Would I goto hell if I didnt accept Jesus as my savior?

Question

My parents are both religious, but Im not. I dont think Jesus saved me. And I dont have a savior, because I havent screwed up my life yet. Also, the teachings of Jesus, and the bible, I could care less for. Its supposed to teach you how to be a good person, but all you need is common sense to figure that out. But if Im completly wrong about this, and Jesus was right, COULD I still get into Heaven?? OR would I spend the rest of my life in hell, even though Ive worked hard to be a good person??
(Id like to think theres an afterlife)

Marvin, and others, I do believe in God. Sorry for not making that clear. I just dont believe, in believing in Jesus. And Marvin, your view on life is sad. "Why bother being good if theres no afterlife?" Because I could bring world peace. I could help feed starving children. I could comfort someone when theyre sad. I could love someone whos not loved. I could help someone when theyre going through rough times. I could make my familys life better. I could make society and our future better. I could pay for someones laundry... Instead of ignoring problems which make our world less than perfect. So yeah, lets all turn to crime, murder and rape if theres no afterlife. You really dont have any respect for life at all.

Marvin, and others, I do believe in God. Sorry for not making that clear. I just dont believe, in believing in Jesus. And Marvin, your view on life is sad. "Why bother being good if theres no afterlife?" Because your life, and what you did will still carry on in the future. If you tried to be a good person, and helped others, others will follow your example. If you lead a life of crime, rape and murder, you create anger, rage and sadness in other people. And people will also will follow in your footsteps. If theyve seen what youve done, someone..will think its okay to do the same. And theres no proof of an afterlife. It would suck if you wasted your life being good for nothing..but you really dont have any respect for life at all, so what does it matter?

Answer 1

Nobody knows for sure. My opinion is that if there is a God then he would judge us on our actions and our character and not on something as unimportant as blind faith.

But, truth to tell, there are a whole truck load of folks out there who think I am crazy for believing that.

In the end - you have to decide for yourself.

a

Answer 2

You have the information that God and Jesus provided through the Bible and the teachings of others. What you do with that information is up to you and will determine your ultimate outcome. The Bible says that persons that are not introduced to Christianity are not punished for being ignorant of it. However, those that are introduced to it (that's you), and chose to not believe, (that's you again), will be punished. Religion is about morality and values. Being a good person is great. Aren't you already following some of God's teachings just by this action? They say that 95% of the people on Earth believe in God, what's your problem? Everybody knows that Jesus died on the cross to allow our sins to be forgiven, yours too. You seem to think you haven't sinned yet. Sorry, you are human and humans automatically sin without even trying. What do you think happens when people die? Nothing? That's it? No afterlife? That would suck! Then why bother being good? What the point? It's much easier to be bad. Go ahead and kill, steal, rape and lie. Why not? Nothing's going to happen to you! Or is it ? Suppose all of us are right in our faith and there REALLY is a God! Then what? It'll be too late. Your first few sentences up there spelled out your fate. You don't believe in God. Jesus says in the Bible, "No one get to the Father but through Me". That means you have to convince Jesus that you are one of His chosen ones. Otherwise, it's bye bye! Being a "good Person" is not enough. Having "common sense" is not enough. You have to believe that God made the Heavens and the Earth, (everything). You have to believe that Jesus died to forgive your sins, ( you probably have a few hundred thousand already ). So, it looks like you have a problem. You don't have to be a religous fanatic! Just believe, truly believe, that God is real. You don't even have to tell anyone. In your mind and in your heart keep a place for God and He'll keep a place for you.

Answer 3

Yes. Jesus is the only way to heaven and it does not matter if you are a good person. Commen sense will not work if you have a diseased way of thinking about truth. If you don't want to spend eternity in hell, you must do the following steps. Hell is not a party with rock-n-roll bands. Read Gehenna by Paul Thigpen if you want a description.


Know Jesus as Savior and Lord.[Eph 2:8-10]
Confess sin against God.[Ps 51:4][I John 1:9][James 5:16]
Repent.[Luke 13:3]
Have a goal to please God.[Mt 6:33]
Ask God for wisdom to know what change to make.[James 1:5]
Ask with faith that God will answer.[James 1:6-8]
Do what God says to do in spite of feelings.[James 1:22-25][Gen 4:7][Eph 5:8][Phil 4:13]

I pray that you will let God and the Holy Spirit make you a new home in heaven.

