If Jesus is God and Jesus is forgiving then God is forgiving, then why MUST I accept Jesus as Savior(b4 death)

Question

I accept the possiblility of Purgatory (latin for "through fire" I believe) for the cleansing of man before entering heaven. I accept the valid arguement of the Catholic church.

I accept that Jesus is Judge and that all must "go through Him to enter into heaven."

These beliefs defend God as Righteously Jealous (He is just so Good).

Can you then attempt to sway me with scripture?

Consider this threoretical salvation for believers of different religions.

Purgatory is a word in the bible in Latin from the verse that very likely ensures its existance "saved as if through fire."

Besides could you at least answer the question if you're going to rag on purgatory...

Not all will need to go to purgatory. Purgatory is a place of cleansing before entering into the presence of God.

rottymom: you missed the point. If one where to worship the creator (like muslims), would this fullfil the requirement. Could they just find Jesus to be God when Judgement occured?

You added to what I said to put that as "my words." I can still believe in Jesus as Judge without making everyone Christian.

Answer 1

Assalamalaikum,
According to my belief jesus is not god,neither is he god's son as christians say.he is only one of the messenger of god,who was sent in this world to convince people nd teach them the righteous path leading to god.all messengers have certain powers,so they r special.People have mistaken him as god.it is believed that before the day of judgement jesus christ will come back and convince people that he is not god nd only one of the messenger of god,the almighty..he was not crucified,he is safe with god....hope i have answered ur question...

Answer 2

1. Jesus stated "I am the way the truth and the life, NO man comes to the father, BUT THROUGH ME" (my emphasis)
2. Purgatory comes from the books of Macabees. These writings were never jewish doctrine, Catholic insistence notwithstanding, and have been rejected by Christianity. Therefore it is UNBIBLICAL and heretical.
3. The acknowledgement that there is a god (or THE God) is not enough. Satan believes and he trembles, but tere will be no salvation for him.
4. TO be absent from the body is to be with the Lord. Purgatory not an option
5. It is appointed once for a man to die, and then the great white throne of judgement. Again purgatory is not mentioned as an option.
6. Jesus is the ONLY door. if any try to come to God another way he is a thief and is wholly thrown out.
7. beware of false teachers and prophets. if anyone delivers to you another gospel (even an angel from heaven attention MORMONS!) let them be DAMNED (acursed)!

Answer 3

OK, I am not sure what you mean by righteously jealous...
It says in Romans 10:13 that
"WHOSOEVER shall call upon the name of the Lord SHALL be saved" this means doing that before death. I think you won't be praying a prayer for salvation after you die. If so, i believe it is too late.
I do not know where in the bible it says anything about Purgatory- or fire cleansing.
I do not practice Catholic teachings- I am a member of another church's teachings. I hope this helps, at least some. Romans is a good book to study in. Thanks also for not being so hateful asking a religious question. You don't seem to be inciting a huge argument for the laughs. Blessings to you.

Answer 4

You are forgetting the rest of God's character. God is forgiving, but He is also just. God created heaven and He is the one who set the rules for how to get there. If you don't want to follow His rule on how to get there (only through faith in Jesus Christ), why should He let you in? It's HIS heaven. He can choose who does and who doesn't go in and what the path is for getting there.

To be honest, I think you are really confused about the way to heaven. You are seeing salvation through the eyes of working your way there (purgatory). However, the Bible teaches that our salvation was completed on the cross by Jesus Christ and there is nothing we can ever do to add anything to that salvation. It's done. I do not agree with the Catholic Catechism that says that we were "imperfectly purified" because that indicates that Jesus' sacrifice wasn't enough and He needs us mere humans to finish up what He couldn't do. Hooey! It is done. There are no more works to be done to gain or maintain our salvation. Salvation is by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) and if you add any works to that, it cannot be by grace alone (Romans 11:6). They are mutually exclusive. Either grace OR works, you cannot combine them in any way. They cancel each other out.

Answer 5

1. Jesus makes no mention of purgatory. It does not exist.
2. Bible says, once to die, then judgment. Your judgment is decided on what you did on earth. After that, what direction you're heading is where you will be going.
No U-Turns.

I, as a former Catholic, cannot accept purgatory in the hope someone prays me out. No Scripture supports that.
I work out my salvation thru Jesus Christ and God's grace.

Answer 6

You are trying to use your brain to understand God, and it all about faith and love, not logic...especially the flawed logic humans have.

God was separated from us by sin. We are born with sin and cannot get rid of it. We were doomed to be forever separated from God. As I am sure you have heard the verse: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son. He who believes in Him, shall have eternal life."

This simply means that you acknowledge Christ as the means that bridge the gap between man and God...you are saved. Christ is the only way to God...to not accept that and believe it in your heart is a lack of faith in what God has done.

As far as God being Jesus, etc....The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit are the same. They are also different entities, but still the same. Jesus was God on earth in human form. He took human form to suffer as we would when He was on the cross...to truly pay for our sins in full.

Let God speak to you through His word. And read His word without the bias and filters of organized religion.

Answer 7

I'm not sure anyone could "sway you with scripture", if this is what you believe. I don't agree with you, for one, because God says it is given to man ONCE to die, and THEN the judgment...there doesn't seem to be anything in between. Nor can I find any verse in my Bible that implies any such thing.
But I do wonder...even if there is such a place as "purgatory", why would anyone knowingly choose to go there? Wouldn't it be better to belong to Jesus in this life, and have a sure place with Him in His Father's house when it is our time to die?

Answer 8

Purgatory is never spoken of in the Bible. What the Bible does say is "It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment."
God is forgiving, but you can't enjoy the forgiveness of God until you admit you're a sinner in need of a savior, repent, and accept Jesus Christ.

Answer 9

Well, now first of all, you don't HAVE to believe anything. If you are a catholic, you might want to talk to your priest about this.

But here are some other delimmas:

If God is all powerful, why do people suffer? Does he enjoy seeing people suffer?

If God is all powerful, why does he (she) let the "devel" have so much power?

Now, you see, I really don't believe any of this. It is soooo
illogical! Life is just as it is, as you see it. There are not any really good answers. But we are forever trying to make up a bunch of answers and fight and die for our made up answers.

Just don't let all these ideas push you around. People are always trying to convince you that they know the truth. You have to find your own truth. If it doesn't lead you to loving other people and a set of good values, than it is not right for you or anyone.
My humble opinion.....

Good Luck

Answer 10

I totally reject the notion of pergatory. Jesus died for sinners. They must accept Him or reject Him. Once they are dead....the choice is done.... The Bible tells us that after death comes judgement....not pergatory. It is a notion that the Catholic church came up with so they could get people to pay and pray people out of hell. Sorry, that scheme was never part of God's plan.

Answer 11

All I can say is that the Bible says that Jesus is the way the truth and the life, no one gets to the father without him. in order for that to happen you have to profess with your heart and mouth that he is the son of God and has died for our sins and risen from the grave to defeat death and we are saved by grace. it all sort of ties into each other. But it is up to you to accept the gift that you have been offered.