There has been a lot of confusion about what a good Christian believes in this forum. Here are some of the basics.
First, Starting with the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden, we became sinful creatures. God cannot stand sin, and with His perfection, we cannot be near him with it. Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death."
God then had a conflict. The punishment for any sin is eternal separation from God (Hell). But he loves us and created us for the purpose of willful fellowship with us. Since God is perfectly just, He has to punish sin. But he knows the punishment would take us away from him. So He devised an answer: Send himself to take our punishment for us.
Jesus came into the world, and taught us to love and respect one another. and was seen as a threat to the Temple heirarchy. They had him crucified. This was all a part of God's plan. Since Jesus didn't sin once, (He was tempted, but being the perfect Son of God, he never gave into satan) He was able to be a perfect sinless human sacrifice. Otherwise it would have just been punishing his own sin. But like I said, he never sinned, so it didn't matter. He took all sin, past, present, and future, had it put upon Himself, and died. He spent three days in hell. On the third day He rose from the dead (symbolic of how humanity can now rise from its ashes). This is THE MOST significant event in Christian history, without it, Christianity is pointless. (You can try to prove the resurrection wrong, but in reality, it happened. Truth.)
Now, he only cleared the sin of those willing to believe that he cleansed their sins and saved their souls. Jesus took our sin to the cross and now we can be perfect like God, the requirements to be with Him in heaven. But you have to have faith. We believe that only those who are faithful and accept Jesus and what He did will go to heaven. This is not a "Freedom to do what the hell you want" pass, because as one who accepts Christ, you will become more like Him and do His will.
Keep this in mind: Faith produces good works, rather than the opposite. This is what separates us from other religions. You don't have to be 51% good to get into heaven or 51% bad to get into hell. Accept Jesus and you become like him and become 100% good. Then you do your good works out of your Jesus-esque goodness.
Yours in Christ,
Kevin
First, Starting with the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden, we became sinful creatures. God cannot stand sin, and with His perfection, we cannot be near him with it. Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death."
God then had a conflict. The punishment for any sin is eternal separation from God (Hell). But he loves us and created us for the purpose of willful fellowship with us. Since God is perfectly just, He has to punish sin. But he knows the punishment would take us away from him. So He devised an answer: Send himself to take our punishment for us.
Jesus came into the world, and taught us to love and respect one another. and was seen as a threat to the Temple heirarchy. They had him crucified. This was all a part of God's plan. Since Jesus didn't sin once, (He was tempted, but being the perfect Son of God, he never gave into satan) He was able to be a perfect sinless human sacrifice. Otherwise it would have just been punishing his own sin. But like I said, he never sinned, so it didn't matter. He took all sin, past, present, and future, had it put upon Himself, and died. He spent three days in hell. On the third day He rose from the dead (symbolic of how humanity can now rise from its ashes). This is THE MOST significant event in Christian history, without it, Christianity is pointless. (You can try to prove the resurrection wrong, but in reality, it happened. Truth.)
Now, he only cleared the sin of those willing to believe that he cleansed their sins and saved their souls. Jesus took our sin to the cross and now we can be perfect like God, the requirements to be with Him in heaven. But you have to have faith. We believe that only those who are faithful and accept Jesus and what He did will go to heaven. This is not a "Freedom to do what the hell you want" pass, because as one who accepts Christ, you will become more like Him and do His will.
Keep this in mind: Faith produces good works, rather than the opposite. This is what separates us from other religions. You don't have to be 51% good to get into heaven or 51% bad to get into hell. Accept Jesus and you become like him and become 100% good. Then you do your good works out of your Jesus-esque goodness.
Yours in Christ,
Kevin