(January 29, 2018 at 4:02 pm)Astreja Wrote:(January 29, 2018 at 3:38 pm)SteveII Wrote: No I don't think that striving to do good or making an honest effort is enough. "State of Grace" is the state where you are made holy before God because of a very specific act: accepting Jesus as your savior and the redemption that comes with it (that's the Grace part).
I've always found this utterly baffling. If people can't do sufficient good to get themselves into heaven, how can they possibly make themselves bad enough to warrant an eternity in hell? The whole scenario is just too creepy and manipulative for my tastes.
It seems the confusion comes from your understanding heaven/hell as components in a rewards system. It is not. If God is perfectly holy, he cannot have a relationship with us because of our sin. He has provided a way to overcome this barrier. Going to heaven means you took him up on his offer to overcome the barrier. Hell you did not.
