Do you believe that you have to be a Christian to be saved?

[JacobEzra.]

Ill leave such question up to God.

May his will be done. Only he can decide who is given heaven and who is not.

 

[darkstar]

What 'contemplation and atonement' would Jesus need to make while Jesus was in hell ? [Acts 2vs27,31]

By that line of thinking, I could say that Jesus was as devout as one can be. Why would he go to hell then?

 

[Dezzie]

I technically don't know this answer because God has never came down and told me... but I like to think that it doesn't. Personally, I don't think you have to believe in any religion to be "saved". As long as you are a good person, it shouldn't matter. If that matters more than being a good person, that stinks!

 

[URAVIP2ME]

By that line of thinking, I could say that Jesus was as devout as one can be. Why would he go to hell then?

Because the 'biblical hell' is just the common grave for the dead.

Jesus died. At death then Jesus would go the biblical hell [sheol]
Jesus taught the dead sleep.- [John 11vs11-14]
So, Jesus believed he would go to hell [sheol] and sleep death's sleep [RIP] until God would resurrect Jesus out of the biblical hell. -Acts 2vs31,32.

Why do people die according to Romans [6v23]?
Don't people die because they sin ?
So, the price we pay for sin is: death.
If we could stop sinning we would not die.
None of us can stop sinning.

Jesus bore the asking price for our sins because his perfect blood was of redeeming or ransoming value.-1st John 1v7; Matthew 20v28
So, > except for those of Matthew [12v32; Psalm 92v7],
Jesus faithful death paid the ransom price for our sins.
Romans [6v7] says the dead are freed or acquitted from sin.
[acquitted from our inherited sinful imperfection from father Adam]
So, our death does Not mean now innocent,
but like a judge [Jesus] can pardon a person so the crime [sin] charges no longer stick.
That means there is No post-mortem penalty for sins.
'Death' stamps the asking price for sin as: Paid in Full.

What remains is the fact we can not resurrect oneself or another.
Jesus has the 'keys' to death and hell [sheol]- Rev 1v18
Keys to unlock the grave [biblical hell sheol]
All that lived between Genesis and Malachi and died before Jesus died
will have an earthly resurrection. A resurrection on earth with the prospect of living forever on a paradisaic earth starting at the time of Jesus millennial reign over earth.
So, [except for those resurrected to heaven -Rev20v6;5vs9,10;14v4] the majority of resurrected mankind will have the opportunity to live forever on earth because of Jesus being in the Bible's hell [sheol] and being resurrected by God, gives us the opportunity for everlasting life either in the heavens or forever on earth.

 

[Walkntune]

Q- for those of you christians who do not believe in hell,
what is it that YOU believe you are 'saved' from (or for)?

Assuming of course, that there are any of you
who don't believe in an afterlife hell.

I would say from self sabotaging actions and addictions which is why a higher power is the basis of support groups.
Romans 7
15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

 

[gdemoss]

I would say from self sabotaging actions and addictions which is why a higher power is the basis of support groups.

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

For Paul it wasn't about this life. Was he saved from sabotaging actions and addictions only to be beaten, ship wrecked, stoned, etc? The Christian life isn't designed to be a wonderful experience. For those who are willing to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. If we are doing this thing right most people hate us and would like to see bad things happen to us. Beware if men speak highly of you.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Q- for those of you christians who do not believe in hell,
what is it that YOU believe you are 'saved' from (or for)?
Assuming of course, that there are any of you
who don't believe in an afterlife hell.

Is it those of you Christians who do not believe in hell,
or those of you Christians that do not believe in the 'non-biblical hell' ?

The clergy class often teach a forever hell burning myth.
Whereas the 'biblical hell' [sheol] is just the common grave of mankind where the dead sleep the deep sleep of death until resurrected to heaven or earth.
[John 11vs11-14; Ecc. 9v5; Psalm 6v5; 13v3; 115v17; Daniel 12vs2,13]

Genuine Christians would believe in the 'Bible hell' [sheol] where Jesus slept in death until God resurrected Jesus. - Acts 2vs27, 31,32

Jesus taught resurrection after death. However, Jesus did Not teach an automatic afterlife where there was conscious on-going life in the spirit realm without a biblical resurrection.

