If a man believed God to be forgiving, but didn't believe Jesus to be convincing enough could he be saved?

Question

As in, he didn't necessarily (withheld judgement) accept Jesus as saviour but simply hoped that God could forgive him.

Discord: you are incorrect, at least about Catholicism.

John F: You have also made a statement the Catholic church would see as false.

The majority of you have judged.

I do not see any condemnation in the commonly cited verses save for those who would judge the Son.

Answer 1

He will be saved if he/she does more good than evil.

Answer 2

John 14:6 says Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Light, no one comes to the Father except throught the Son (Jesus)

Accept Christ as your personal Savior today and assure your place in the Kingdom of God!

Answer 3

Believing in a loving and forgiving God was introduced by Jesus. The God of the old Testament was a fearful guy who often punished those who sinned. So, to believe in a forgiving God, you must first believe in Jesus.

Answer 4

The answer is clearly NO. I could write out a good explanation of my own from what the Bible teaches; but I think the Bible's teaching on this is clear and to the point. ""For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son" (John 3:16-18).
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." (John 3:36)
"And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1st John 5:11-12)
"Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

Answer 5

No. Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John14:6) God will not forgive without a confession of faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ. This confession is that Jesus ands only Jesus is Lord, and only the blood of Jesus saves.

Answer 6

Hey, BigPapa,

Well, I think what we know about the "Christian" God (or the "Father" aspect of the Trinity, since this is often what we term as "God") is what Jesus said about him, and Jesus was very specific that if we had seen him, then we had seen God as well... and that rejecting the son (Jesus) meant that one would also be rejecting the Father.

Everything about forgiveness especially, we've learned through the person of Jesus (the Son). I'm not sure how one could still find grounds (at least within Christianity) to believe that God is forgiving if Jesus is rejected.

I suppose one would have to resort to other faith systems in order to find alternate evidence of God's being "forgiving."

I think it helps if we clarify heaven/hell as not "soul repositories" (i.e., reward or punishment) but as either being in God's presence or not being in God's presence. This isn't a matter of "saying an oath to the right guy," it's about wanting to spend eternity in the proximity of a particular person (i.e., God).

So God forgives those who want to be in his proximity for eternity.

This isn't a painless place, and comes with a commitment on our par: it means constantly accepting that one is not God and God is, having to accept all the garbage we hate about ourselves currently, and yet having humility enough to trust and believe that God wants us with Him despite all that garbage and even promises resurrection/restoration to us as part of being in that relationship.

Still, pride/shame as well as anger/fear over being at "God's mercy" often keeps us from accepting his forgiveness.

This is part of the process of "being forgiven" -- are we willing to go through with it and submit to whatever it entails?

Answer 7

Salvation only comes through accepting Jesus as the son of God and ones personal savior according to the bible.

Answer 8

Good Question. God is righteous. Man is not. Man is accountable for his unrightousness. God, being righteous, WILL NOT sweep sin under a rug, or simply forgive it. Sin has to be paid for, that's all there is to it. If God simply forgave sin, then it would be an affront to His own righteousness. So, in desiring to forgive sin, AND desiring to uphold His own glory (which is of infinite value), He slew His Son to pay the price.

Look at Romans 1:16-17
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.' ”

The "gospel", which is the good news that God saves man through His Son's death, is the power by with God saves. And that salvation is based on belief in the Gospel, which is belief in Christ.

The "righteousness of God" is the key here! God SAVES you by providing FOR you what He expects OF you, namely HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS! That is accepted through faith in Christ. That is how you gain the righteousness that saves you and guarantees your sin's forgiveness.

Answer 9

Assuming (and Im probably wrong) that this person is u, I would make this point:

The only way to atone for sin is to pay the price. Sin deserves punishment, and we, as sinners, had to take that punishment.
Sin is paid for thru blood. Thru death. In the OT, ppl sacrificed animals; God transfered their sins to the animal, and that animal was the sacrifice.

But in order to truly atone for sin, it had to be conquered once and for all. That's where the messiah, the Christ comes in.

Jesus was the ultimate Lamb. He took upon himself the sins of the world--YOUR sins-- and paid the price. Why? Because that was the only way to save us.

Now, if u or someone accepted God but not Jesus as Christ, my first question is WHY?

Im not trying to condemn you, but I must point out the folly of denying Jesus as Lord.

Talk to me about this?

[e-mail]
or
[e-mail]

Im praying for 'the man' in your question, and hoping its not you!

Answer 10

No, because an act of mercy/ atonement needed to be made. "There is no remission of sins without the blood" God would have punished all sinners for violating His law without the penalty being paid by Jesus on th cross. "But God demonstrtes His love toward us in this, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" Furthermore Jesus said that to "reject the Son was to reject the one who sent Him" and that He who has the Son has the Father or something very similar to that.

Answer 11

No, the only way to being saved is through Jesus, that was made clear when He was on the cross dying for us. He paid the price for our sins, so we need to accept Him in gratitude. He is the only way, the truth, and the light.