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Why is salvation the ultimate goal of so many Christians?

cataway

Well-Known Member
This is a same faith debate -- Christians only:

Why is it always about “Salvation”? The idea that from the moment we are born, we are condemned by default to everlasting torment is so abhorrent to me. I find it so hard to accept the notion that to so many Christians, “salvation” means having escaped the otherwise inevitable punishment that comes with “unbelief.” And that reprieve is all that matters. You believe in Jesus Christ and nothing more matters. When you die, you will be received into God’s love and, and… well, I don’t know. What happens next? You sit around throughout eternity, praising Him for His grace in not torturing you?

Why do people see “belief” as some kind of an insurance policy which assures them that they will be plucked from eternal torture in some fiery pit. If we believe because we’re afraid of what our destiny will be otherwise, how is that a good thing at all? It’s nothing more than checking off a box!

Life isn’t supposed to be about finding the secret to avoiding hellfire. It’s not about saying, “God, I’m a sinner. I believe in Jesus. Please save me!” Life is about learning to love as God loves. It’s about wanting to become someone that God is proud to call His son or daughter. It’s not about making it to our heavenly home. It’s about being the kind of person who will feel “at home” in God’s presence. Becoming such a person isn’t automatic, and it doesn’t happen at the moment you declare yourself to have been “saved.” It’s a lifelong process, facilitated by the grace of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. It's recognizing that He has promised you so much more than the avoidance of eternal punishment.
you go to heaven and you dont have a clue what you would be doing there ?? is that what you are getting at ?
 

Thief

Rogue Theologian
I don't believe we are "salvaged" because I don't believe we're the completely depraved creatures Protestant Christianity paints us as. In the earliest years of Christianity, our sins were seen as wounds and Jesus was the one sent to heal those wounds. He was the one we were supposed to be looking to as our model, as the perfect example of the love God has for all of His children. We were to try to emulate His mercy, forgiveness and compassion in our interactions with others, and when we failed to do, we became wounded as needed a Healer.
and Thomas said.....I will not believe....until I see Him
and touch the wounds
 

Katzpur

Not your average Mormon
you go to heaven and you dont have a clue what you would be doing there ?? is that what you are getting at ?
Not even close, and I'm not sure what prompted you to think that's what I meant. It just seems to me that the ultimate goal of most Christians is to avoid damnation. That's setting the bar pretty low, isn't it?
 

Katzpur

Not your average Mormon
Getting to heaven isn't a career choice. You don't get to choose!
So God just picks and chooses whoever He happens to want to have spend eternity with Him and everybody else is damned? We have no part in it? And you just spend your life wondering whether you made the cut or not? Sorry, I don't buy that. I'm kind of surprised that you, as a Roman Catholic, do. That sounds more like Calvinist doctrine than Catholic doctrine to me.
 

passerby

Member
So God just picks and chooses whoever He happens to want to have spend eternity with Him and everybody else is damned? We have no part in it? And you just spend your life wondering whether you made the cut or not? Sorry, I don't buy that. I'm kind of surprised that you, as a Roman Catholic, do. That sounds more like Calvinist doctrine than Catholic doctrine to me.

I don't see it that way. If you have a prayerful relationship with God and faith in His loving mercy you can hope for Heaven but not assume You have some inalienable right to such through your own endeavours. I believe the choice is God's alone, even if I have devoted my entire life to God, received a final absolution and died in a state of grace I would still be guilty of the sin of pride to demand admission to Paradise! Catholic doctrine has a lot to say on this but in the end we hope for Heaven and therefore trust that God wants us to be with Him. I don't see it as making the cut, as you put it. Though there is plenty in Matthew's Gospel on that very topic.
 

Katzpur

Not your average Mormon
I don't see it that way. If you have a prayerful relationship with God and faith in His loving mercy you can hope for Heaven but not assume You have some inalienable right to such through your own endeavours. I believe the choice is God's alone, even if I have devoted my entire life to God, received a final absolution and died in a state of grace I would still be guilty of the sin of pride to demand admission to Paradise! Catholic doctrine has a lot to say on this but in the end we hope for Heaven and therefore trust that God wants us to be with Him. I don't see it as making the cut, as you put it. Though there is plenty in Matthew's Gospel on that very topic.
I believe God wants every last one of us with Him in Heaven, and will help us in every way possible to be part of His eternal family. I think all He really wants is for us to learn to love one another as He loves us.
 

passerby

Member
I believe God wants every last one of us with Him in Heaven, and will help us in every way possible to be part of His eternal family. I think all He really wants is for us to learn to love one another as He loves us.

Yes, of course, but to love Him above all things, even our own selves.
 

Thief

Rogue Theologian
So God just picks and chooses whoever He happens to want to have spend eternity with Him and everybody else is damned? We have no part in it? And you just spend your life wondering whether you made the cut or not? Sorry, I don't buy that.
I do

I believe ....if you enter heaven

it's because you belong there

Their choice
 

Katzpur

Not your average Mormon
I do

I believe ....if you enter heaven

it's because you belong there

Their choice
I believe that, given enough time, we will all belong there. The final curtain does not fall at the moment of death. That's just the intermission.
 

Thief

Rogue Theologian
. That's just the intermission.
ah......what I might call....

retraining

with hooded robe and ring on finger

the robe.....so no one has to suffer my image as I recover from this life
and the ring....so no one thinks I stole the robe
 

sojourner

Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
Doing what Jesus did? Only preaching to Israel ( primarily ) , Turning water into wine , multiplying loafs and fishes , walking on water , healing the deaf , blind and mute , raising the dead , dying on a cross,being buried and the resurrection? Do as Jesus did ? really ?
Did Jesus teach us to do these things? No. You’re post is deliberately obtuse, and therefore useless as an argument.
 
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