Is it easy to be a Christian?

Menotu · Post by **Menotu** » Mon Feb 24, 2020 8:00 pm

It seems rather easy to be a Christian:
1) Choose the lifestyle that best fits your needs
2) Read the bible
3) Accept Jesus/God
4) Live as best you can based on Jesus/God
5) Ask forgiveness when you fail (if your belief system isn't the 'once saved always saved' type)
6) Repeat as necessary

Or is it more difficult?
If so, how?

Adstar · Post by **Adstar** » Wed Feb 26, 2020 6:14 am

Divine Insight wrote:
Adstar wrote: So if i was creating my ""own vision of God"" I would reject the eternal lake of fire and would be more attracted to the doctrine that some hold called annihilationism.. The belief that those who will be cast into the eternal lake of fire will be destroyed and cease to exist.. That after a very quick death they would cease to exist. So no eternal torment.. But since i Trust that the Bible is truth and that Gods will is right then i accept that the eternal lake of fire will be a place of torment for ever and ever for those cast into it..
But that's still just your interpretation. So even though your getting the fodder for these ideas from the Biblical doctrine it doesn't make your interpretation correct.

Well i am either correct or incorrect.. So each person can decide what i share is true or not...

Moreover, what sense would it make for a creator God to torture humans for eternity in a hell fire?

Again thats why one needs Faith in God...

You'd need to believe that your God is an extremely evil and uncaring God.

No.. I need to accept my limited human perception cannot see things from a POV of a perfect God... I do not see God as evil I trust that He is good..

Is that what you believe? And if not, then how to you explain his extremely evil behavior when it comes to hell.

Well thats your interpretation of Hell.. You a faulty human being thinks it is evil.. Thats your opinion.. Now i believe that is not Gods opinion and since God is God and you are not.. Gods opinion is what rules..

As you point out, most humans recognize this to be something quite disgusting.

Why should anyone choose to believe in a disgusting God?

Again your opinion that it is disgusting is Your Opinion.. And if God exists and He does then i believe in Him no matter how difficult it is for me to come to terms with His will.. There is NO logic in saying because i think such and such is evil therefore such and such does not exist..

I could read a history book about World War 2 detailing the rise of Hitler and the 6 years of slaughter and misery and then conclude that because i think WW2 and Hitler was evil then WW2 never happened and Hitler never existed..

If i stood up in a history class and announced that as my conclusion then the whole class would burst out in laughter and i would be mocked.. But a lot of atheist use the same wonky logic when it comes to God.. That being i disagree with God therefore God does not exist..

Adstar wrote: Well i do not believe all Christians are Christians...
But now look where you are at. Your going to accuse everyone who doesn't agree with your Biblical interpretations of not being true Christians.

Well only if they disagree with the Core doctrines of salvation.. There are a lot of doctrines we debate in here between Christians that have no salvational significance.. I have just been engaged in a debate on calvinisim on this site with other Christians.. some are opposed to my belief and are enthusiastic supporters of Calvinism.. I do not look upon them as being false Christians because they are Calvinists.. Because wether one is a calvinist or not has no bearing on ones salvation.. Same goes for doctrines like the Rapture or the timing of the second coming of Jesus..

Now you've got a theology that turns you against your own brothers. All because you interpret things different from how they do.

Only if they disbelieve in the core doctrines.. And if they disagree with the core doctrines then they are Not brothers in Jesus with me anyway..

Wouldn't you need to think that you are quite special to have gotten it right when they got it all wrong?

Nope.. I am not a person of the highest intellect,, puffed up with arrogant pride with a superiority complex.. Because i believe that all the wisdom to do with understanding the will of God does not come from ones abilities,, but it comes from the Holy Spirit.. So no glory or honor or praise is to or for me.. It is all Gods glory,, all his wisdom..

Divine Insight · Post by **Divine Insight** » Wed Feb 26, 2020 10:06 am

JehovahsWitness wrote: God will kindly accept that and provide him with future life to prove the sincerity of his intentions.

Why would anyone need to prove the sincerity of their intentions in Christianity?

To begin with, if that was the requirement then there would be no need for Jesus to have died for our sins.

