Do you think having an abortion will mean you are going to hell?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This keeps me up at night.

My guess is if you believe in hell then you likely believe in a God that does not condone abortion. I believe in a forgiving God and I hope you do as well. That said, forgiveness stems from repentance and repentance is deeply personal. Much stems from how an individual came to the sin in the first place. I imagine being young and coerced into abortion is different from aborting due to inconvenience. Certainly women rationalize it in their heads in different ways. People enter into abortions from so very many angles that I can only assume coming to terms with it, in some cases rationalizing it, would also be very different. First you need to find your peace. When you do you will be best able to explain your story and speak with someone who can guide you to a forgiveness, if that's what you seek.

So my answer is no, I do not believe you are going to hell. I do believe that abortion is a grave act completely counter to God's creation, but I believe God understands the weaknesses of our humanity and will forgive if we admit we acted wrongly and pledge to move forward in a new way.

And we can act wrongly over and over again and God will forgive us because he knows we're weak. The important things is that we believe in him. He can't forgive us for not believing in him.

Why not?

Yes! Seriously, why not? If you believe that He forgives us because He knows that we are weak, why do you you think that wouldn't extend to our "weakness" that is not believing in Him? Doesn't that seem, I don't know, a little manipulative on the part of whoever cobbled together your theology? "We're all cool as long as we're not atheists, guys!"

The theology about the need to believe in Jesus to be saved is hardly cobbled together. It's modern interpretations that are cobbled together. Obviously, religions, like so many other things influenced by humans, change over time, but God sent Jesus over 2,000 years ago to be our savior as long as we believed in him. That hasn't changed.

Ah so the original literalist among us. Don't enjoy shellfish, I hope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This keeps me up at night.

My guess is if you believe in hell then you likely believe in a God that does not condone abortion. I believe in a forgiving God and I hope you do as well. That said, forgiveness stems from repentance and repentance is deeply personal. Much stems from how an individual came to the sin in the first place. I imagine being young and coerced into abortion is different from aborting due to inconvenience. Certainly women rationalize it in their heads in different ways. People enter into abortions from so very many angles that I can only assume coming to terms with it, in some cases rationalizing it, would also be very different. First you need to find your peace. When you do you will be best able to explain your story and speak with someone who can guide you to a forgiveness, if that's what you seek.

So my answer is no, I do not believe you are going to hell. I do believe that abortion is a grave act completely counter to God's creation, but I believe God understands the weaknesses of our humanity and will forgive if we admit we acted wrongly and pledge to move forward in a new way.

And we can act wrongly over and over again and God will forgive us because he knows we're weak. The important things is that we believe in him. He can't forgive us for not believing in him.

Why not?

Yes! Seriously, why not? If you believe that He forgives us because He knows that we are weak, why do you you think that wouldn't extend to our "weakness" that is not believing in Him? Doesn't that seem, I don't know, a little manipulative on the part of whoever cobbled together your theology? "We're all cool as long as we're not atheists, guys!"

The theology about the need to believe in Jesus to be saved is hardly cobbled together. It's modern interpretations that are cobbled together. Obviously, religions, like so many other things influenced by humans, change over time, but God sent Jesus over 2,000 years ago to be our savior as long as we believed in him. That hasn't changed.

Ah so the original literalist among us. Don't enjoy shellfish, I hope.

You compare eating shellfish to eternal salvation through Jesus? Old Testament to New testament?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL no it doesn't work that way

It most certainly does. God knows his people are sinners and he forgives them as long as they are sorry and continue to believe in Jesus as their savior. If they are sorry, or stop committing so many sins but no longer believe in Jesus, then he does not forgive them. Those people don't care, because they no longer believe in salvation, but God is still keeping track of them and will punish them after they die for their lack of belief, no matter how good they were compared to faithful Christians.

My God is not that petty.

You decided that christian beliefs are petty and invented your own god

No, I decided your version of Christianity is petty and wrong.

