Since what was intended to be nothing more than a smart-assed observation has sparked somewhat of an interblog discussion, I feel compelled to set a few things straight.

First of all, just for the record, I've never told Eleni point blank that I think she's going to Hell (nor anyone else, for that matter). At least, I don't think I did. I think she's referring to a general discussion on a forum's religion thread in which I stated my personal generalized beliefs. However, sometimes she asks me questions about my beliefs, and when she does I answer her frankly and honestly. Perhaps it came up in one of those conversations. That's the only time I talk openly and in detailed fashion about my faith -- when someone asks me questions or brings it up first. I'm not in the habit of going 'round beating people over the head with my beliefs.

I nor anybody else has any business telling anyone that they are going to Hell, for any reason. God alone can make that judgement. For one thing, I don't know what's in your heart. For another thing, we each have until our dying breath to call out for forgiveness and make things right with God.

However, if I know that someone I love has never accepted Christ, I feel compelled to at least point out the consequences to them. Put yourself in my place for a moment. I believe in salvation/damnation like I believe the sky is blue. Whether or not you believe, to me it's fact. If you are someone I care about, and there is a chance that sharing my beliefs with you might move you to choose to spend eternity with me in Heaven rather than apart from me in Hell, then wouldn't it be wrong of me not to take that chance? I don't want to intimidate you or scare you or bully you into seeing things my way. I don't want to offend you or make you feel condemnation. I only want to make sure you've had a chance to weigh all of your options before you make your final choice.

Secondly, I would like to point out that it is supposed to be that basic. The Bible says it is, for anyone to try and make it more complicated is ridiculous. I don't believe you go to Hell for being a bad person. I don't believe you go to Heaven for being a good person. I don't believe you go to Hell for sinning or living an alternative lifestyle or doing bad or even questionable things. The equation is this simpe: Do you accept that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he died for you? Yes, you go to spend eternity with Him. No, and you don't. That's it. Everything else is just filler*.

Modern Christianity is so divided over semantics and traditions that have nothing to do with anything that the Bible says or that Christ taught us. I don't blame people for being put off with it. I'm pretty disgusted with the whole mess myself. I am saddened that people get so focused on the minor details that it blinds them to the message of Christ. I am saddened that outsiders are so disgusted with our infighting and political BS and some of our misguided judgemental attitudes that they never even hear the message, and by the time they do they're so put off that they refuse to listen to it.

We are human, which means we screw up. True Christians, people who truly believe in and appreciate what Jesus did for us, will do their best to follow His example and be like Him, but as we are human, we will most certainly fail. I fail on a daily basis. Some days I fail on an almost hourly basis. I'm not always a good person, and I am certainly no better than you; but I am forgiven. I have a Father who, when I fall, picks me back up and dusts me off and sets me back on the right track and gently urges me to try again, and to not look behind me.

It is not my job to "save" you. The disciples were commissioned to "go forth and spread the gospel;" they were told to tell Jesus' story. They weren't told to force their beliefs on people or to browbeat them and intimidate them into believing. I don't have the power to save souls, and I don't go around acting like I do. I leave that to God.

God gave each of us a brain to think with and the free will to make our own choices. If you choose not to believe these things, that is your decision, and I respect that.

*I'd like to amend that statement: The basic question of Jesus' divinity and sacrifice is all that determines the afterlife. The rest of the Bible, besides relating the history of Judaism and Christianity, contains instructions on how to develop a close relationship with God and how to live a happy, healthy, blessed life here on earth, which is hardly "just filler." The filler I was mainly referring to is the dogma and ceremonious crap that gets in the way of the message.

I'm done now. If anyone wants to discuss any of this further, please do it through e-mail.