Answer 4

If there is a Jesus and he loves us all like all the Christians say he does I am sure there will be a way to redeem yourself when you meet him...or his dad.
The "if" you mentioned is what all religion is about...if you don't follow the rules you will burn in hell. It is a purely fear based demand by men on men.
Don't forget that men, not God, wrote the Bible.
Is there some good messages in holy writings, the quaran, The Bible, The Bagvad Gida, The four Agreements, The Simpson's...sure there are.
Life is good, live it to it's fullest and find meaning wherever you look.
Personally I would rather spend eternity surrounded by people I like, not a bunch of self ritious spirits...besides anyone who truly understands God knows she is so much more than an old book.
Be a good guy and God loves you, be a jerk and God still loves you, be a complete bastard and God still loves you, the difference if your a jerk or bastard people won't like you and if there is no life after death you wasted all that time being a jerk for nothing.
Relax and be happy!

Answer 5

No - there is no doctrine preached by Jesus that demands conversion to any particular religion to achieve heaven (or whatever you want to call it). Remember Jesus was a Jew, and never repudiated Judaism at any time, although he was critical of corruption by individuals.

If Jesus never repudiated his own faith, there is the potential to infer that Judaism remains the only true 'monotheistic' (see comment below on monotheism) religion.

In other words, Jesus didn't invent Christianity. Humans did.

In order to justify forced conversion, doctrine was spelled out early on stating that if you fail to convert you will burn in hell. This justified the slaughter of members of other religions, as well as confiscation of property from those not of your particular sect or religion.

Ironically, in order to stop the slaughter, and address theological questions about those who were never exposed to Christ's teachings, church doctrine was changed. Those of good character always went to heaven.

Most recently, in order to improve conversion chances in the third world - the Papacy recommended the 'elimination' of purgatory.

Purgatory being the place where unbaptized babies went when they died...

The recommended new doctrine is that all babies that die go directly to heaven.

Disregard the large amount of human literature and speeches that have over the years been piled upon Jesus' root teaching.

And remember also - there are religions and philosophies that lack a hell - and some argue that there is no hell - others have lacked a heaven in the Christian sense.

I suppose I should point out that theologically Judaism invented Satan (some call the individual Lucifer - which is Latin for Light Bringer...) in order to answer the theological quandary - if God is all good, then why is there evil in the world? To answer this question, a contrary force, an evil force, Satan, was created.

Which of course means that anyone who believes in heaven and hell, God and Satan - are actually not monotheists, they are dual theists... ironic again...

Follow you're common sense. Love your fellow person, and consider all the unborn generations in your decisions (I'm not discussing abortion here... that is another issue) and you will go to whatever afterlife you believe in.

My basic philosophy is that if one religion is real, then they all are real, if one is false they all are.

Enough typing for me - more than a thousand years, and millions of words have been written on the topic.

Believe and practice what feels right to you. And think for yourself.

Just my .01 and Peace,

-dh

Answer 6

On the Authority of Scripture: If you truly confess your sin, and your need of Salvation and truly accept Jesus as your Saviour and follow Him as Lord of your LIfe, then you have passed from death to Life.

Just because you "havent screwed up" your life yet dies not mean that you have not sinned. Most children or teens have sinned ... at some time they have lied to their parents or to a school teacher, or they have disobeyed their parents (or school teachers; persons in authority over them), or they have at some time swore or took God's name in vain, etc., etc. It is not necessary to have committed murder, fornication, adultery, etc. in order to need Salvation.

If you think you don't need the teachings of Jesus and the Bible; if you count them for nothing, if you can figure out all on your own ALL of what is right and wrong then you probably are the ONLY person on earth to live a perfect life ... not only to know what you should do but also do actually always do it.

If you are "completely wrong about this", and it does seem you are mostly wrong anyway, yes, you still could get into Heaven if you try it HIS way. After all, it is HIS Heaven.

>or would I spend the rest of my life in hell, even though
>I've worked hard to be a good person??

Try reading the New Testament. Don't try reading it looking for loop-holes. Rather, try reading it just to find out what Jesus, the Eternal God manifest in the Flesh, actually did say. Notice especially where He says :except your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of ....

Of course, none of us can; that is why we will not depend on our righteoussess but, rather, clothed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the Throne.

