goldenspines wrote:Its only stealing if you don't get caught.
Someone I know is spreading false teachings about God. He says that good people go to heaven--even if they don't believe.
I told him that's not true, I brought up how no one gets to the Father without the Son and brought up several passages supporting salvation through Christ...but he refuses to listen. He insists that, while we're saved through Jesus, you still don't need to believe in Him in order to go to heaven. That "We as Christians are judged even harder than the rest of the world, as they are naive to the Word, and we know it. Members of other religons are naive, and thus cannot help their system of beliefs."
But I can't help but feel that's complete bull. Yes there are people who go through life not knowing Jesus...what happens to them then? Nobody except God Himself knows. I mean, God is completely just and holy. Whatever decision He makes towards these people will be the right one...why not just trust Him? I mean sheesh, for all we know, He might reveal Himself to these people without us knowing (I mean most of these cases involve people separated from the real world, so we don't know what they see and don't see).
But either way, that's really not the focus of this problem. At the end of the day, there are VERY few people who go through life and never hear about God. Somewhere along the way, they all see or hear about Him in some way, so to try and say "well they're naive"...um. This isn't thousands of years ago. It's very easy for people to travel and spread news today...plus most schools do teach about other religions.
I pointed out all the obvious...how you're not suppose to have other gods besides the true Lord and whatnot, but...he just says I'm wrong. In fact the whole reason this all got started was because of a Christian club. He comes in and starts saying not just Christians go to heaven...I had to speak up. I told him I didn't want to get into an argument (because we've fought about this before), but I wasn't going to let the wrong thing be taught to people. Especially since he didn't even bother to say "some Christians believe otherwise", he just treated his word like law.
Needless to say? "We've had this discussion before. If you wont let the wrong thing be taught, dont speak on this matter."
Seeing as I'm reading Acts right now, all that did was give me major flashbacks to Stephen being told to shut his mouth. In the end I haven't backed down, I mean...these are young Christians and junk here! It's bad enough to speak the wrong things to begin with, but with them? The fact that some other people believe this too and are supporting him all the way...*shakes head* I mean, what do you do? I have the authority to tell him to stop and/or kick him out, but...I don't know if that would be a good thing to do.
Plus I'm still waiting for the huge "not all Christians are good people" argument. There's that passage where I believe Jesus talks about seperating the sheep and goats (the whole "whatever you did for the least of my brethen" thing I think it is) and how, in short:
A person may be Christian, but they still may deny doing something good for people. Therefore they get sorted in the evil pile. Meanwhile on the other side, someone may not be Christian, but they did something good for people, so they're good. They get sorted into the holy pile.
Truthfully I believe this passage is talking about something else, but the last time we had this argument, that got brought up as "proof" that good people go to heaven.
Pascal (post: 1251152) wrote:I think that if other people "Change their minds" with this guy and say that Christ isn't the only way to get to Heaven, then they never really changed their minds to begin with. They likely believed this before, but were afraid to state it in your group because of how they feared that they would be perceived. The pew report shows that this isn't an uncommon belief, and admittedly I have similar considerations that could be called beliefs myself. This is partially because of how I was raised, but I switched over to the other belief system (That Christ is the only way to Heaven based off the one scriptural verse) and then back because I felt that the scriptures were too ambiguous to be taken as a single verse... if that were true we would just have one or a few distinct separate verses and not the entire Bible. Or such is my personal belief. (It would certainly make it easier for Christians to read and eliminate a lot of arguing!)
However, what I do believe is that Christ is necessary for ME to get to Heaven, mostly because I'm too bad of a sinner to get there of my own actions. I am in no position to judge others and in fear of the judgment of God, I will not say that others might be able to get their of their own accord, in fact I currently believe that most can though I won't set a limit or take a position that is not mine to take. That is perhaps the most crucial question for every person in your group, not what gets other people to Heaven, but what gets them to Heaven. God gave us all the free will to decide many things, including whether we believe ourselves righteous enough to get to Heaven without Christ's miracle of grace. If others seek this freedom, Christ offers the only hope they have of overcoming that pain. I do believe this to be true, for no other religion has a God who offers himself a sacrifice for our sins, if there were, personal experience shows me that Christ is the true way through his actions within my life.
This is their own decision to make, and that is in some ways the basis of Christianity. The realization that we are fallen beings (This is a self restriction, not a "I Fail" but "you fail" equally or worse then me so I can feel better about the whole "failing thing"). The realization that only God can save US through Christ's sacrifice for us (So to that end we are responsible for his death, and not others) and the realization that through his love we are freed from this, and it is his grace that heals us.
I am not trying to say that you should believe this, I'm just presenting what I think. And beliefs are bound to vary. Its better for me to claim that I know nothing, and only hold ideas on such matters. Maybe each of you have to come to your own conclusions and not force anyone to take one stand or another, that is, by their free will... I do believe that given that they are all at a Christian meeting, they each believe that Christ lived, died and rose again and probably feel strongly that he was responsible for their individual salvation through some means or way. But part of the risk of having a group of Christians coming together is that you will acquire members unlike yourself, that don't agree with your standpoint and then you are forced to love them in the way Christ loved them despite your (forgive me but they seem like semi-minor) differences in philosophy. How would Jesus have loved this individual (Think of how many people denied he was the Christ to his face), I can't speak with certainty, but personally I think one should respect his beliefs and then move on to other topics... its old adage don't talk religion and politics with your friends. Your at a Christian group so you're already breaking this adage, expect to have differences of opinion that hurt your feelings, it comes with the territory. Grow up and strengthen yourself with the love of God.
PS- NOTE HOWEVER. If the guy is being loud and making a scene (acting CAA troll-like) then he may not be there to enjoy fellowship and might just be there to drive people crazy. In such a case it is perhaps best to let him go, just like someone who believes like you do but starts pounding people in the head with bibles because they confess with respect that they don't agree with him. But if a respectful fellowship can be obtained, then I can't really agree with kicking someone out for this. Sorry.
I agree with what everyone is saying here. If he continues to make a scene go ahead and kick him out the group. Also, I'd suggest that you pray for him seeing as how I don't think arguing with him will change anything.
If you do get backed into a corner and are forced to defend your position ask him to define what good is. He can't simply say "good people go to heaven" without first definining what good really is. The definition can't be subjective otherwise you could make a case that Hitler or any mass murderer could get into heaven since in someone's eyes what they did was good (and I get the feeling these are the kind of individuals he'd exclude from getting into heaven). Then explain to him that good is that which is like God and that the only way a person (being a fallen individual) can be good (or become like God) is through God working in them, and for God to do this they have to be willing to let him (in otherwords, they have to follow him).
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