Core Message Of Christianity Isn't One Of Love

[Bob Kelso]

The message of Christianity, as I understand it via SB preachers, is that from the moment we come into existence we've got a gun to our head. Thankfully, the gunman is doling out invincibility stars if you lick his heel properly.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

The biblical God routinely slaughtered people just because they didn't worship him.  It didn't matter if they were good people without any blemishes.  He wanted worship even if the people doing the worshipping were the scum of the Earth.  Jesus said that he will burn all who don't believe in him.  It doesn't matter if they are good people.  An interesting thing in popular culture is the movies that show murderous gangsters going to church.  God & Jesus love that.

My bold. I don't think this is the "God" most Christians believe in. When discerning what God is like, we look mostly to Jesus, His teachings, and the way He lived His life.

Jesus plainly stated that if people didn't believe in him that he will toss their butts into the fire.  You can have the best morality of all time but, according to him, the only thing that matters is if you believe in him.  Otherwise, you're going to burn.

The entire Jesus message can be summed up in one verse, John 15:6.
https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/John%2015:6

BTW, remember Matthew 15:24.
https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Matthew%2015:24
So Gentiles shouldn't even believe in Jesus because his message didn't apply to them.  And since there's no gate for them to enter the gaudy bejeweled golden cube called New Jerusalem how will they get in and sing his praises for eternity?

[Kingpin]

Christians often ignore the fact the Jesus talked more about Hell than any other. He mentions it frequently and drew many metaphors about how it is an eternal separation from God.

You are cherry picking just as you accuse Christians of doing. Read everything in its context.

In Matthew 15, there is an incident that, at first, seems to confirm the idea that Jesus came only for the Jews. Jesus was traveling through Tyre and Sidon, a Gentile region, and “a Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly’” (Matthew 15:22). This Gentile woman recognized Jesus as the Messiah (“Son of David”), but “Jesus did not answer a word” (verse 23). As the woman kept up her appeals, Jesus finally responded, but His words seemed to hold little hope: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel” (verse 24). However, the woman did not give up, and Jesus eventually granted her request, based on her “great faith” (verse 28).

The fact that Jesus helped the Canaanite woman, even though His mission was to the Jews, is a significant detail in the Gospel narrative. Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus gave other indications that His power and compassion reached to all people. He healed a Roman centurion’s servant (Luke 7:1–10). He traveled through the Gentile region of the Gerasenes (Mark 5:1). He ministered in a Samaritan city (John 4).

Jesus came to save everybody (1 John 2:2). Jesus Christ is God Himself (John 1:1). Jesus died on the cross as the payment for all our sins, and He rose from death in resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). Jesus said He was the Good Shepherd, and He predicted that His flock would be greatly expanded: “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16).

[Mudhammam]

The message of Christianity is that God loves all people and desires a sort of transcendental or spiritual communion with them, but hates "sin" and can't stand to tolerate it or the person who has become an accomplice of Satan and his countless minions, and therefore must punish it with eternity in hell at judgment day or during the waiting period while people's shades sit in Hades.

It's some pretty bizarre shit when you get down to it.

[jesus_wept]

Christians often ignore the fact the Jesus talked more about Hell than any other.  He mentions it frequently and drew many metaphors about how it is an eternal separation from God.  

You are cherry picking just as you accuse Christians of doing.  Read everything in its context.

In Matthew 15, there is an incident that, at first, seems to confirm the idea that Jesus came only for the Jews. Jesus was traveling through Tyre and Sidon, a Gentile region, and “a Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly’” (Matthew 15:22). This Gentile woman recognized Jesus as the Messiah (“Son of David”), but “Jesus did not answer a word” (verse 23). As the woman kept up her appeals, Jesus finally responded, but His words seemed to hold little hope: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel” (verse 24). However, the woman did not give up, and Jesus eventually granted her request, based on her “great faith” (verse 28).

The fact that Jesus helped the Canaanite woman, even though His mission was to the Jews, is a significant detail in the Gospel narrative. Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus gave other indications that His power and compassion reached to all people. He healed a Roman centurion’s servant (Luke 7:1–10). He traveled through the Gentile region of the Gerasenes (Mark 5:1). He ministered in a Samaritan city (John 4).

