Originally posted by: DangerAardvark
Originally posted by: Crono
Originally posted by: bignateyk
Originally posted by: Winchester
All this is saying is that as Christians when you die you do not go directly to Heaven. Right now, there is no one in Heaven or Hell. You go into a state of "timelessness" until Jesus returns (rapture) and the dead are judged, then Christians will go into the place He has prepared for us. The believers will go to "Heaven" and the non-believers will go to "Hell".
For example, your dead grandparents (if Christian) are not looking down from Heaven watching you. They are in the "timeless" state and we will all enter "Heaven" at the same time other Christians do. All which is true. Anyone who has actually studied the Bible can tell you this.
This is nothing new.
But the real question is: how many Christians have actually studied the bible. I'm guessing not a whole hell of a lot if the common perception of such a core belief is wrong.
Your exactly right. There was a Gallup poll a few years ago that showed something like 52% of Americans identify themselves as Christians. But when asked to articulate what exactly they believe (and we are talking about the very basics, here) fewer than 10% could do so. There really aren't that many true Christians in the nation, and too many of us have very little knowledge of the Bible.
The number is more like 75% Christian. I think it was 52% Protestant.
You may be right with the percentage; I would have to check.
But you say there aren't that many true Christians like its a bad thing, when it's actually the reason Lutherans aren't car bombing Baptists and Catholics aren't stoning Mormons to death. Christians are a whole lot less Christian than they were 400 years ago and getting less Christian all the time. The middle east is what happens when a religion doesn't evolve and people can't separate it from their everyday lives.
It is definitely a bad thing that there aren't more true Christians. You have to understand that it is the politicization, distortion of, and manipulation of an organized system of beliefs that causes self-professed (but not true) Christians to act violently and hatefully. It is the people that don't read the Bible, that don't know what God has revealed to us through His Word, that are susceptible to lies and the teachings of false teachers (and there are many). Because if you read the New Testament, Jesus never advocates violence. He tells us to be prepared for warfare of the spiritual kind, but He says: "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here." None of the apostles, nor any of the other Christians, in the New Testament are seen as attacking anyone physically (except for Peter, who was then rebuked by Jesus and Jesus healed the man). Many of them, facing persecution, gave up their lives in defense of the faith, but did not fight against their captors. Jesus, the very Christ whom Christians follow, died as a lamb led to the slaughter, though He could have easily destroyed all His enemies. Jesus was not a politician on this earth, but a proclaimer of truth and a healer. He came to save, not to destroy. The call of Christians is to preach repentance and salvation; to love God with all our heart, mind, strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
The ones who call themselves Christians and yet use physical force are not really Christians at all. They simply use Christianity as a guise for their own ambitions and lusts. Arrogant people can use any philosophy, religion, or system of beliefs to propagate their own agendas. But if we Christians know God's word, we will not fall prey to their schemes, and will be able to strike down the fortresses of deceptions with the only weapon God tells us to use: His Word, which is "sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).