed than I that will not respond to these questions. Obviously, the questions have existed for a long time suggesting that a single answer has not been satisfactory. Over the years I have read some of those and was not entirely satisfied myself. What I can’t do at this time is recall some of those even if I was left wanting.
However, inside the questions is the implicit thought that all religions are the same to downplay the importance or primacy of Christianity and this one is easily answered and should for perspective
No, Christianity is very different even with sharing some of the same thoughts of other religions. We know Christianity grew out of Judaism and depending on what reference is used, Judaism and Hinduism are the oldest religions.
Hopefully, there is nobody that reads any of this that questions if Jesus existed. It is a historical statement of fact. The only legitimate question is whether his miracles existed and that He rose from the dead where atheists don’t believe He did, while Christians believe He did. Relative to Christ being the 2nd person of the Trinity and what differentiates Christianity from other religions are the following:
1) If God exists in some fashion, it seems reasonable that His announcement and any prefiguration would exist as to prevent imposters from claiming such. Christ’s birth, ancestry and death were predicted in the OT & NT where Passover and the Seder meal was a prefiguration of Christ’s crucifixion. Backdating to forge these accounts have thoroughly been discredited. So Christ and Christianity are the only religion where the central figure was pre-announced.
2) Of the older religions, Hinduism allows the choice of different God where we know Christianity has one God and that the “growth” of Christianity resulted, not by the longevity of “a god”, but by the death of God.
3) Although I may disagree with BNI the importance of “works” , it is not the primacy of Christian faith. Referenced in the bible concerning salvation are past, present and future references. Here are some references to “good works”.
Mt 7:21 - not lord lord, but he who does the will of father
Mt 19:16-17 - to have life, keep the commandments
Jn 14:21 - he who keeps my commandments loves me
Rom 2:2-8 - eternal life by perseverance in good works
Gal 5:4-6 - nothing counts but faith working through love
Eph 2:8-10 - we are created in Christ Jesus for good works
Phil 2:12-13 - work out salvation with fear and trembling
James 2:14-24 - a man is justified by works & not faith alone
Perhaps this is in reference to the many rooms being prepared. Those with minimal good works probably get closer to the ice machine.
3) When the curtain was ripped, time was forever divided.
4) Those that were disciples before becoming apostles, all chose a horrible death rather than deny Christ.
So I believe the implicit desire to equalize religions is inaccurate. With the difference in religions, and the one I believe is superior, what happens to a nonbeliever? This is where opinions can flourish. I do not believe condemnation exists to those that have good works according to their religion and I do not believe killing the infidels falls into the good works all under the heading of not being exposed to Christianity and this certainly would exist to a Christian family that lost a child before baptism and this is a whole other take that would be quite long. Christ life is only accounted for 29 or such days in the bible and so there is a lot we do not know and this is verified by the wedding in Cana where Mary already knew of miracles or she wouldn’t have asked Jesus to do one knowing His time had not yet come, but being His mother and fully aware of honoring His mother (Ten Commandments), Jesus performed such for her.
The gospels were written with potential eye witnesses alive at the time of writing and certainly at most one generation removed. In the last gospel and the last part of that gospel , the beloved apostle John sums this up by stating in John 21:25- But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. I’m not sure we can quantify all the questions with appropriate answers.