Definitely there is an afterlife. In Christ we can have Eternal Joy and Glory; not in Christ we will have an afterlife that is, as the Scripture says in St. Luke, being in "torments".

Answer 7

I think the big thing here is to be a good person. If you were to accept Jesus as your Savior, He would say "Even better." I mean, if that were a prerequisite for getting through the Pearly Gates, then many many good Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Moslems (yes, there are good Moslems), B'hais, Taoists, Copts, Wiccans (many of whom do acknowledge the divinity of Christ), and people of a whole lot of other faiths who will be out of luck. Atheists? I'm not sure where God will draw the line. I'm thinking, when an atheist cashes it in and he (or she) gets up to the front of the line, St. Perer is going to ask, "So whaddaya think now, tough guy?" And if they tell him something like "OK, Jerky, you were right," everything will be hunky-dory. I don't know. I would think God would be pleased if you were trying to be the best person you could be every day, no matter what your personal beliefs are.

Answer 8

Oh, dear. This is going to bring out the worst in some of the so-called Christians that try to answer this question.

Jesus and all the prophets never intended to relegate "non-believers" to an everlasting existence of pain and suffering. They only wished to enlighten people to the true nature of their origin and ultimate destiny.

This life is only one phase of our existence. But, it is an extremely important one. The choices we make here and, as importantly, the way we treat each other, will have an impact on how our existence continues after this life.

Heaven and hell are imperfect constructs of what life before and after this one is all about. Some would say that they are "states of mind". Others would say that they are actual "locations".

I am a follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ as I understand and accept them. However, I am not so ignorant or blindly faithful that I deny the fact that the writings of the prophets and apostles have gone through many translations, transliterations, and interpretations over the ages. What we have - the "scriptures" - is a compilation of writings that were and are a product of human maintenance and as such are subject to further interpretation and manipulation.

But, to answer you question from my perspective, yes, you could and probably will get into heaven, or a heaven, as it may be. God is the creator of us all. As Jesus said (and I paraphrase), "who among you would give a person a stone if he were hungry rather than a piece of bread? And, you, mere human, are "evil" when compared to God. How much greater and more loving and good must God be than you?" Why would God consign you to a miserable and painful existence (to extend the metaphore, give you a stone) when you are a good and decent person?

Someday, the truth will be given to you to consider. You may have many opportunities to consider it. Ultimately, you will have to make a choice. That choice will be an important one. But, I don't believe that a loving God will curse you to an endless existence of pain, agony, burning, and unquenchable "hell" because you don't choose as he would have you choose.

I think God also considers our heart and how we treat his other sons and daughters. Be kind, gracious, humble, and courageous in your life of honesty and integrity and there will be a correspondingly loving response from your creator in "the after-life".

Answer 9

I understand your concern as I am in the same sort of position as you. My mum is religious and I don't really feel that her religious beliefs are ultimately correct. You gotta think, yeah, there is a possibility that they're right, but there are millions of people all over the world who swear otherwise.
I have adopted my own theory on the afterlife: I believe in a subjective afterlife. I believe that what YOU believe governs what will happen to your soul or psyche when you die. We know that our brains have infinite potential but we haven't worked out why. I believe this is the answer: to fuel yous afterlife. Therefore, if you BELIEVE that you deserve to be rewarded after death for a righteous life, you will be. But you will have to let go of doubt.
Once again, just my idea, but I hope it helps.

Answer 10

...Check this verse: "For whoever keeps the whole Law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all." James 2:10 Have you sinned one time? If so, you are guilty of violating it all, and in trouble with God.
...1 John 1:8 "If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us." You need to come clean about your life before God.
...Good people don't make it into Heaven - do you know why? God declares there are no good people - observe, from Romans
...3: As it is written:
“ There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
13 “ Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;
“ The poison of asps is under their lips”;
14 “ Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “ Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways;
17 And the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “ There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
...Good works can never make one right with God.
...Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast."
...One must trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved..." Acts 16:31
...Galations 3:26 says, "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus."
...Jesus made some incredible claims regarding Himself - that He is God, and that He is the only way to God. He is either a liar, a lunatic, or He is Lord - I believe He is the Lord, as He said - and you must also decide. He really doesn't leave you any wiggle room.
...I pray that God will give you the faith to believe; I pray that you will place your trust in Jesus as your Savior.
...God promises that whosoever will, may come.

Answer 11

John 14:6

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."


Matthew 7:7-14

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."