Why must we believe *before* we die?

Funny that I have salvation then, considering that I'm not a good person.

Sick.A God that operates in this fashion could reveal itself all it wanted, and I would neither love it nor worship it.I would rather burn in hell....foreverDisgusting.

What will you do in Heaven?

I must admit if you read the responses from the Christians in this thread that the God most of them claim to worship is most disgusting.The greatest barrier that GOD faces is Biblical Literalists.Fortunately there is no resemblance between what they portray and either christianity or GOD. GOD doesn't care whether you believe or not. GOD will know YOU by what you do, not what you say.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Meh. I'll just kill God. I'll have all eternity to figure out how, after all.

Whatever it is that qualifies you for salvation is the definition of "good." For surely you agree that some will not qualify.None know save God who is of the elect.

But nothing qualifies me for salvation except being a sinner, which is the lot of us all, according to the Protestant theology I believe. And there is nobody who doesn't "qualify" except those who hate God and refuse His call and that is their own doing, as ALL are invited. "Whosoever believeth on Him" are the saved. Whosoever. That is true, but nobody deserves it, we're all equally sinners when we're called. He simply chooses whomever He chooses, and nobody knows who that is. He calls all and you have as much opportunity to respond as anybody else has.

It follows therefore that those who love God rather than hate Him and those who do not refuse His call are the good people. That's what it means to be good, to heed His call and not hate Him. If these actions were not of paramount moral importance, then there would be no reason for Him to set those conditions--unless you think that God does not value goodness.

But God is in the business of changing us. We don't start out loving Him or seeking Him. Yes, He values goodness supremely, that's why He intends to change those who respond to the call to fit us for His company.Yes, there's some fancy theology involved in all this, but I think it's best to keep it simple. He has called. If you have the slightest interest you can say yes and everything starts at that point. Everything else is a bit academic.

I appreciate the distinction, jar.The gulf between the claim of a loving God and a God that consigns living souls to eternal torment is immense...unbridgable.The smugness of those who claim to be on the safe side of that divide drives me to distraction; the notion that God is a torturer opens the door to justifying some of humankind's worst tendencies. Burning at the stake, the torments of the Inquisition, the slaughter of "infidels"...all spring from the gates of Hell.

Peace. Love. Joy. Kindness. Freedom from attachment to passing sorrows.You show surprising ignorance for someone claiming to have been a Seeker who explored everything from Eastern mysticism to the occult.The ocean could not exist without drops of water.What will you do in Heaven, Faith?

Crashfrog, if you wind up Downtown, call me.

Heh, God won't have a chance. All the best people are in hell. Albert Einstein? Alan Turing? Norman Borlaug (if he's dead)? All in hell, according to our friendly neighborhood Christians.

Exactly. The process works as follows:
faith, then grace, then works.Faith leads to grace, and it is grace which changes us and turns us into better people. Better people do good works. Only good people go to heaven.But your statement that you KNEW you were saved surprised me.

OK, yes, only good people go to heaven. As long as it's clear that nobody qualifies without God's grace. Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.Jhn 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.