If the bible didn't offer eternal life....would you still be a Christian?

Question

The point being....how much of your faith is based on escaping death? I'm not trying to be antagonistic...I'm just curious. Thanks for your answer.

Let me say this: A few people stated that the bible does not promise eternal life. Well...if the bible is the inspired word of god, and the bible is how he chose to reveal his plan of salvation to you....then how can you possibly say that there is no promise of eternal life in the bible? If it weren't for the bible how would you know of the eternal life promise?

Answer 1

No probably wouldn't be
I'm in it for heaven and eternal life.

smiles!

And what's wrong with that?
If I wasn't Christian I would probably be a humanist.

Answer 2

That's a VERY good and intriguing question! Without eternal life, what we have here on earth would be IT. It is the evidence of eternal life after this one that makes Christianity special. Without that, Jesus would have been nothing more than an excellent and compassionate teacher/rabbi.

I'm guessing that if eternal life weren't in the equation, Christianity would have fizzled with Jesus' crucifixion. Since it was His resurrection that provided the evidence for eternal life, and for His being God incarnate. Eternal life and the proof of God automatically were factored in with His resurrection. Had there been NO resurrection, He would have been nothing more than just another dead man.

Answer 3

*shrug* i'm agnostic.....i neither believe nor disbelieve there is a God and an afterlife. I don't know for 100% for sure and neither does anyone else on the face of this Earth no for 100%.....the only way you know is when you die. So until then i live my life accordingly and try not to do to much to harm to my fellow man.....i try to follow the 10 commandments and Jesus's teachings not b/c i believe in an afterlife and i'm not doing it "just incase" it's just what a descent human being does in order to live and survive successfully in an advanced and large civilation as we have here on Earth.

The way i look at, the Bible is a great guide line to follow for living in large communities that would exceed 30-60 ppl. When the Bible was written communities or tribes were getting larger and ppl weren't use to living in such large communities before so they had to come up with rules and guidelines to follow in order for the community to survive and not tear itself apart. Ppl (and this is what the Roman's found out through trial and error over its 1000 year reign) ppl respond better through a supernatural force guiding them than actual real life "man rules". Ppl are afraid of the unknown. *shrug* Constantine the Father of the Christanity was a Pagen all of his life up until his death.....then he repented...and right before his dying breathe he converted back.

The Bible and Christianity is a way to control the masses. I find nothing wrong with this b/c Jesus's teachings were just and sound and the 10 commandments aren't bad rules to live bad. *shrug* it scares me not all not knowing.

Answer 4

My answer is based on my own view of who I am. I don't know if I have enough faith and love in my heart to do without eternal life. But it is also Love of God that can give one a longing for heaven, so it is a contradiction of sorts. I think it would not be quite the religion of mercy if we are made for God, but cannot really attain the complete union of heaven. But I hope I would be a Christian, because I would then feel much better about my place with God. It seems if one could love God without reward, you would be the most perfected.

Answer 5

I believe that the Bible promises eternal life to Christians...with all my heart. But when I speak with skeptics about Christianity, I tell them something like this:

All religions have a component of faith, a very large component. We don't have very many first hand accounts of people blowing the lid off the mystery of life and death. To a skeptic, even Jesus doesn't count, many of his contemporaries dismissed him as a madman and bid him good riddance after he was dead. Either you believe or you don't, it's not like you can prove either with hard scientific fact. And really, as a matter of faith, you aren't supposed to have to.

But let's say that heaven and hell is all a big hoax, a myth. You die, and nothing happens at all. You just...die. You can't really complain now, can you? After all, you are dead. So if you die and there is no eternal life or damnation...and you were a Christian who was helped in your everyday life on earth with: a moral compass, a source of comfort, a sense of belonging, a sense of strength, and then you are dead...it still seems like enough of a bargain to me that I had something to lean on while things mattered in my physical life on earth.

If on the other hand, you spent your whole life doubting that you have a soul and all that, and it turns out to be true, you will have to account for your lack of faith and you risk your whole afterlife with that doubt.

In all world religions, and Christianity is not really different, you do in fact create your reality. As you so, so shall you reap. What is bound on earth, is bound in heaven, what is loosed on earth, is loosed in heaven. Faith in psychological terms is called a self-fulfilling prophesy. If you believe something will happen, you find a way to make it true for you.

The question I always ask, then, is "What have you got to lose?" If I'm going to be swindled, I would much rather be swindled during the time of my life on earth than for all of eternity.

Jesus said that all you have to do is show the faith of a mustard seed...a tiny tiny amount. If you have any faith at all, you can invest it in Jesus, and it will grow. You don't have to have all the answers, you don't have to have it all figured out...faith is believing that God does have it all figured out. Christianity is asking you to believe in love. To believe that someone loved you enough to live a perfect life in your stead and then die in your place.

But a skeptic will not understand that because it is illogical to think that someone who walked the face of the earth 2000 years ago had anything to do with them...much less the kind of love it takes to give your life for someone, when not many people could do that even for a beloved family member. For skeptics, it takes the touch of God to spark an imagination of how love should be.

So the answer to your question is: Yes. I think Christianity is a good way to have an abundant and peaceful life on earth. It is not just fire insurance to me. But heaven is indeed looking good to me and I believe I will go there.

Answer 6

OK, i got into Faith because i believe that God has a Love for us like no other (as corny as that sounds). God wants to keep us forever which is why he rewards us with eternal life to be with him. If he didn't want us to be with him, then its obvious he wouldn't love us enough to keep us. so what the point. many of us really do get into faith to escape death. But as for me, i can care less for death--I'm just trying to be with God.

Answer 7

Our worship is all we can do to repay Jehovah for our lives. There is nothing else He does not already possess.

We have life on an earth WE messed up. There are parts of it we haven't messed up and seeing them, how can one not be grateful? We have diseases but many are due to our own fault by not taking better care of ourselves.

I am grateful to have had life. Grateful to have a planet designed and built by a wise God. My life is better for having been shown what He has said to have the best life now and following that counsel.

Answer 8

Yes I would still be a Christian. I love the Lord, I love what He has done for me, and I love telling others about Him. I'm a better person because of my faith as well. The Bible never mentions "escaping death," so it's already inevitable that I'm going to meet it face to face one day.

Answer 9

Yes, I would. Nothing would stop me from being thankful to the Son of God whom hung on a cross for me till his death. The eternal life with Jesus is just more incentive.

Answer 10

I don't think that when I accepted my salvation it was from thinking eternal life thoughts.
I was tired of not having God in my life. The emptiness in my spirit was sad. God filled that. Eternal life with him, is a benefit that I realized later.