Do Christians really believe most of us are going to hell?

[GrandizerII]

Care to elaborate on what they meant by "christ"?

That depends on what you mean by "they". The authors of the Synoptic Gospels? Or the followers of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels?

Before Jesus' death, I doubt his followers saw him as some god. They saw him as the Messiah rather, which is where the term Christ comes from. So nothing beyond a great prophet or king chosen by God to save the Jews from the Romans.

[The Grand Nudger]

Care to elaborate on what they meant by "christ"?

That depends on what you mean by "they". The authors of the Synoptic Gospels? Or the followers of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels?

Before Jesus' death, I doubt his followers saw him as some god. They saw him as the Messiah rather, which is where the term Christ comes from. So nothing beyond a great prophet or king chosen by God to save the Jews from the Romans.

See what I mean, always refers to god. There's no christ, no messiah, no annointed one - without divinity, without the origin of the message, without the annointer. No one who uses these terms can do so accurately, while leaving out god. God is embedded.

How, for example, could we say "an atheist who believes in jesus - chosen by god"

[GrandizerII]

But some of them think so, and are troubled by it.

This is the subset I'm most interested about. If they are troubled by this, why aren't they putting in much more effort than they are now to try to save us from the danger that supposedly is coming?

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That depends on what you mean by "they". The authors of the Synoptic Gospels? Or the followers of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels?

Before Jesus' death, I doubt his followers saw him as some god. They saw him as the Messiah rather, which is where the term Christ comes from. So nothing beyond a great prophet or king chosen by God to save the Jews from the Romans.

See what I mean, always refers to god. There's no christ, no messiah, no annointed one - without divinity, without the origin of the message, without the annointer. No one who uses these terms can do so accurately, while leaving out god. God is embedded.

That is a condition you have chosen to set. Some will disagree and think an individual who identifies themself as a follower of Christ is a Christian regardless of what they believe being the Christ must entail. Maybe they see Messiah as being figuratively anointed by God.

Since Christian atheism seems to be a serious group, and they prefer to be called Christians, whatever. Let them have that label. It's not like other Christians deserve it better than them.

[Welsh cake]

Do Christians believe 'x'?

I wasn't aware there was a consensus among Christians to ever all believe in the same thing or have the same position, on anything.

I've asked a good few and the answers vary wildly. You'll get at least 35,000 different answers as to what they think is going to happen to us (and them). There's no explanation from any of them as to how the supposed 'miracle' of resurrection of 'after-death-life' works.

Disregarding all that. Finding a Christian who actually bothers to follow the teachings of Christ, is the actual miracle. Most of them simply believe out of some kind of 'after-death-life' insurance. >.>

[The Grand Nudger]

That is a condition you have chosen to set.

Um, no? I didn;t set these conditions because I didn;t decide upon the meanings of these words.

Some will disagree and think an individual who identifies themself as a follower of Christ is a Christian regardless of what they believe being the Christ must entail.

If they believe in christ.....which has a definite meaning - then of course....they are christians.

Maybe they see Messiah as being figuratively anointed by God.

again, to try and illustrate the original point here, people who put "by god" as a statement of action cannot be atheists.

Since Christian atheism seems to be a serious group, and they prefer to be called Christians, whatever. Let them have that label. It's not like other Christians deserve it better than them.

Agreed, and this is the very first thing I said on the subject. That doesn't mean though, that the name has any context beyond it's own borders. We can't use the "christian" or their "atheist" in the same way that we use the others. There were simpler, and more accurate options available to them.......

[GrandizerII]

They would be atheists if they don't believe God literally exists. Hence, figuratively.

[The Grand Nudger]

Christ is not a figurative position. You can't "figuratively" believe that jesus was christ. It's pretty much an all-in man. You can certainly believe that christ is a metaphor...but you no longer believe in -christ- at that point... you're just expressing a belief in metaphors.

[GrandizerII]

Christ is not a figurative position. You can't "figuratively" believe that jesus was christ. It's pretty much an all-in man.

You can't figuratively believe God created the world in 6 days either. Yet that's what many Bible believers think. And we don't argue they're not. At least I don't.

[Jenny A]

[quote='Jenny A' pid='698970' dateline='1404138716']But some of them think so, and are troubled by it.

This is the subset I'm most interested about. If they are troubled by this, why aren't they putting in much more effort than they are now to try to save us from the danger that supposedly is coming?

You hadn't noticed them at your door? Or the big billboards on the highway. Or the many attempts to lure you children (mine anyway) into church youth group. Or the campus outreach programs?

Seriously. This is why Mom really can't get over my atheism. And she really isn't quite sure about hell herself.

[Mudhammam]

Christ is not a figurative position. You can't "figuratively" believe that jesus was christ. It's pretty much an all-in man. You can certainly believe that christ is a metaphor...but you no longer believe in -christ- at that point... you're just expressing a belief in metaphors.

What if you believe Jesus was just a strong-willed, thoughtful, loving, dumb zealot whose good teachings can be extracted from the large pile of crap his later disciples compiled as "biographies"?