Amen! I'm right with you here.
To receive forgiveness...we repent. Do you believe this?
No. I believe we repent as a response to the forgiveness we've received. God is always the initiator...we are always the responder.
Belief is important. You are not going to live a Godly life or follow Christ's example if you do not believe that he is our Redeemer. With belief comes love. And yes, when we love our neighbors and show love, we are doing what Christ commanded. I don't disagree with you there but you can't follow in Christ's footsteps, if you don't believe in Him.
I disagree. Christ came to complete humanity. Christ gave us the example of how we should live. Following the example of Christ is the natural state of humanity, as God created us: Being created in the "image of God," which is love, our natural state is to live in 1) love with God (however an individual defines God -- this might not be the Judeo-Christian definition...) and 2) love with our neighbor. Buddhists do this all the time, yet they don't "believe" in Christ -- at least not in the way the Christian Church says we should "believe."
With God comes love -- not belief -- for living in love is how God created us. I believe that one can follow Christ's example of life, even if they have never heard of him. Christ embodied a way of living, not a belief system.
You make a choice when you become a Christian. Without Christ...you are not promised eternal life in heaven. According to the Bible...you are either of Christ or you are not. There is no in between. There is no middle ground. And according to the Bible, there is a very real heaven to place your treasures in and very real hell to avoid.
You make a response when you become a Christian. Christ calls -- you answer. The thief on the cross didn't "believe" or "follow" Jesus, yet, he promised the thief a place in paradise -- even though the thief had led a notoriously evil life...
We don't "decide" to follow Jesus -- we respond to the Holy Spirit working in us.
Have you ever considered that, "according to the Bible," in the old testament, there were no such places as "heaven" and "hell." There was Sheol -- a "place of shadows." The concept of heaven and hell came about as a result of hellenistic dualism (new testament). Perhaps (just conjecture), what the Bible refers to as heaven and hell are metaphorical examples of, not places, but states of being.
Do you believe there are no consequences for our actions? Both in a physical and enternal sense?
I believe that there are great consequences for our actions! We are much, much more powerful and influential than we give ourselves credit for. I believe that we do "make our own beds and lie in them." Jesus said that we reap what we sow. If we sow judgment, condemnation, hatred, selfishness, indifference and division, that is the measure we will get in return -- karma. If we sow acceptance, tolerance, love, mercy, forbearance, and unity, that is what will come back to us. Jesus said so! But I believe that if God is infinite, then God is also infinitely forgiving of our indiscretions.
This site is excellent. The link below gives excellent biblical references which reiterate what I'm trying to illustrate here about hell, heaven and belief in Christ.
http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=400
God is Love and he is Almighty but he is a jealous God and demands the obedience of his Children.
God is love, and God is omnipotent, and God is persistent in seeking us out -- and God will ultimately get us!
Punishment for our wrong doings has been in effect since the beginning. I'm currently doing an in depth study of the OT. When God established His covenant with his people...the punishment for sin ranged from atonement through sacrifices and burnt offerings to being cut off from one's people to death. God told Moses when he was on the Mount that if anyone so much as touched the Mount...they would be destroyed...just to give you an example...
And Jesus told us that he came to establish a new covenant -- that he came to fulfill that Law which we could not follow...which he did. That's why it's good news! Christ accepted the punishment for us.
It's God's design that there be consequence for action...both in a physical and eternal sense.
It's God's design that we be with God in unity -- in a physical sense by being the Body of Christ, and in an eternal sense by finally coming into spiritual union with God in eternity.
In Matthew 25...Verses 31-46...Jesus speaks of when the nations will be judged. He speaks of loving and giving to people. That when you do not do so...the offense is against HIM and I think you have a good grasp on the concept that we are supposed to live this way in Christ...but he also...in the very last verse of this chapter, makes it very clear what the punishment is for not living in such a way...
"And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Matthew was written with a political agenda, too. The "believers" had been cordially invited by the Jews not to come back to the synagogues. There was a lot of acrimony against the Jews and the Pharisaical way of life on the part of the Matthean community. I think that, in light of the overwhelming message of love, acceptance, grace, mercy, and desire of God to have us with God, we have to take these very judgmental statements with a grain of salt.
In the Book of Revelation, we're told that upon judgement, if we are not found in the Book of life...we are "cast into the lake of fire". (Rev. 20:15)
The Revelation was an account of a dream -- highly allegorical, and, I believe, not to be taken literalistically.
So, you're completly ignoring every scripture which references the inevitable judgement that we ALL will face? God isn't here to serve humanity...we are here to serve Him. God does not change. He is the same God Today as He was yesterday and will be the very same God tomorrow and always. Our faith grows stronger In HIM when we place our trust in Him. GOD doesn't divide. We make the choice to separate ourselves from God, when we turn away and fail to place our trust in him.
