If you have a good heart and you genuinely seek God it doesnt necessarily mean you're going to hell. I know its impossible for many people to accept God as a fact...even I cant say its a fact. In my experience, the more I seek and deeper I look, the more I believe. Its important to keep an open and unbiased mind.
I know there is an Infinite Higher Being.....or ~ (lol) that is not the issue. ..Im saying the idea of a Christian Hell is ridiculous...and the Bible is very clear about saying that is you dont 'accept' Jesus....etc...all the dogma...etc....youre going straight to Hell...no gray area there....not simply if you are a good person. Thats Ok though...Im secure in my own faith of That.....Christianity is just not my thing.
I look at like this. "Satan" represents the "evil" side of man. Self thought, pride, vanity, etc. To me, it's more about how cultivating these "evil" character traits, you will be punished. God is knowledge, humility, courage, etc. these will be rewarded. In a societal type thing. Brandishing an "evil" disposition may cost you valuable things, like love and friendship.
[quote name='"TesseLated"'] I know there is an Infinite Higher Being.....or ~ (lol) that is not the issue. ..Im saying the idea of a Christian Hell is ridiculous...and the Bible is very clear about saying that is you dont 'accept' Jesus....etc...all the dogma...etc....youre going straight to Hell...no gray area there....not simply if you are a good person. Thats Ok though...Im secure in my own faith of That.....Christianity is just not my thing.[/quote] Yeah but how do you know you have the right religion? What if it was the mormons that were correct and you had the wrong religion the whole time? What if we were correct and there's a huge flying spaghetti monster making decisions?
One of my favorite quotes from a movie. "I'm not saying I don't believe in God. Like, I do believe in God, but he's probably not a Catholic God. Right, I don't think God's sitting on a cloud trying to figure out whether he's Protestant, or Catholic, or fucking Buddhist either. Everyone's got these big opinions about how you should live, and who you should love. The government, the peelers, the Catholics, the Protestants, the Brits. Any of them is full of it if they think that they know more about you or that they know more about me or of God than anybody else. It seems to me they're more interested in killing than living anyway, which, I mean, is hard enough to do and then keep up with the everyday shit."
This is why I liked this, not the hell part Many Christians and non-Christians seem to think if you are a good person you go to heaven, which kinda contradicts the whole Jesus guy Not only is it "accepting Christ", it's if the essence of your soul believes He is your Lord.
Isaiah 14:12-14 How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! People, including Luke, an author in the New Testament, often assume that this passage refers to satan. It's actually referring to a king of Babylon who lost his throne.
Verse 4 of that chapter validates your point. I'm not sure what you mean about Luke. Satan is considered a fallen angel, but the reason he fell is not revealed in the Scriptures, I believe. I could be wrong though
Thats more about if you REJECT the gospel....I dont believe that someone who genuinely tries to learn about Jesus and believes and follows the moral teachings will necessarily go to hell. Some people cant help but to struggle in their belief and faith...some people cant help but to experience doubt, especially these days...I believe God is understanding and merciful and knows when someone is genuine.
what purpose does recognizing the deity have in this whole scheme, if morality itself is not a deciding factor? where is the justice in denying a good soul a good destiny simply for the one choice of what deity they follow when the deciding deity is also said to be a loving one?
Following another diety may take a person in a direction that is not in line with Christian teachings. For example, other religions dont teach forgiveness the way Christianity teaches it, and thats an important part of it. Besides, I think all people who seek God or a meaning to life will eventually hear of Jesus...at that point they all have a reasonable chance to accept the message he gave. Even you.
Destroying our ego's. Understanding that we are not in control and something is above us. Not taking credit and lessening the power of pride. Humility. Your measure of good is different than God's. To God, no one is good (Rom. 3:10). The only good soul that has lived on this earth is Jesus Christ, that is the justice.
If Jesus was Good by way of being God incarnate, and Jesus himself says "Know ye not that ye are Gods?", then by this very teaching every Spirit is indeed perfectly Good being individualized aspects of God. It is the lower impermanent vehicles which contain flaws, but the attainment of Gnosis is the achievement of Human Perfection, and Henosis is Cosmic Perfection wherein even the most dense bodies become perfect vehicles for Divinity.
I don't interpret that verse as Jesus calling the Jews actual gods in the sense of deities. John 10:34 "Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I SAID, YOU ARE GODS '?" The context of this verse- the Jews were trying to stone Jesus for blasphemy (saying He is the Son of God). Jesus quoted Psalm 82:6. The word for gods (in that verse) can also be translated to judges and in the context of that Hebraic passage it seems as though He was using it in that perspective. He wasn't saying they are deities. Another reason is because the Bible clearly states that no one is good without the Spirit of God living in them (and even them it's not of themselves that they are good, but the Spirit which makes them good [this, I find, limits the ego from taking credit for being good]) and the Spirit of God lives in those who believe in the Christ as the Christ.
But why would the devil have to exist in order for good to exist? Could God not just do good, and leave the devil out of it? Sure they may be no scale in which to measure good with the lack of evil, but why should that even matter? Why can he not just do good, and we'd never have to be exposed to evil? If I love something, I like to think I can do whatever it takes to keep them away from evil or bad. Just thinking out loud here!