| About this site |
| About us |
| Our beliefs |
| Is this your first visit? |
| Contact us |
| External links |
| Good books |
| Visitor essays |
| Our forum |
| New essays |
| Other site features |
| Buy a CD of this site |
| Vital notes |
| Non-theistic... |
| Atheism |
| Agnosticism |
| Humanism |
| Other |
| Spirituality and ethics |
| Spirituality |
| Morality and ethics |
| Absolute truth |
| Peace and conflict |
| Attaining peace |
| Religious tolerance |
| Religious hatred |
| Religious conflict |
| Religious violence |
| Laws and news |
| Religious laws |
| Religious news |
|
|
 | Various of its passages indicate that a person will be saved and go
to Heaven if they:
|
But there is no consensus on what precise minimum combination of these six factors are required to guarantee a person's salvation.
| Teachings vary throughout the Christian Scriptures (New Testament):
Various faith groups have attempted to make sense out of these inconsistencies by emphasizing their own selection of passages, while largely ignoring conflicting passages. | ||||||||
| There are continuing debates about the after-death destination of those who have never had a chance to hear the Gospel. Each side supports their beliefs by quoting their selection of biblical verses. | ||||||||
| There is no consensus on whether salvation is permanent ("Once saved, always saved") or can be lost through future sinful action. Again, each side "proves" that their beliefs are true by quoting favorite biblical verses. | ||||||||
| Various passages in the Christian scriptures indicate that certain behaviors will keep people out of heaven: e.g. gossiping, murdering, stealing, sexually abusing children, etc. But the Bible is unclear whether these behaviors cancel the salvation of a person who has already been saved. |
Sponsored link:
What did the early Christians believe?
Since the primitive Christian movement was only decades away from the direct teachings of Jesus, some theologians believe that the early Churches' beliefs accurately reflect Christ's message. However, Christianity has been hopelessly divided about salvation even from its earliest years.
The early Christian movement was mainly composed of three separate movements. They had three diametrically opposed paths to salvation: | Jewish Christians: This was the group founded and led by Jesus' disciples and his brother James. Being a reform movement within Judaism, they believed that salvation was achieved by performing temple sacrifices and by following the dietary and behavioral rules of the Torah -- the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). | ||||
| Gnostic Christians believed that Jesus was sent by God to impart special knowledge to save humanity. With this knowledge, one can attain heaven; without it, one is lost. | ||||
| Pauline Christians eventually formed the movement that
later became the Roman Catholic church. In the first and second
centuries CE, the movement emphasized the
necessity of good works and baptism to attain salvation,
forgiveness of sins, and heaven. For example:
|
What do the Christian churches believe now?
In recent centuries, Christianity has generally taught that the vast majority of individuals are "unsaved". They are isolated from God, and lost in their sins. Although everyone has eternal life after death, only those who are "saved" eventually go to Heaven, where they receive rewards beyond our imagination. The vast majority of humans end up in Hell where they are tortured endlessly without hope of mercy or relief from their pain. The losers would presumably include all Agnostics, Atheists, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Neopagans, and followers of other non-Christian religions. To this list of the "lost" are added many Christians who had not met certain specific criteria for salvation. During the 20th century, there has been considerable softening about the teachings on hell and salvation within many denominations.
As with the early Church, today's denominations are currently divided about how one is saved:
| Fundamentalist and other Evangelical Christian
denominations generally teach that only that small minority of individuals
who trust Jesus as Lord and savior will be saved. They are justified
through faith. (i.e. they are "brought into right standing and
into a right relationship with" God.
1 Thus, a person's actions, works and deeds have no
impact on their salvation. However, once they are saved, the will exhibit
their new status in the good deeds that they do, because they have become
a "new creation in Christ." Salvation forms a major
part of their faith -- it motivates many believers to save as many other
people as possible from the horrors of Hell. A group of leading
Fundamentalist / Evangelical leaders, including Jerry Falwell, D. James
Kennedy, Pat Robertson, and Charles Stanley, signed a joint statement
in 1999-JUN which confirmed their beliefs that:
The Southern Baptist Convention altered their internal statement of faith, called the Baptist Faith and Message in 2000-JUN to read that "there is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord." | ||||||
| Roman Catholicism teaches that infants are "justified"
when they are baptized into the Roman Catholic Church. Later, when they mature to the point where they are accountable
for their actions, they lose their justification whenever they commit a mortal sin.
Church sacraments can restore their status so that they are once more justified. Thus,
a person's actions and regular presence during the sacraments are of paramount
importance in determining whether they will make it to heaven. Historically, the Church had taught that everyone who is not a Roman Catholic cannot be saved; all will go to Hell when they die. A series of Church documents during and since the Vatican Council II in the mid 1960's were written. They recognize that people who are Eastern Orthodox have the same opportunity for salvation as do Roman Catholics. Christians from other denominations, or are followers of other religions have a chance to be saved. However, they are generally at a severe disadvantage compared to Roman Catholics. More details. | ||||||
| Liberal Christians generally reject the idea of Hell as a place of eternal punishment. They feel that it is incompatible with a loving, caring, tolerant, rational, understanding, and just God. Some interpret Hell symbolically. Thus, they consider the topic of salvation to be relatively unimportant. Those liberals who believe in the existence of heaven expect that everyone will eventually go there after death. | ||||||
| Mainline Christian denominations teach beliefs that correspond with those of Evangelical Christianity, or liberal Christianity, or which lie somewhere between these two extremes. Individual members do not necessarily agree with the stated position of their denomination. |
References:
G.A. Mather & L.A. Nichols, "Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions and the Occult," Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, (1993), Page 171.
Associated Press, "Evangelicals Unite on View of Salvation," 1999-JUN-12.
Copyright © 1997 to 2008 by
Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2008-FEB-09
Author: B.A. Robinson
|
|
|
Page Translator: