Has religion served its purpose?

@divegeester said
To repeat:

There is no hell, Jesus did away with it at Calvary
- Everyone is saved, everyone. Because of calvary and resurrection
- This eternal salvation which has been purchased for us can be experienced here in this life through being born again (using the biblical term)
- Therefore you cannot “lose” your salvation you can only experience it, or stop experienc ...[text shortened]... ecause I’ve done away the two most powerful tools in Christendom’s toolbox, hell and the fear of it.

This is a reasonable understanding of scripture.

@kellyjay said
That is exactly what you are doing; if your faith were in something real, there wouldn't be a change, but if you found what you thought was true wasn't, it is gone.

It is not "exactly what [I am] doing". My faith seemed real to me back then, just as yours seemed real to you in 2021.

@kellyjay said
When you then go and try and compare yourself to others who have not walked away, that is precisely what you are doing.

If you do eventually walk away, say, in 10 years from now, will it mean your belief in Jesus in 2021 was not real? Putting that to you - your logic - is precisely what I am doing.

@ghost-of-a-duke said
This is a reasonable understanding of scripture.

Thank you Mr Atheist (sic)

My challenge to the other Christian’s here not to accept my version of it, but to recognise that in taking away hell (which Christ did) then the fear of it goes also, and without these tools popular Christendom’s power over the laity goes with it and mankind is left with the beatification of the gospel and it’s power to draw a person to the freedom of experiencing a better spirituality free of the terror of losing faith, regaining faith, losing it, regaining it etc etc.

@divegeester said
Thank you Mr Atheist (sic)

My challenge to the other Christian’s here not to accept my version of it, but to recognise that in taking away hell (which Christ did) then the fear of it goes also, and without these tools popular Christendom’s power over the laity goes with it and mankind is left with the beatification of the gospel and it’s power to draw a person to the f ...[text shortened]... r spirituality free of the terror of losing faith, regaining faith, losing it, regaining it etc etc.

Nonsense.

There is absolutely no biblical evidence that you or anyone else can produce to support the assertion that Christ did away with hell.

Hell and death are cast into the lake of fire at the end of the millennial reign of Christ, of which the Apostle John wrote of decades after Jesus ascended.

Your understanding of scripture is woefully lacking.

The thing Jesus said he hated, i.e. the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, control, power and authority over the laity, hasn't gone away in two thousand years, and it won't go away until Jesus returns, in spite of your illusions of the "beautification of the gospel" of which it is abundantly clear you have virtually no concept of except for the shallow and superficial misapplications of it to anything relative to the minimal understanding of human experience that you possess as defined by the scriptures.

Born again Christians have no fear of hell and death.

The scriptures are clear, those that reject Christ face an eternity separated from the life of God.

For you to say otherwise is a direct contradiction of scripture, and is heresy. You are merely "giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils".

@josephw said


Born again Christians have no fear of hell and death.

The is not true at all. All people can face damnation if they live in sin. If your statement was true then Paul would not need to warn these very saved, born-again Chrsitian saints, to live righteously otherwise there is no eternal life in the Kingdom of God for them. This you can find in almost every single on of Pauls letters.

Why do Chrsitians ignore these warnings, proclaiming they can do as they please and still get eternal life, is really weird.

@josephw said
Nonsense.

I disagree.

@rajk999 said
Your post is a good example of a small minded person and wasted words. You talking about other people. Why not contribute something of substance about the topic? Is it because you cannot and you find it easier to engage in trivial gossip about who knows about faith. What do you know? Tell us.

I'll tell you this; you don't deserve salvation and the forgiveness of sin. No one does.

You can't do anything to earn it.

Keep believing that and you'll hear Jesus say to you, "I never knew you".

@josephw said
I'll tell you this; you don't deserve salvation and the forgiveness of sin. No one does.

You can't do anything to earn it.

Keep believing that and you'll hear Jesus say to you, "I never knew you".

Do you think you display the “fruit of the spirt” Josephsecondson?

@fmf said
You and I may not perceive the world the same way and we may disagree about fundamental things, but this does not mean that me expressing my views is me "merely trolling this forum". You are using the word "trolling" in a way that renders it meaningless.

Do you mean like the way you render "supernatural" meaningless?

@divegeester said
Do you think you display the “fruit of the spirt” Josephsecondson?

Talk about losing the thread!

You make a mockery of the fruit of the spirit by weaponizing it for the purpose of deriding another.

Grow up.

@josephw said
Do you mean like the way you render "supernatural" meaningless?

It is a weak Christian indeed who 'needs' their personal belief vindicated by the eternal torment of non-believers.

@divegeester said
I disagree.

To disagree without qualification, or to assert an opinion without evidence of support, renders you impotent.

@josephw said
I'll tell you this; you don't deserve salvation and the forgiveness of sin. No one does.

You can't do anything to earn it.

Keep believing that and you'll hear Jesus say to you, "I never knew you".

Maybe Paul might say that... I dont know neither do I care. I know what Jesus said and it is this, that the wise man keeps the commandments and the foolish man does not. Jesus said he knows all who keep the commandments, and all who keep the commandments know Him, and He abides in them. Your church doctrine ignores Christ and pays Him lip service only omitting the weightier matters of eternal life which you profess to have but you dont because you profess in vain. Your faith without works is dead. You preach dead faith.

@ghost-of-a-duke said
It is a weak Christian indeed who 'needs' their personal belief vindicated by the eternal torment of non-believers.

That's an obtuse ideological assertion.

My personal belief isn't "vindicated" by any such thing.

For you to even suggest it is indicative of a level of paranoid suspicion not consistent with someone of your intellectual stature.

The scriptures are clear and unequivocal in their descriptions and in the terms used about the reality of hell and eternal separation from the life of God for those that reject God's salvation through His son Jesus Christ.

Whether or not I believe it is irrelevant. It's what the Bible says.