Like the 'non-biblical hell' myth, so is the 'immortal soul' a myth.
The Bible teaches that the soul dies -[Ezekiel 18vs4,20]
That means the soul is not death proof. The soul can be destroyed.
Even Satan will be destroyed.
-Hebrews 2v14 B.

Since the 'Bible hell' is temporary [Rev 20vs13,14] and [except for those of Matt 12v32] everyone in the Bible's hell will be resurrected, that means the dead are 'saved' from everlasting destruction via resurrection to either heaven or on a paradisaic earth during Jesus messianic [1000-year] reign over earth.

Those 'sheep'-like people that are alive at the time of Matthew [25vs31,32; Rev. 7v14] they are 'saved' alive in that they are delivered or rescued at the time of the great tribulation. [Matt 24v21] They come out [ saved] out of the great tribulation alive right into the start of Jesus millennial reign over earth.

 

[RedDragon94]

John 14:6 does make a compelling case, true. But take the context. Jesus told his disciples, "you know the way to the place I am going", but Thomas asked him how it was possible for them to know the way if they didn't know where he was going. Jesus' answer was made to assure the disciples that they would go wherever he went and that, through following his teachings, they'd get to heaven.
And let's think about what the words mean for a second. "No one comes to the Father except through me." Does this mean that one must be Christian to be saved? Or does it rather mean that it is Jesus who decides who comes to the Father? I think it is more likely to be the latter. We can have as much faith and belief as we want but, as humans, even that will always be weak and flawed. As humans, we can never worship God enough to do Him justice. All the faith and worship or all the humans, angels, and extraterrestrials, both real and fictional who ever lived would not be able to do God justice, so it is through his mercy that we can attain salvation.
Ultimately, Jesus decides who can come to salvation and who isn't ready for it quite yet.

That quote in Acts wasn't said by Jesus, so it doesn't count. Anything not said by the J-man himself should be taken with utmost scturiny, especially if it was said by Peter or Paul.

Also, remember "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they are doing". There are, remember, people on Earth who really are ignorant of the truth and can't help that fact. Will God punish them for this? Would the potter send to Hell the pot that he, himself, made crooked?

Of course, there's an easy answer to all this, one that fills up all the holes in the doctrine. It's brilliant, but it's unorthodox and it'll get me labelled as a heretic quicker than you can say "Gehenna".

...

Spoiler: Unorthodox but logical thought incoming

Reincarnation

So are Peter and Paul extra-biblical? Is what they have written less authoritative?

 

[Spiffy]

What about John 14:6, and Acts 4:12?

"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.'"
You're forcing a 'you must be Christian" on Jesus' words. He says no such thing. Read it carefully for what it actually says, not for what you've been taught it says.

"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved."
This also does not specifically state that one must be "Christian" to be saved. It says only that no one is saved except through Christ.

I believe one need not be "Christian" in the sense of membership in an organized church to be saved. The Bible is highly figurative; organized Christianity's tight embrace of literalism as the way to read and interpret the Scriptures is a sign of her apostacy from the One who saves. An example of this apostacy is forcing meaning on Bible passages to conform Jesus to one's doctrine rather than listening to what He's actually saying.

 

[roger1440]

In traditional Christianity, you can't achieve unity with God if you're in a state of sin. Dying and never achieving unity with God is referred to as "Hell". Traditionally, Jesus saved us from this.



Well, at least I have one person on my side!
Granted, you're not a Christian in the traditional sense, but you're more Christian than some of these traditionalists ever will be.

Spoiler: Word of the day

"Traditional"

Now I'm confused How would you explain this verse.
."Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save." (Psalm 146:3)