“Do you know any individuals who grew up in a Christian church and then walked away when they got older? Often pastors and parents and brothers and sisters are concerned about them and their spirituality—and often they should be. But sometimes those individuals’ rejection of church and the Christian faith they were presented with as the only possible interpretation of what it means to follow Jesus may in fact be a sign of spiritual health. They may be resisting behaviors, interpretations, and attitudes that should be rejected. Perhaps they simply came to a point where they refused to accept the very sorts of things that Jesus would refuse to accept.”
The above statement may be met with a knee-jerk reaction from those who have grown up, and stayed, in the christian church. However, it’s actually highly reflective of the very teaching that we’ve been spoon-fed from childhood. Milk and meat have been the spiritual reference points that separate the proverbial men from the boys; those who are capable of handling higher levels of spiritual content must move onto subjects that challenge them, leaving the spiritual ‘milk’ for those who do not yet possess the ‘teeth’ to dig into the complicated subjects. A prideful statement? Absolutely not. You can’t choke on milk.
If this idea is true, then it would only make sense that somebody could be raised within the walls of a church and then mature, grow, and develop to a place where the church is no longer the best place to grow spiritually; if the church functions as a place where a ‘non-believer’ can be introduced to a ‘relationship’ with G-d, then it would not make sense for a battle-hardened believer to sit in the same pews as somebody who has yet to raise their hands in worship; a common act of ‘surrender’ in charismatic christianity. Furthermore, a competitive athlete does not become an olympian by training with out of shape individuals. Iron sharpens iron, brother.
The idea behind salvation has recently popped into question, as I’ve been scraping the surface of whether or not those who do not believe, or have ever heard, of Christ will be burning in Hell for all of eternity. Personally, I do not believe this to be the case, and have been met with more than my fair share of criticism for these heretical ideas.
Time for a low blow.
If the eternal salvation of a living human being depends upon the free-will, belief, and acceptance of Christ into our heart (whatever that means, seriously!) and it’s commonly acceptable to preach that “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of G-d” and that “everybody deserves Hell” simply by being born into this world…
What about those who have not been born?
It’s a very commonly accepted believe among Christians (and myself, personally) that life begins at conception. If this is when life begins, and we are sinners, unworthy of G-d’s salvation, from the get-go, does this mean that every aborted life is damned to Hell before they’ve taken a breath?
Does this mean that every child who has not yet learned how to speak, walk, be baptized, that happens to find sudden death through SIDS, is going to Hell?
Your skin should be crawling.
I’ve asked this question before and have found it acceptable for Christians to say “Well, I don’t know about that.” while only sentences sooner they were 110% adamant that ALL those who have not prayed a sinners prayer, been baptized, filled with the Holy Spirit, or any variation of the above, are going to Hell.
Why is it that I’ve found it very hard to find a one word answer (yes or no) about the salvation of those who haven’t accepted Christ, but christians are more than happy to spend hours speaking about their stance on this issue, with ‘proof’ from the bible, quirky analogies, and hardened beliefs, yet cannot boil it down to a single answer? Yes or no?
As I’m growing older, I’m finding more and more that Christianity is very much the new kid on the block, predated by other religions by thousands of years, and yet is the loudest one to proclaim it is the only way, that all other religions are false, and that billions and billions of souls are going to burn in eternal condemnation. This wasn’t what Christ preached.
According to religious statistics, Christianity represents roughly 30% of the world’s religion. Included in this statistic are Church of the Latter Day Saints, Scientology, and Catholic denominations; religions that many charismatic (Or, as I prefer, American Christians) believe are not accurate.
Assuming that within this 30% block, there are only one third that follow beliefs commonly held to be true and worthy of salvation by American Christianity, that would leave roughly 90% of the world being held out of the eternal salvation club.
Among this 10%, we have to look at the facts. How many of these people truly ‘believe’ and “walk the talk” of their faith? The number begins to dwindle.
Furthermore, Christ said there are very many who will have done great acts, signs, and wonders in His name, yet He will reject them. “Many will come to me, saying “LORD LORD, I cast out demons in your name, I prophesied in your name.” but I will say to them “Away, I never knew you””.
Sunday saints-Monday ain’t’s don’t typically cast out demons or heal the sick. So I’d comfortably say that roughly 10% of the 10% of world population actually “live” their faith, leaving the Salvation club limited to a rough 1% of present global population.
If this is correct, then 99% of people are burning in Hell because they weren’t born in the right country, state, family, church, or youth group.
I can’t buy it.
Thoughts?
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