(January 21, 2013 at 11:23 am)paulpablo Wrote: The worst thing about both religions is just the general idea that it doesnt matter how many good deeds a person does they can still go to hell because of a decision they made about wether or not to believe in a man called god.It's amazing that statements such as this are so common.
First, note that simple belief in existence is not belief in context of salvation. As James noted, the demons believe in god, and shudder.
Second, the fact that saving belief removes condemnation does not necessarily indicate (and in the case of Christianity does not indicate) that lack of such belief causes condemnation.
By analogy, suppose someone dents my car. They stand condemned because they dented my car. It costs $200 to repair the car. The person refuses to give me $200. By your logic, the man stands condemned for not giving me $200. However, he was condemned already for denting the car.