Hard Christian Questions--Need an answer soon?

Question

I have a couple of hard questions about the Christian faith, and I'd like an intellectual answer.

1. How can one say that Christianity is the 'only' true way to salvation?

2. How can a God of love allow good--even great--people to be in Hell? Someone like Ghandi?

Thank you.

Answer 1

It's not the only way to attain the spiritual level known as heaven. Hell is not real. If an all loving God could do this to his creation, what would an all hating God do?

Answer 2

1. The only way a person can know that Christianity is the only true way to salvation is this ---Personal Revelation...God must reveal it to you or else you will not know.

2. After a person dies they go into the Postmortal Spirit World...which is divided into Spirit Paradise and Spirit Prison. This place is not heaven...(Final Judgment is not until after the Millennium).

If a person has never heard of Jesus Christ or had an opportunity to accept Christ they will not be condemned...the gospel will be preached to all people and all people will have an opportunity to accept it...either here on Earth or afterwards in the Postmortal Spirit World....if a person accepts the gospel there...there are provisions made for their salvation...
(you can email me if you would like to know more about that...)

Answer 3

Answer to first question. No.
Answer to second question No. God does not allow good people to be in hell.

Justification is the process by which a person is made righteous, holy and pure before God. This is accomplished by the grace of the Holy Spirit working within us; empowering us to recognize and repent for our sins and avoid sins in the future. The grace working within us causes an interior conversion to take place so that we no longer desire things which we now recognize as sinful. In the Catholic tradition, our justification comes about through our faith in Christ and in a life of good works which are a response to God's invitation to believe.

St. Paul condemns claims that salvation comes through the "works of the law" (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16; 3:10) but "works of the law" are different from the life of good works described above. Those who depended upon the "works of the law" were the Jews (like the pharisees for example) who depended upon performing all the rituals prescribed in the Book of the Law. Such rituals were circumcision, ritual washing, temple sacrifices, avoiding certain foods, etc. (they had enumerated 613 laws which, if observed perfectly, made the individual righteous). The life of good works which the Catholic Christian lives is the life one lives because of their love for God and their fellow man. It is the life through which their faith enables them to radiate their hope and love. God has given every person unique gifts and abilities; how we use these talents in our everyday lives are the good works upon which we will be judged (John 5:28-29).

Answer 4

In all honesty it would take a novel to fully answer your question but I try to answer it in a nutshell.

1. Christianity IS NOT the only true way toward salvation. Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. Christianity is only the term used to distinguish those who follow Jesus and His teachings. What separates Christianity from all other religions is the authentic historical evidence surrounding the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus' claim to be the very Son of God is reason enough to look into it. No other religious leader on earth has ever made this claim. Christ backed up His claim as Son of God by defying the laws of physics. i.e., turning water into wine, raising people from the dead, making blind men see, etc. These are all documented pieces of real historical events that were seen by thousands of eyewitnesses. None of which refute any of it. Other religious leaders do not have this claim. They were simply people with some good (some bad) ideas that happened to sound good to a group of other people who then followed them.

2. Jesus tells us specifically that no ones "good" except God. Since God is the Creator and Author of life He is the One who sets the standards of how we should live and conduct our lives. He's the only one who has a right to do that. Therefore, since sin separated us from God we cannot live up to His standards. In His love, He gave us a way to be able to live up to His standards, through Jesus Christ. If we reject Jesus and His love we then reject God and cannot live to our full potential.

Answer 5

We say that, not to be cruel to others, but because this is what the bible teaches.Ac 4:12
"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."(that is the name of Jesus)
We believe God cannot lie.
As far as the "hell" question is concerned, God is reaching out to each person with his love from the moment they are born, until death..trying to reason with them..to come to him.
But sadly,some refuse his offer..he cannot share his kingdom with sin. So they have to go where sin lives..in Hell.

Answer 6

Well, christians say it is the only way because Jesus said it, and we have chosen to believe what he said. Secondly, we believe that compared to God, no one is good, let alone great. That is why God sent his son to save us. He took on the sins of the world so now we stand spotless and blameless before the throne. We believe only those washed in the blood of christ are looked at as perfect like christ and can go to heaven. That is why we think that some "great" people might go to hell. I don't know about Ghandi, only God can judge.

Answer 7

1 - Christian means Christ Like, it is not tied to a specific religion. A Christian has a personal relationship with Jesus, not a religion. Therefore, there may be a Christian in a variety of denominations, however, there also are those that are not Christians because they selected a denomination to follow. They are following the religion, not God.

2 - Because salvation is through Christ Jesus ALONE. WORKS or being GOOD doesn't get you to Heaven, as you can not EARN it. It is a GIFT by the GRACE of JESUS when one comes to him for forgiveness and asks him to lead their life.

Answer 8

There is no intellectual answer - the questions are loaded. Most Christians do not believe that (following) Christianity is the only way to salvation, and most do not believe that good people go to hell. Nearly a fourth of all Christians don't even believe in hell.

Answer 9

1. Because I believe the bible to be true and it states that the only way to salvation and to inherit the kingdom of Heaven is through His son Jesus Christ.
2. God is a God of love but he is also a God of wrath.

I found this site to be helpful:

Because He is love, some are inclined to think that God does not, and will not, become involved with punishment. Punishment, it is believed, is somehow inconsistent with love. We are told that if God were to inflict punishment, He would no longer be a God of love. Those who take this position exhibit their ignorance of both the character of God and the nature of punishment.

The God of the Bible identifies Himself as a God of love (I John 4:8) and a God of wrath, vengeance and punishment (Romans 1:18; II Thessalonians 1:6-9). Now, if God identifies Himself as being both a God of love and wrath, then who are we to argue with Him? Instead of arguing against it, we ought to try to understand how these two attributes coexist.

Here is the link if you would like to continue reading:
http://allanturner.com/love.html

Be blessed!!

Answer 10

1. Christianity is not the "only" way to salvation. Chirst is the only way to salvation. Religion cannot save you, only the Son of God can. religion is supposed to be a place where you become knowledgeable about Christ through study and application. Follow Christ, not the world.

2. havent you heard? "there is none who does good, no, not one" Psalm 14:3 here is the thing you are missing here friend....God does not send people to hell, we are all headed there already, but rather, through his son, provides a way out of hell. providing a way out of hell is what makes him a loving God...... none of us deserve to be in heaven. but we are wanted there. hope this helps.

Answer 11

1. Jesus Christ stated He was the only way to His Father, and inheritance of the kingdom, all in the Holy Bible, the life blood we, Christians, live by

2. The only way to Heaven is to accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you do not do this, then Hell is the result. Those that don't recognize Christ, will have their day of judgement.

This may not be the "intelligent" answer you were looking for, friend, but it is a Christian answer. If you present this to other faiths, their responses would be similar, but tailored to their principles. How do I know Christ is the way? Because of the Holy Bible, it warns of false doctrine, and antagonists that will come to distort or pervert the truth. Christ is my way for me. Best wishes, friend.