Facing Mortality

[cardgame]

I didn't accept Christ because I was afraid of death. I accepted Christ because I was afraid of Hell.

As hell is immaterial while you are still alive, this doesn't compute. To go to hell you must die.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

I didn't accept Christ because I was afraid of death. I accepted Christ because I was afraid of Hell.

Maybe my confusion stems from not really grasping what you mean by "accept Christ", but don't these things rather come as a package? If you already have enough of a belief in Hell to be genuinely afraid of it, then wasn't the Abrahamic God/Christ/etc already part of your belief system anyway? Or did you have some other convincing conception of Hell drawn from some other source?

 

[Kyriakos]

It is highly unlikely that "hell" as a notion (ie as the general idea of eternal suffering) starts with the bible. But even if we assume it does, it should be clear that the mental capacity to crystalize a notion predates any actual manifestation of it, and is primordial and pananthropic.

 

[tetley]

Maybe my confusion stems from not really grasping what you mean by "accept Christ", but don't these things rather come as a package? If you already have enough of a belief in Hell to be genuinely afraid of it, then wasn't the Abrahamic God/Christ/etc already part of your belief system anyway? Or did you have some other convincing conception of Hell drawn from some other source?

I will quote from the Bible, since you are asking what I/we believe.


James 2:9 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

Belief in Hell and a saving faith in Christ are not the same.

 

[Kyriakos]

I may be wrong, but wasnt the view that god didnt create the earth condemned as herecy? All sorts of theories on christian lore were condemned.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

I'm not sure how you think quoting the bible was a good way to answer my question...

Berzerker said that religion was the result of fear of death. You responded to that by saying you didn't accept Christ because of a fear of death, but because of a fear of Hell. The two comments in conjunction imply you are equating "accepting Christ" with "finding religion". My point was that it seems circular to find religion as a result of a fear of Hell, given that that requires a religious belief in the first place.

As I said, it depends a lot on what exactly you mean by "accepting Christ", and your bible quote doesn't really help clear that up. But in the context of the post you were repying to when you said it, it does seem circular.

 

[El_Machinae]

James 2:9
But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers

It's more a refutation of the prosperity gospel