2011-05-27, 03:59 AM
i grew up christian all my life and then around middle school i decided i didn't believe in God anymore. then around 10th grade i was born-again, i guess you could say. even though i (strongly) didn't believe, i went to youth groups with friends and listened and said "this all makes sense to me". it's unfortunate that i have to clarify these days what kind of christian i am, especially when it comes to a morality standpoint.
let me just start by saying that although it's worded as though i might be presenting these as facts, i'm not. it's purely my belief.
i don't believe doing any one thing sends you to hell. in fact i don't really believe in hell. not like we believe anyway. i believe what hell really is, is closer to what we would call purgatory or limbo. i mean i believe some parts of limbo are as we perceive hell. satan, judas, etc, i believe they've gotta be somewhere, at least imprisoned in some form. anyway, i don't debate whether things like being gay is a sin, i take the point where it doesn't matter if it's a sin or not. if it's not, mazel tov. if it does turn out to be a sin, well so does is working on the sabbath, and so is eating pork and touching pigs. etc. a sin is a sin, and they aren't measured against eachother. but Jesus died to forgive all of our sins. therefore if we atone for our sins before we die, we'll move on to heaven, after first atoning for any other sins in the limbo between earth and heaven. the main reason i don't believe in hell is because i don't believe that you would be condemned for all eternity in that way. if you can be cast out of heaven, then you can be brought back from hell. and following that logic, there's almost no reason for hell in the model we see it as.
i also believe that in the grand scheme of things, although i believe christianity to be the "true" denomination, i honestly doubt God would discriminate between the christians, the muslims, and the jews. after all, they all believe in the same God, and for example, even though they view Jesus only as a prophet and not the Son of God, the muslims still give him a title that translates to "Messiah from God". to be honest, i'm not sure God would really condemn anyone on the base of what they believe, as long as it wouldn't idolism (catholics worshipping the virgin mary? not sure how that fits in there) or just a general forsaking of God. buddhism, tao, etc seem to me like they would fall into a neutral category.
as far as the Bible goes, be it past parables or future prophecies, i believe in very little the Bible says actually occurred. the gospels of Jesus and of the disciples, things like that, that's what i believe happened properly. but not so much the parables.
i'm sorry if a lot of this is all over the place, i'm extremely tired
let me just start by saying that although it's worded as though i might be presenting these as facts, i'm not. it's purely my belief.
i don't believe doing any one thing sends you to hell. in fact i don't really believe in hell. not like we believe anyway. i believe what hell really is, is closer to what we would call purgatory or limbo. i mean i believe some parts of limbo are as we perceive hell. satan, judas, etc, i believe they've gotta be somewhere, at least imprisoned in some form. anyway, i don't debate whether things like being gay is a sin, i take the point where it doesn't matter if it's a sin or not. if it's not, mazel tov. if it does turn out to be a sin, well so does is working on the sabbath, and so is eating pork and touching pigs. etc. a sin is a sin, and they aren't measured against eachother. but Jesus died to forgive all of our sins. therefore if we atone for our sins before we die, we'll move on to heaven, after first atoning for any other sins in the limbo between earth and heaven. the main reason i don't believe in hell is because i don't believe that you would be condemned for all eternity in that way. if you can be cast out of heaven, then you can be brought back from hell. and following that logic, there's almost no reason for hell in the model we see it as.
i also believe that in the grand scheme of things, although i believe christianity to be the "true" denomination, i honestly doubt God would discriminate between the christians, the muslims, and the jews. after all, they all believe in the same God, and for example, even though they view Jesus only as a prophet and not the Son of God, the muslims still give him a title that translates to "Messiah from God". to be honest, i'm not sure God would really condemn anyone on the base of what they believe, as long as it wouldn't idolism (catholics worshipping the virgin mary? not sure how that fits in there) or just a general forsaking of God. buddhism, tao, etc seem to me like they would fall into a neutral category.
as far as the Bible goes, be it past parables or future prophecies, i believe in very little the Bible says actually occurred. the gospels of Jesus and of the disciples, things like that, that's what i believe happened properly. but not so much the parables.
i'm sorry if a lot of this is all over the place, i'm extremely tired