Jesus came to save everybody (1 John 2:2). Jesus Christ is God Himself (John 1:1). Jesus died on the cross as the payment for all our sins, and He rose from death in resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). Jesus said He was the Good Shepherd, and He predicted that His flock would be greatly expanded: “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16).

Speaking of cherry picking, what made you decide to leave out the part where Jesus likened her to a dog and she grovelled and agreed she was a dog before he helped her?

[abaris]

Christians often ignore the fact the Jesus talked more about Hell than any other.  He mentions it frequently and drew many metaphors about how it is an eternal separation from God.  

You are cherry picking just as you accuse Christians of doing.  Read everything in its context.

Yes, lkingpinl. Everyone is cherry picking. There's no such thing as absolute objectivity, even more so with a text that isn't clear on anything and sometimes outright contradictory. We do it in the same way as christians do it.

And I hardly have any problem with a christian like you doing it, since the message you seem to take away from that book, seems to be one of tolerance. What I have a problem with are those christians, who take certain passages and fuel their own bigotry and hatred with these verses. And they expect everyone to share this bigotry and hatred to the extent that they want it written in law.

[Kingpin]

Christians often ignore the fact the Jesus talked more about Hell than any other.  He mentions it frequently and drew many metaphors about how it is an eternal separation from God.  

You are cherry picking just as you accuse Christians of doing.  Read everything in its context.

Yes, lkingpinl. Everyone is cherry picking. There's no such thing as absolute objectivity, even more so with a text that isn't clear on anything and sometimes outright contradictory. We do it in the same way as christians do it.

And I hardly have any problem with a christian like you doing it, since the message you seem to take away from that book, seems to be one of tolerance. What I have a problem with are those christians, who take certain passages and fuel their own bigotry and hatred with these verses. And they expect everyone to share this bigotry and hatred to the extent that they want it written in law.

And I share that same disdain that you have.  

[Catholic_Lady]

Personally, I believe that after a person dies, they meet with God and see what He's all about. Basically see that He is love and He is goodness and truth. And upon doing so, the person gets kind of a "last chance" to choose one of 2 paths... either reject God (meaning they are rejecting love), or humble themselves to Him and to an existence of love and goodness, and become genuinely repentant of all wrongdoings. They get to consciously, and with full awareness, choose between good and evil.

This isn't any sort of official Church teaching or anything like that, but it has been suggested as a possibility by some theologians, and it makes the most sense to me. I may be wrong, of course, but it seems to me personally that if God loves us He would give us that last chance to make a final choice between good and evil, with all the information we need. And it would also be beneficial to the people who have never heard of God or who honestly can't bring themselves to believe He is real.

Evilness is the absence of good, and so if someone chooses the path of evil, they will find themselves in the only place/state of being/other-dimension-we-don't-know-about where goodness is completely absent, and that is Hell.

[abaris]

Evilness is the absence of good, and so if someone chooses the path of evil, they will find themselves in the only place/state of being/other-dimension-we-don't-know-about where goodness is completely absent, and that is Hell.

I don't think, you're really subscribing to that. At least, I hope so. It would mean, everyone not believing in the christian god, would be automatically labelled as evil. That's about 5 billion people.

And please, don't take the simple way out in saying, god is in their lives without them noticing. Just a small caveat, since I got to hear that kind of argument over and over again in various discussions.

[Catholic_Lady]

Evilness is the absence of good, and so if someone chooses the path of evil, they will find themselves in the only place/state of being/other-dimension-we-don't-know-about where goodness is completely absent, and that is Hell.

I don't think, you're really subscribing to that. At least, I hope so. It would mean, everyone not believing in the christian god, would be automatically labelled as evil. That's about 5 billion people.

And please, don't take the simple way out in saying, god is in their lives without them noticing. Just a small caveat, since I got to hear that kind of argument over and over again in various discussions.

What?? You clearly misunderstood me.