Originally posted by Aztec Riddle
Ok but what if you're a good person who has never heard of jesus or christainity, you're saying only believers that jesus was gods sons go to
heaven? sounds a #e deal
Well were you asking me? Well since nobody else answered. The answer is I dunno. Depends on your personal beliefs I guess. Nobody really knows.
Some people believe you'll be given a chance to accept Jesus after you die. Depends on what you believe. Here's what I believe.
James 3:
Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
(Here you'll be judged more strictly if you know God's word. If not any punishment will be lighter for you.)
Romans 2:14
for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who
show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else
excusing them.
(If you don't know God's word you'll still be judged according to your own conscious as bearing witness and everyone believes in right and wrong
even if they've never heard about Jesus.
Luke 12:47-48
That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48. But the one
who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.
(If you don't know the word you'll be punished less, but if you do something deserving of punishment you're still gonna get some punishment.)
So basically if you've never heard of Jesus your punishment is less, but you'll still be judged according to your own moral standards. That might
not help you much. After all, are you saying you've never done anything that you thought was wrong? I think it's wrong to steal, but I won't lie.
When I was a kid I stole stuff a time or two. Heck sometimes I think about stealing my neighbors corvette just for fun now and I'm full grown lol.
See, that's a human for you. Even when we write our own moral standards and laws we get it wrong. We're perfectly hopeless of being perfect even
according to our own moral standards. That's why there's the Jesus. We also start to see why everyone is a sinner here. Sinner not really equal to
evil. Sin is just a thing humans have because we always screw up. That's what sin is. It's in our nature to screw up.
I think the confusion stems from an entitlement attitude basically. It's why don't I deserve to go to Heaven? Well seriously, ask the question the
other way around. What have you done that you deserve to go to Heaven? What makes you or me such hot commodities lol? Well if you answer honestly the
answer is nothing. We haven't done one darn thing that we deserve to get into Heaven. Not a single thing.
Really we're supposed to die and rot in the ground forever. That's how our bodies were really designed. In the old Testament the case could be made
that your reward for following God's word wasn't even eternal life. The reward was Israel having it's own nation and God promised your bloodline
would get spread down through the generations. You still ended up dead though.
Eventually I guess God decided he loved us enough to send Jesus so our sins could be paid, but we never deserved that. Like I said, I can't even get
inline with my own moral judgments let alone God's. I'd rather be judged on if I believed in Jesus or not then my own conscious. If I was judged by
my own morals I would be a hopeless failure. I'd never get into Heaven that way lol.
But I wouldn't call it a crap deal that God gave us a second way. There's still the way of being perfectly sinless if you can manage it. The problem
is I never met anyone that good. So, God offered an alternative. He made it easier for us, not harder.
[edit on 11-4-2009 by tinfoilman]