Well, again that's nice, but "what you decided" has no basis in fact or reality.

Sure it does, just as much as yours does. I've read the Bible. I'm good at interpreting words. Lots of Christians disagree with you on this.

So what -- Christianity is not a popularity contest.

So you should stop pretending this is what all Christians believe.

They are standard Christian beliefs and it's pretty obvious from this thread that not all Christians believe them. Some people make up their own beliefs.

They're not standard for my Protestant church. Are you one of those born again types?

You mean the "type" that follows God's word?

So your version of Christianity is the only right way. You dismiss many mainstream Christian churches. You're Shiite Christian.

uh-oh -calling Christians who believe in salvation "Shites"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL no it doesn't work that way

It most certainly does. God knows his people are sinners and he forgives them as long as they are sorry and continue to believe in Jesus as their savior. If they are sorry, or stop committing so many sins but no longer believe in Jesus, then he does not forgive them. Those people don't care, because they no longer believe in salvation, but God is still keeping track of them and will punish them after they die for their lack of belief, no matter how good they were compared to faithful Christians.

My God is not that petty.

You decided that christian beliefs are petty and invented your own god

No, I decided your version of Christianity is petty and wrong.

Well, again that's nice, but "what you decided" has no basis in fact or reality.

Sure it does, just as much as yours does. I've read the Bible. I'm good at interpreting words. Lots of Christians disagree with you on this.

So what -- Christianity is not a popularity contest.

So you should stop pretending this is what all Christians believe.

They are standard Christian beliefs and it's pretty obvious from this thread that not all Christians believe them. Some people make up their own beliefs.

It's not what we were taught in our "standard" Episcopal church.

Some churches make up their own beliefs too. You mean that the church you went to didn't teach that Jesus came to save us as long as we believed in him?

So the Episcopalians just made it up because your way is the only way. We were taught that Jesus came to save us, but not that no believers go to hell just for not believing.

Who does go to hell in your Church, or have they decided against hell all together, and just teach heaven?

They teach that people who do bad stuff and don't repent go to hell. Not that good people who don't believe go to hell. Duh.

There are a lot of "good people" who don't believe in heaven or hell -- what happens to them -- do they end up in heaven anyhow because they were "good?" If so, why have any religious teachings at all -- why not just be good and go to heaven?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This keeps me up at night.

My guess is if you believe in hell then you likely believe in a God that does not condone abortion. I believe in a forgiving God and I hope you do as well. That said, forgiveness stems from repentance and repentance is deeply personal. Much stems from how an individual came to the sin in the first place. I imagine being young and coerced into abortion is different from aborting due to inconvenience. Certainly women rationalize it in their heads in different ways. People enter into abortions from so very many angles that I can only assume coming to terms with it, in some cases rationalizing it, would also be very different. First you need to find your peace. When you do you will be best able to explain your story and speak with someone who can guide you to a forgiveness, if that's what you seek.

So my answer is no, I do not believe you are going to hell. I do believe that abortion is a grave act completely counter to God's creation, but I believe God understands the weaknesses of our humanity and will forgive if we admit we acted wrongly and pledge to move forward in a new way.

And we can act wrongly over and over again and God will forgive us because he knows we're weak. The important things is that we believe in him. He can't forgive us for not believing in him.

Why not?

Yes! Seriously, why not? If you believe that He forgives us because He knows that we are weak, why do you you think that wouldn't extend to our "weakness" that is not believing in Him? Doesn't that seem, I don't know, a little manipulative on the part of whoever cobbled together your theology? "We're all cool as long as we're not atheists, guys!"

The theology about the need to believe in Jesus to be saved is hardly cobbled together. It's modern interpretations that are cobbled together. Obviously, religions, like so many other things influenced by humans, change over time, but God sent Jesus over 2,000 years ago to be our savior as long as we believed in him. That hasn't changed.

