Biblical Inerrancy - mandatory to be Christian?

[The Grand Nudger]

Assuming Christian morality, if one does "the Good", they actually are building a relationship with God. In Psalm 136, David assures us that "...he is good...", so by being moral/good, there is a very real bond that forms between that person and God. This bond I call "faith", and is the agent of salvation (even though most people use faith to mean "knowledge of the existence of God"). The more the giving of one's self to the Good, the stronger the bond. Here, we have imperfect faith. My bond to God can always be strengthened, as can anyone else's. This imperfect faith is because we're not giving our whole selves to God; We only give part. Everyone only gives part. But part is all that is necessary for salvation.

Agnostic has a possibility (knowledge does not grant salvation), but if one firmly believes that there is no sort of god, the entire demeanor of the person is different. Really, this is a case of how much pride is there. I don't see it being possible with how that knowledge would then affect how one acts (we're not to love "mankind", but individuals). If "atheist" defines their person, I strongly doubt it. If they simply do not see the need for any god yet, if the proof was there and they simply did not notice it, they might be able to be lumped in the same category as the agnostics. Really, this totally varies. There are plenty of Christians who had all the right knowledge and all the right actions, but they do it for recognition or money, or they think they earned their way into heaven, or something, and these people are far worse than any atheist in my eyes. They don't deny his existence out loud, they exploit the trust of the faithful. The same pride problem applies for other religions as well. If their religion defines them and they will not separate from it, what can we do? If it does not, then that bond to God is completely possible.

I think you'll find a great many christians who disagree with you on this count. In what way do you imagine that the entire demeanor of a person who firmly believes here is no sort of god would be different from anyone else - or that this difference would be due to their firm belief that no sort of god existed?

After resurrection, the faith of those believers will instantly be perfected because they will be in the presence of God. The issue here is that I don't think many have the ability to let go of pride, and pride refuses the giving of one's whole self. This causes big problems with one's salvation. Including Christians and non-Christians, the "better-than-thou" syndrome could thwart any sort of measurement. This, I think, is our greatest sin. Christians will go to hell because they have pride that "they were right" that they won't let go. Atheists will have pride in saying that God was unjust. Other religions will attach themselves to their own gods. Selfishness will be the fall of many. We all have selfishness and pride now in some way or another, but as long as it can be shed, there is hope.

This is starting to sound less like an exploration on who might find themselves in heaven or hell...and more like an attempt to create novel definitions for things like faith in order to launch a polemic against pride (wondering why you perceive pride as such a dirty thing anyway).

So, in short, doing the Good is accepting God with action, even if the concept of "God" is foreign. However, many actions can resemble the Good, and are not, and those don't count. Also, pride can and will destroy the bond, effectively having the person damn themselves.

If doing "the good" means accepting god, I'm going to have to start seriously considering doing "the bad" - aren't I? Nevertheless, what I see here is a situation in which a belief in god, the "revealed words of god" or even any concept of god is far less than necessary to achieve the cosmic carrot. Seeing as how doing "the good" is entirely more beneficial to both myself and my fellow man than any belief personally held would ever be (consider, you've set up a situation in which doing the good might grant entry in and of itself - but belief is no such key) - I see no reason to waste any time I could spend doing "the good" expressing or contemplating any belief. Seems to me that my time would be better spent enhancing the lives of the poor fuckers down here on the prison planet that you're so keen to escape. On the other hand - if your assessment were true, I don't know that I'd want to continue doing "the good" because I don't want to spend eternity (or even a moment) with your god. Tough position to be in, I'm sure you'll appreciate that?