Secondly Christianity demands that we cannot earn our own salvation. If proving our sincerity could earn us our salvation then Christianity would be wrong to claim that we can't earn our own salvation.

Finally, doesn't Christianity claim that their God is omniscient and what's in the mind, heart, and soul of men? If that's the case why would anyone need to be given more time to prove the sincerity of their intent? Your God is supposed to already know what their intentions are.

So your apologies for your religion are themselves contradictory to the very principles of the religion.

For your apology to hold you would need three things to be true.

1. A person can earn their own salvation via their own sincerity.
2. There would therefore be no need for Jesus as "savior".
3. Your God cannot be omniscient, and must actually test people over time to see whether or not they appear to be sincere.

This would be a God who has no more ability to know what other people are actually thinking than any mere mortal human. God would need to guess, whether the person is actually sincere, or just pretending to be sincere to earn his way into heaven.

Your apologies continually fall flat.

Or I should say that the apologies that you have accepted from the JW organization fall flat. I'm surprised you haven't called them out on these absurd apologies yourself., Instead you just repeat them here but they don't hold water.

JehovahsWitness · Post by **JehovahsWitness** » Wed Feb 26, 2020 12:32 pm

[Replying to post 21 by Divine Insight]

CAN ONE EARN SALVATION?

TO EARN

1 to receive as return for effort and especially for work done or services rendered

2 to come to be duly worthy of or entitled or suited to
source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/earn

ANSWER No, biblically one cannot earn salvation . When we speak of salvation in this context we are speaking about being "saved" from the sad eventuality of death. To "earn" something basically means to obtain the right to something by means of ones personal efforts. But life is not a right it is a gift given on condition. Further, scripturally all humans inherited a tendency to sin which ultimately leads to death and no imperfect human action or service can remove this eventuality. The human family finds itself sold as it were into slavery to sin and death and none of the slaves (humans) can possibly "earn" enough to buy their own or anyone else's freedom. Speaking of imperfect human efforts, Psalms observes...

PSALMS 49:8 - New International Version

the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough--

IF NO HUMAN EFFORT CAN EARN FREEDOM FROM SIN AND DEATH ARE WE ALL DOOMED?

No, God provided the price for human salvation as a gift by way of Jesus perfect life as a ransom. In short, the price was gifted to humans because of Gods great love and mercy.

IF THE GIFT OF SALVATION IS FREE WHAT ROLE DOES FAITH HAVE ?

ANSWER God offers that gift freely to anyone that wants it but this still requires we take the needed steps to obtain it .

To illustrate: You are informed that a million dollar gift is on offer from the government. Anyone that wants the money can have it no strings attached. The money can be picked up at any local post office upon showing the cashier your ID. Does the fact that you have to take time out of your day, go to the Post office, show your ID and sign for the check mean you have "earnt" the million dollars? Is it still free if you have to make an effort to pick it up?

Jehovah (the God of the bible) has offered the opportunity to obtain eternal life in paradise, free of suffering, pain, sickness and death to anyone that wants it. But effort will need to be made to obtain that gift. One of the most well known scriptures in the bible is John 3 verse 16 which reads...

JOHN 3:16

For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life

Jesus is the "winning ticket", Jesus is "the Post office", "the door", "the way"... there is no restriction on how many people can benefit from what is on offer but they have to want it enough to follow procedure. But aren't I "earning" my salvation by believing in Jesus? Are you earning root canal treatment by believing in a dentist? You can believe in the dentist all you like but your tooth won't get treated unless you go to the cabinet and he contents to treat you. If he treats you free of charge you haven't earnt a filling by believing he could, any more than you earnt the treatment by getting the bus to the surgery.

CONCLUSION God offers salvation by those that prove the sincerity of their desire for life by taking the needed steps outlined in scripture. Those steps of themselves could never result in everlasting life, so one should never conclude obedience to God "earns" salvation. At the same time, those that fail to show God they are worthy of the precious gift on offer forfeit any chance of obtaining it.

JW

FURTHER READING Are Jehovah's Witnesses Trying to Earn Salvation by Their Door-to-Door Ministry?
https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesse ... -ministry/

Debating Christianity and Religion

Is it easy to be a Christian?

Is it easy to be a Christian?

Re: Is it easy to be a Christian?