Dear Apples of Gold,
First of all, since you've asked, I am not a religious person, I do
celebrate the religious holidays, but more as a cultural-traditional
thing, as in really believing. I am also not a seeker. I have a set of
moral values, which I try to live by, and that resemble in a way a
religious set of values, but I lack the transcendental dimension of
relationship with God.
Christian theology is a very broad subject, and a very wide one. In
the spirit of pluralism, you have today new spritual groups that
interpret things otherwise; you have Catholics, Orthodox and
Protestant/Evangelican Christians; all these beliefs, and different
theologicans, have tried to answer your questions in different ways.
The text, in this case, will nto be enough. As you'll see,
interpretations to the text are also important.
Who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven?
-------------------------------------
There are several main interpreations: either that salvation is
reached through faith alone, through deeds alone, or through both of
them.
In Matthew, there is a combination: only the beliver in Jesus, the one
who does as He says, will be accepted in heaven after their death.
The Gospel of Matthew gives pretty clear explanations to the
believers: "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven." (Matthew 7:12) - not even all people who confess
to believe in God, only those who do as He will, will enter heaven:
only obidience would lead there.
However:
Matthew 25:34-45: "Then shall the King say unto them on his right
hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world. For I was an hungred, and ye
gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger,
and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye
visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me...Then shall he say
also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels..."
(only deeds would get you into heaven)
How to be saved
---------------
Only those who are obidient, could enter. And what with those who sinned?
The sinners could enter, if they repented their sins:
"Unless you believe that I am He (the savior), you will die in your
sins." (John 8:21,24).
"Whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life".
(John 3:16) - enternal life is the meaning of heaven.
Maybe, in this stage, and because of the common popular image of
heaven, it is important to sterss, that according to Christian belief,
heaven is a spiritual term, meaning eternal life and the kingdom of
God - and not some puffy place in the clouds with a golden gate and an
old man with a beard who asks you all sorts of questions.
Could a non-Christian be saved?
------------------------------
As in the question of the sinner who repents, different Christian
groups are not united in the belief whether or not a non-Christian
will be saved. (See: Can a Person lose their Salvation
<http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_sava.htm> and "Can a
non-Chrisitan be saved"
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_savn.htm>, both from Religious
Tolerance site).
Accoring to John: "...I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me." John, 14:6.
On the other hand, later interpretations do maintain that
non-Christians could be saved, post mortem or even just as well.
Hebrews 10:26 "For if we sin deliberately after receiving the
knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire which will
consume the adversaries."
What happens to someone who is not "saved"?
------------------------------------------
John refers to those and says "If you do not believe that I am He, you
will die in your sins." (John 8:24)
Of course, here again Christian theology is not united. In Catholic
theology, there is a unique interpretation of "limbo" and "purgatory".
Other streams ave a mroe dichotomocal view:
Hell, is where the non-saved will go: "The Son of Man will send His
angels, and they will gather out of His Kingdom all causes of sin and
all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will
shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears,
let him hear.'' Matthew 13:40-43
See also:
Mark 9:43-48
And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to
enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into
the fire that never shall be quenched:
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to
enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into
the fire that never shall be quenched:
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to
enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be
cast into hell fire:
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
Further Links
=============
How To Get to Heaven - from anywhere - 5 Steps
<http://www2.rpa.net/~theboltons/heaven.htm> - examples and quotes
from the scriptures on entering heaven.
Who Will Enter Heaven
<http://www.rrnc.org/Sermon_Notes/Matthew%2022_heaven%20www.doc>
An analysis of Matthew.
B.A. Robinson, Religious Tolerance, "Salvation"
<http://www.religioustolerance.org/salvatio.htm>
Non-Christians and Heaven
<http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00BbcI>
I hope this answered your question. Please contact me if you need any
further clarification on this answer before you rate it. |
Request for Answer Clarification by
applesofgold-ga
on
02 Mar 2004 17:36 PST
Very interesting, thank you.
It's interesting to me that you seem to understand the text of the
Bible to some degree, at least as much as most Christians do - if not
more. You also seem to understand that there is a difference between
knowledge and the transcendental relationship with God, yet with this
understanding, you have not made the connection, or "leap" of faith,
to actual belief--actual relationship.
This is no requirement for the google question in order for you to get
a better rating, but I would be very curious to know why ... why you
haven't made the leap to faith when you clearly seem to understand the
general tenets of the bible.
Do you have the same general knowledge of other religions as well? Is
it because of the pluralism of faiths and interpretations of faiths
that stops you from actually believing? I know that as a non-believer
I simply thought there were too many views out there, and how can you
possibly know which one is the right one? and so I believed that the
only way to know truly would be to die. And at that time, face to
face with God, then you would know the answer.
But I did eventually become a believer (and I certainly was not raised
as a Christian), and I do acknowledge that there are many
interpretations and I certainly do not know the whole of it. I don't
confess to think that my interpretation is the only correct one, as
many sects of Christianity and Christians do.
I only know this ... that Jesus is God and that I have to believe in
order to be "saved". Really, the fundamental tenets of Christianity
are what I believe. But as far as all the side issues which are
interpreted between Baptists and Charismatics, Catholics and
Protestants, etc., after 11 years of becoming a Christian and deep
study, as well as leadership roles in various churches, I still do not
profess to understand all of the interpretations and nuances of
Christianity.
I'm not sure why I asked this question - perhaps in hopes of getting a
non-believer to research the Bible, perhaps to envangelize, perhaps
because I need to know some of these answers myself. But in any case,
I thank you, and if you would like to clarify any of the above
questions that I started this with as to why you have not made the
jump ... I would be curious to know.
Certainly, I hope it's not because of the poor way that Christians and
the church represent their Saviour, Christ. The church itself, I
believe, is in bad, bad, bad shape. But, you know, we are all, after
all, humans.
|
Clarification of Answer by
politicalguru-ga
on
03 Mar 2004 06:58 PST
Dear Apples of Gold,
Your question sounds now even more interesting.
I think that there are several factors that determined my world-view.
First of all, the way I was brought up, in an almost "anti-religious"
atmosphere, where my grandparents, who resisted the Fascists and
suffered persecution because of their beliefs, asked "where was God
then". My husband, by the way, echoed this when he told me today,
after reading your RFC, "That God [that you are refering to] has died
in Auschwitz". His God, so he told me, follows Spinoza's model: it is
the forces of nature, the details around us and even ourselves.
But this is not only upbringing. I believe that in order for a
religious belief to exist, there should be something additional to the
"logical" world-view that you could see in, say, political ideologies
(although this is contested as well, but take it as a working thesis
for my argument). You have to have some "irrational", "illogical"
element, something that comes from the soul, if you'd like. And this
is where the gap is. Translating what I "know" to what I "belive".
I really admire you for that. It is very "easy" to grow up in a
religion, and to "decide" that you believe in it. It is much more
difficult to develop that spiritual self that finds its whole in a
religious view. I am also not sure that every person that call
themselve "religious" have this inner peace, some go to Church because
of sense of belonging, or because they are used to it, or because it
is the norm where they are.
You also mentioned religious pluralism. It is true that I tried to
achieve a wide-as-possible education in religions, and my PhD deals
with a certain aspect of religious life in modern societies. This
helps me to understand religious thought and behavior better, but I am
not sure that it brings me closer to God (or even to the belief that
there is a God). As you said, maybe the similarity between the values
of different faithes, alongside the fear of commitment, created this
inability to complete the gap between knowledge and faith.
|
