Liesje
Blue Crack Addict
During college, I struggled with the concepts of petitionary prayer and election/atonement. I've managed to sort out where I stand on that, but the recent threads on Christianity have lead me to two other questions regarding heaven and sin. Neither seem to fit the original topics, so I'll ask them here:
1) In regards to heaven or similar concepts found in other religions - Do you go right away? When you die, do you go straight to Heaven or Hell? Are these like actual places? What are the qualifications of getting in?
2) In regards to sin or similar concepts - What is sin? What is the devil?
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My thoughts, which I often struggle with because they seem to be different from most Christians, even in my denomination:
1) You don't go to heaven right away. You die, you're dead. Heaven isn't sorted out until Christ's second coming. You get there because you accepted your imperfection and accepted Christ's grace. You believed in something greater and more powerful than yourself.
2) Sin and the devil are not real things. Like cold is the absence of heat, sin is the absence of good. "Total depravity" does not mean that everything is inherently sinful, it means everything has the potential to be sinful, because only God is 100% good. Since sin is the absence of good, everything created by God is inherently good.
1) In regards to heaven or similar concepts found in other religions - Do you go right away? When you die, do you go straight to Heaven or Hell? Are these like actual places? What are the qualifications of getting in?
2) In regards to sin or similar concepts - What is sin? What is the devil?
--------------------------------------------------
My thoughts, which I often struggle with because they seem to be different from most Christians, even in my denomination:
1) You don't go to heaven right away. You die, you're dead. Heaven isn't sorted out until Christ's second coming. You get there because you accepted your imperfection and accepted Christ's grace. You believed in something greater and more powerful than yourself.
2) Sin and the devil are not real things. Like cold is the absence of heat, sin is the absence of good. "Total depravity" does not mean that everything is inherently sinful, it means everything has the potential to be sinful, because only God is 100% good. Since sin is the absence of good, everything created by God is inherently good.