Re: Any Believers in Jesus Christ Here? (Non-debate thread for believers only)
Polite question -
Doesn't one have to believe in the Trinity to be considered a
technical Christian? That is, Jesus being the Son of God - God Incarnate? Also, believe in the Resurrection and hell?
I've heard that Jehovah Witnesses do not believe in the Trinity or Resurrection or hell - but this isn't NOTHING against them as a PEOPLE, I'm just trying to clear up
doctrinal stuff.
please don't kill me
I'm just wondering if you guys think that you have to believe in all these 3 things to be a technical Christian. (that is, you can still believe in those things and be Christian "in name only" but God knows our hearts and knows whether or not we're really living up to the Lord, Christian or not).
not my intent to offend or disrupt the harmony of this thread
Yes, believing in the Holy Trinity is what defines the technical Christian, and believing in Jesus' as a half-man, half God (the Son of God), His second return. And... not believing a hell exists... And Not believing that Jesus was Crucified literally, meaning on a Cross: the most powerful Christian symbol, the most sacred and representative of Jesus' sacrifice for humanity.... This is just one of the elements which makes some religious cults that separational, in this case, the JW's, that need to modify the truth, the teachings by how they perceive it, and that is a sad thing. Because it goes back a long way, this stemming from a certain rebellion against the Roman Catholic bloody events, the medieval crusades and witch hunts and the tortures and burnings of heretics.... When it was supposed to be an example of morality and of respecting the Commandments, instead they killed a lot, they were beasts that didn't have the right to take one's life, an unforgivable sin. And I can understand that rebellion, I do. But it doesn't justify the need to create or engage in religious cults that deviate from the truth and write books that counter the Bible teachings or alter some of them because of that. Fanaticisms on both sides can be irrational and dangerous, but... creating the God you perceive, be it Jehovah, or Allah, it's... I don't know... It doesn't make it the true One and it is a deceptive thing... and this kills me...
I don't know, for instance, whether Michael believed in the Holy Trinity, I don't know if he still believed there isn't a hell... I don't know whether he was baptized or christened ever in his life, if he became a born-again Christian, or was a wanderer all his life, and kept holding unto the JW and their God and teachings, however similar some are to the actual Christian religions, be they Catholic or Orthodox... but it's not the same....
I've been saying this before, and it is an invasion of privacy in his case... But it's so extremely important, because it determines your afterlife, and I worry about many of the ones who depart from this one, esp in Michael's case, as he's no longer here, and knowing just how wonderful and kind and forgiving and loving he was... It's killing me inside wondering where he is now/where he will be, because I know what Christianity expects from the people and what it preaches about, and although he was so very much in tune with the Christian teachings, if you're not a born-again Christian, if you don't confess your sins to the priest in the church, God's servant, if you don't receive the Holy Eucharist (Jesus' body and blood through sanctified bread and blood...), if you don't attend Sunday's Christian service, they're specifically saying, close to every Sunday, how those people won't see the Kingdom of God.... Especially, if you're not a born-again Christian, being christened with the holy water, symbol of the Jordan...
I hope people don't take offense in the above... A question was asked, and I tried to answer it as simplistically as possible.. then add some of my recurrent worries and fears... and hoping to get some alleviance after putting them down, I don't know....
...