Let me get this straight. I can act like a total creep my entire life and as long as I accept Christ?

Question

And ask for his forgiveness with sencerity I get to go to Heaven?

That's a square deal indeed. Sign me up.

And to think I've spent the last 32 years trying to be a good person. What a waste of time that was.

I guess I left the time line open to interpretation. My apologies. When I said, "I can act like a total creep my entire life and as long as I accept Christ?" I wasn't talking about accepting Christ on my deathbed. I was referring to the many Christians I've known who have professed devotion throughout their lives yet still treat others with blatant disregard.

And a few of you wondered: why would I strive to be a good person if I wasn't concerned with the afterlife. I think the question answers itself. Anyone who needs to ask probably isn't a very good individual at heart.

It's kind of like the old saying, "honesty is it's own reward." If you feel threatened into doing good with the prospect of hellfire, you're not sincere. Thus, not that good after all.

Answer 1

Your point is well taken.

A lot of Christians do seem to believe that way.

That is why there is divorce.

That is why the amount of sex partners men and women have is 10 or more in a world that is 80% religious.

That's how the KKK justifiy their actions.

That's how other fundamentalists justify their actions.

While this doesn't make them good or christians it is a matter of reality.

And the reality is they call themselves Christians and say they are "doing God's work" and "Living a Christian life."

Answer 2

Yes, that is true.

But accepting Christ is not as easy as "Sign me up." As I've said before, you can't fake God out. You have to *believe.* You can't just decide to believe and then act like it and say it.

You haven't wasted your life trying to be a good person. You have just wasted your energy. God is the one who gives the power to be truly good. There is a difference between being and trying to be.

As for the many Christians you've known who have professed devotion throughout their lives yet still treat others with blatant disregard--not all who profess devotion truly have faith. They may have dead belief but may not have living faith. OR, they have living faith and just have a giant "backlog." That is, God may very well be working in their lives, but their lives may be inordinately messed up.

Who knows? I would just hope you consider the fact that accepting Christ is not a whim, like accepting the terms of a loan for a home entertainment system and signing on the dotted line.

Answer 3

According to the once saved always saved idea that my fellow Baptists believe, if you are truly saved you will want to tun away from sin and make a change for ever....But the Baptists will also tell you that no man, even after getting saved, does not sin. And sin is sin, my cursing God's name is the same as me not remembering the sabbath and keeping in holy by going to church and worshiping on Sunday to me shooting a random stranger and killing him dead. So being saved gives you the assurance that you will go to heaven, that you have forgiveness if you do sin, which you will, which I see as a loophole to live like the devil, because you know someday you will live with Jesus. So yes it is a screwed up deal and the older I get the more I think it is screwy. But I can honestly tell you this, that I always feel God's presence with me even when I have not prayed and read my Bible in a year or gone to church in 9 months. I will never denounce God and the awesome miracle that salvation was for me.

Answer 4

I don't have the time to read each answer in detail, but let's just put things into perspective:
What you said is true but it only applies to people who DO NOT KNOW about salvation through Christ (as in they've never heard). So now that you have been informed, for you to be knowingly acting like a total creep, and expect forgiveness when you say a little prayer on your deathbed, that my friend cannot be guaranteed. God might forgive you, or he might not, HE knows your heart. If you've planned it that way, you obviously don't have pure intentions.
There is a verse about sinning willfully - and that is not to be taken lightly, and also
GOD IS NOT MOCKED. WHATEVER A MAN SOWS, THAT HE SHALL REAP!
Now that ought to give you something to think about.

Answer 5

Dear, let me say this. Read the Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Grace is not cheap. It costs you nothing...and everything at the same time. See, God gives you the DESIRE to change, and the power to at the same time. Jesus left two commandments, Love your Lord God...and to Love your neighbor as yourself...if you do these two things...you will fulfill the intent of the law (old testament). Sounds simple...yet so many people would rather do whatever they wanted to do. Fine, that is why God gave you a free will. So remember, He sacrificed all, and yes, you can do whatever you want...then ask for forgiveness only if you believe *not just saying it...it is a FAITH thing. If you do not believe, then your words mean nothing...so just a word of caution, God does not want you to grieve the Holy Spirit...and intentionally sinning...and then doing a quick band aid prayer...hmmm like God does not examine the hearts of people...careful darling...be very careful.

Answer 6

Are you really sincere? Even if you were sincere, it doesn't leave you off the hook for paying for your sins.

If you break a window while you were outside playing baseball, you go to the owner of the house where the window was broken, and say that you are sorry. Will that be enough for the home owner? No it won't, you have to replace the window....pay for it.

YOU WILL PAY for your sins, until, as it says in the book of Matthew, pay the last penny.

Catholics call that purgatory, which is part of heaven, just not in heaven.

Answer 7

You can't plan it out that way.

God is not a stupid being up there. "oh, he finally realized I'm God! Let him right in!"

No... you have to live your life for him. And by that, once you HAVE accepted Jesus into your life, from that point onwards you must be livnig for Him.

So yes, if Hitler had genuinely realized the error of his ways and came to Christ before he had died (suppose a christian somehow was in the bunker and witnessed to him) then yes Hitler could have gone to heaven.

Is it fair?

Absolutely not!

Neither is it fair that *any* person can go to heaven! Jesus made the ultimate unfair sacrifice so that ALL sinners can go to heaven. God's love is truly amazing and trandcends human logic and reasoning. Our values of what's 'fair' are determined by our past actions and not by our beliefs.

So, what I'm saying is that if a person lives a life of sin and then repents of sin and comes to Christ, they will go to heaven despite what they did i ntheir past 'life.' However you cannot simply say "I'll do what I want and then go to Christ later." The Lord knows your heart's intentions and you are not a true believer if you were to do that.

How do I know that you wouldn't be a true believer?

Because a true believer desirs to serve God! And living a life of sin surely is not serving God.

I'll be happy to talk with you more about this if you are genuinely interested :)

Answer 8

IT is never a waste of time to do good.

But, yes, you have it right, but remember we do not get to pick when we leave our earthly bodies.

Accepting Jesus Christ into your heart with full sincerity will change you, even from the good person that you already are. It will make you feel compelled to know this creator of yours and you will want to read and re read his word.

The more you read, the more you will understand what you need to cast out of your life and what you need to include in your life.

Casting off our self will and living for God is a life long process that will not be complete until we take our dying breath.

Answer 9

Actually the concept of accepting Christ is a relatively new concept, probably about 40 years old. It is not taught in the Bible but developed from a misinterpreted verse in the Bible in Revelation 3:20 that says if anyone will open the door Christ will come in. The problem is that verse has nothing to do with being saved, it is a verse to people who are already saved. The truth from the Bible is that you become a christian not by accepting Christ, but by Him accepting you, and He only does that when people truly repent and confess Him as Lord. read Romans 10.

Answer 10

It's not really about how good you've been. We as people can never be good enough to earn a spot in heaven. Christ is the provision. You also have to realize that when a person is sincere they will seek God for change. Trying to do what's right is never a waist of time. If nothing else it keeps you out of jail and confrontation.