On non-belief and the existence of God

[Michael]

As a Christian I trust Jesus doesn't mess things up. If Jesus were just a man I don't think I could have the same trust in following him.

Sorry if I gave the impression that it meant I didn't think I (or other Christians) could mess things up. History is quite clear on that!

But isn't it a fallible human being which must decide whether Jesus were just a man and whether it was possible to trust in him even if he were just a man? There doesn't seem to be any way to get from fallible human being to the correct choice of what is infallible.

Yes, I certainly accept that there's always a fallible component (I could be wrong). But, if Jesus is who I think he is then he is still a far better person to follow (a far better 'King') than any person, I believe.

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Chad. It's interesting that you mention degrees of heaven and hell. My understanding is that actually goes back to Jewish belief in the time just before Jesus (though it is still not in our Deuterocanonical books, or those you might call the Apocrypha). But it does seem to be implicit in Paul's writings, where there are different levels of reward. Certainly medieval thinkers seem to have a lot of fun with it, especially Dante.

Another contentious, but relevant, point we might want to mention is the question of whether there is a temporary state where people work out their final salvation, much like Scrooge in Dicken's wonderful Christmas Carol. Orthodox and Catholic Churches allow for this, though with somewhat different theology, and that is one possible route Catholic theologians go for people who have not wholeheartedly rejected God, but who still have some stuff to work through (which is probably the case for many of us). It's all quite speculative it seems. I do rather like C.S.Lewis's the Great Divorce and his thoughts on heaven and hell.