do i have to believe in jesus to be saved?.
i was raised as a jehovah's witness.
i was born in.
@a watcher
Let me ask you this,
What if I did all I could to believe in Jesus, followed his teachings, went to church, preached the Gospel, helped the downtrodden etc. but deep down inside my logic and critical thinking skills never made me sure beyond all doubt. Wouldn't that mean that I didn't truly believe? How could a God hold this against me?
Even mother Teresa doubted her faith. So '@a watcher' are you implying someone like mother Teresa won't be saved?
do i have to believe in jesus to be saved?.
i was raised as a jehovah's witness.
i was born in.
How unloving
do i have to believe in jesus to be saved?.
i was raised as a jehovah's witness.
i was born in.
One thing I think the JWs did right was their refinement of the sheep and the goats.
I remember there was an adjustment to our thinking to not label people sheep or goats because only God knew. By extension I remember discussions that there would likely be many in paradise who we would have never imagined would be there. In other words, God would choose many who perhaps rejected beleif (amongst other things) but had other redeemable qualities.
That is what I think a loving God would do.
do i have to believe in jesus to be saved?.
i was raised as a jehovah's witness.
i was born in.
@GoneAwol
I believe I understand the point you are making.
I choose to not believe in those things due to lack of evidence.
On the flip side, I also cannot 100% disprove their existence, just like God.
However, I have this gut feeling of "there has to be"; I know it's only faith and is meaningless but I choose to hope. I can neither prove or disprove God.
do i have to believe in jesus to be saved?.
i was raised as a jehovah's witness.
i was born in.
@GoneAwol
Many days I believe, I pray, but I would be lying to myself if I say I could prove God's existance as fact. There is no proof, just faith.
do i have to believe in jesus to be saved?.
i was raised as a jehovah's witness.
i was born in.
@Ding
Because isn't this true, pure belief the whole foundation of religion and salvation? Many say I have to believe in Jesus to be saved. This is why I ask.
(side note: I often ascribe to other possibilities of this reality being an illusion. Take simulation theory for example. )
do i have to believe in jesus to be saved?.
i was raised as a jehovah's witness.
i was born in.
@Vanderhoven7
Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, his first creation or do you believe he is God as part of the Trinity?
Either way, have you studied every single point ever made in every publication or talk provided as proof for your particular belief? Have you objectively studied every point ever made against your belief in every publication or talk ever given? Can you say you've truly, objectively, spent all your time and resources doing so? No, you cannot. It is impossible. How can you be so certain of whether Jesus is a.) God's first creation, his son or b.) is God as part of the Trinity, let alone every other argument for or against Christianity being the true religion or how to interpret every passage in the Bible?
How can God fault us for not believing a certain doctrine? God sure makes it difficult.
do i have to believe in jesus to be saved?.
i was raised as a jehovah's witness.
i was born in.
@Half banana said
"However if you want to be honest and live without false expectations then it's better to recognise that we all die and therefore we should live knowing that our life is very precious and should not to be wasted on supernatural fairy tales."
That's the problem, without these fairy tales, I believe life is meaningless.
I've tried the "give your life meaning" mindset. Let's say I were to go and help a charitable cause, in the end, it would all still be meaningless if we live for a blip in the fabric of time and then die. Sure our actions would help others living today, and in some small way carry over to others later on, but life would still be pointless.
Without this faith (and I know I could very well be lying to myself), I'm a nihilist.
do i have to believe in jesus to be saved?.
i was raised as a jehovah's witness.
i was born in.
do i have to believe in jesus to be saved?.
i was raised as a jehovah's witness.
i was born in.
@Anders Andersen
I agree completely.
Except sometimes I think, what if this draw I have to Christianity is Gods way of drawing me to them? That God, Jesus love me, you know the same tired explanations you hear all the time. What if? Yes it doesn't make sense, but what if the same old tired explanation of Divine Will cannot be understood by imperfect minds is true? My issue is that I always "what if" each side.
I confess that it all does not make sense to me but I still believe there is something greater but have no evidence to support this, just faith.
Hopefully, if there is a God, they do not fault me for not ignoring my own logic.
