A Reasonable Religion

[NotReady]

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The idea that you don't actually have to believe in god or worship him to be rewarded, just live a good life.


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Start with Plato and work forward in history from there. Virtually every religion and human philosophy is some variaton of this.

[Koss]

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Start with Plato and work forward in history from there. Virtually every religion and human philosophy is some variaton of this.

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Most religions require that there be a belief in some higher power, be it Allah, Christ, or whomever. They also have certain rules to be followed or rituals to perform before being rewarded an afterlife. Obviously these are all open to interpretation, as seen by the several forms of Christianity that already exist.

A friend of mine wants me to get baptised because he is afraid that I'll go to hell if I don't. Yet he is somewhat of a dishonest and selfish person. I'm not perfect but I think I'm a bit more respectful of others than he is. According his beliefs he goes to heaven and I do not. If the afterlife is determined solely by how you act as an individual and not by any religious beliefs, then I think I'd be in OK shape.

Atleast that is my interpretation of what Sklansky was trying to say. I don't know a whole lot about religions so I don't think I can say much more, but that's my $.02

[NotReady]

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If the afterlife is determined solely by how you act as an individual and not by any religious beliefs, then I think I'd be in OK shape.


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As you see, what S. proposes isn't new. Even within organized religions there is widespread belief that works will save. I think even Catholics now accept some form of this such that it's no longer necessary to belong to their church but I'm not certain of that.

Your friend is wrong if he thinks baptism will save. The Bible says "For by grace you have been saved, through faith, not as a result of works, that no one should boast". According to Scripture, and this is very plain throughout the New Testament, allegations of interpretation are misguided, salvation is by repenting of one's sin and trusting in Jesus. It is phrased in different ways, but one of the clearest is John 3:16

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

[Koss]

It's not that he thinks simply being batised is enough to be saved, but the belief that without being baptised you are damned no matter what you do with your life.

[NotReady]

I wouldn't focus on the question of baptism. I can't imagine that anyone who believes in Christ would fail to get baptized. But in one sense your friend is right. If you reject Christ, you can't be saved. Scripture says that all have sinned and all deserve God's punishment. No amount of trying to do good works will make up for that. That's why God gave His only begotten Son, as an atonement for sin.

If God offers you this gift of life, forgiveness of sins, the promise of the inheritance along with Christ, and you refuse it, then you remain guilty. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?"

[obsidian]

Yea, the bible is pretty clear. If you don't believe in Christ, you go to hell. Pretty much my biggest problem with the religion. It's way too restrictive and exclusive of all other religions.

[Demana]

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But there is a way out. Namely by doing extra credit good to make up for the bad. Do enough and you wipe the slate clean.


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Did you watch Constantine and feel like he was getting slighted for all the "good work" he had done?

The interesting thing about this "extra credit" is that it does not take into account the person's thoughts and motives. I could be a serial killer, murder a hundred people, and still be able to wipe my slate clean even though I would be doing it for selfish reasons.

btw - Something about this point also reminds me of Agent Smith telling Neo, "We'll wipe the slate clean, Mr. Anderson. Give you a fresh start."

[NotReady]

Do you understand why the Bible says faith in Christ is necessary? If it's true it would have to be exclusive of all other religions. If the Bible is God's Word, all other religions would have to be false. Otherwise, God would be contradicting Himself.

[fnord_too]

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2. God set up physical constants, laws of physics, and quarks that incorporated inherent randomness (a necessary feature to allow free will).



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A nit: Randomness does not in any way imply or guarantee free will, it only affects predictability. Whether something collapses into one specific state or another may be purely random chance, but it does in fact collapse into a specific state upon interaction if quantum theory is correct. Unpredictable results are not equal to free will. (Though you are correct in your assertion that deterministics physical laws preclude free will. We do not, however, have complete understanding of the physical laws of the universe, which may be quite an understatement, so all speculation about free will is pretty much moot.)

[Piers]

Are you going to write a novel fleshing out some of these ideas?