Ah so the original literalist among us. Don't enjoy shellfish, I hope.

You compare eating shellfish to eternal salvation through Jesus? Old Testament to New testament?

If you think every word should be taken literally, then take every word literally. Don't claim your way is the right way based on literalism when you're picking and choosing which parts to take literally. Or, have some humility and admit that the Bible is susceptible to different interpretations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL no it doesn't work that way

It most certainly does. God knows his people are sinners and he forgives them as long as they are sorry and continue to believe in Jesus as their savior. If they are sorry, or stop committing so many sins but no longer believe in Jesus, then he does not forgive them. Those people don't care, because they no longer believe in salvation, but God is still keeping track of them and will punish them after they die for their lack of belief, no matter how good they were compared to faithful Christians.

My God is not that petty.

You decided that christian beliefs are petty and invented your own god

No, I decided your version of Christianity is petty and wrong.

Well, again that's nice, but "what you decided" has no basis in fact or reality.

Sure it does, just as much as yours does. I've read the Bible. I'm good at interpreting words. Lots of Christians disagree with you on this.

So what -- Christianity is not a popularity contest.

So you should stop pretending this is what all Christians believe.

They are standard Christian beliefs and it's pretty obvious from this thread that not all Christians believe them. Some people make up their own beliefs.

They're not standard for my Protestant church. Are you one of those born again types?

You mean the "type" that follows God's word?

So your version of Christianity is the only right way. You dismiss many mainstream Christian churches. You're Shiite Christian.

uh-oh -calling Christians who believe in salvation "Shites"

Nope. Just those who think their way of Christianity is the only acceptable way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL no it doesn't work that way

It most certainly does. God knows his people are sinners and he forgives them as long as they are sorry and continue to believe in Jesus as their savior. If they are sorry, or stop committing so many sins but no longer believe in Jesus, then he does not forgive them. Those people don't care, because they no longer believe in salvation, but God is still keeping track of them and will punish them after they die for their lack of belief, no matter how good they were compared to faithful Christians.

My God is not that petty.

You decided that christian beliefs are petty and invented your own god

No, I decided your version of Christianity is petty and wrong.

Well, again that's nice, but "what you decided" has no basis in fact or reality.

Sure it does, just as much as yours does. I've read the Bible. I'm good at interpreting words. Lots of Christians disagree with you on this.

So what -- Christianity is not a popularity contest.

So you should stop pretending this is what all Christians believe.

They are standard Christian beliefs and it's pretty obvious from this thread that not all Christians believe them. Some people make up their own beliefs.

It's not what we were taught in our "standard" Episcopal church.

Some churches make up their own beliefs too. You mean that the church you went to didn't teach that Jesus came to save us as long as we believed in him?

So the Episcopalians just made it up because your way is the only way. We were taught that Jesus came to save us, but not that no believers go to hell just for not believing.

Who does go to hell in your Church, or have they decided against hell all together, and just teach heaven?

They teach that people who do bad stuff and don't repent go to hell. Not that good people who don't believe go to hell. Duh.

There are a lot of "good people" who don't believe in heaven or hell -- what happens to them -- do they end up in heaven anyhow because they were "good?" If so, why have any religious teachings at all -- why not just be good and go to heaven?

Oh, what a terrible world that would be! People being good! Agh!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL no it doesn't work that way

It most certainly does. God knows his people are sinners and he forgives them as long as they are sorry and continue to believe in Jesus as their savior. If they are sorry, or stop committing so many sins but no longer believe in Jesus, then he does not forgive them. Those people don't care, because they no longer believe in salvation, but God is still keeping track of them and will punish them after they die for their lack of belief, no matter how good they were compared to faithful Christians.

My God is not that petty.

You decided that christian beliefs are petty and invented your own god

No, I decided your version of Christianity is petty and wrong.

Well, again that's nice, but "what you decided" has no basis in fact or reality.

Sure it does, just as much as yours does. I've read the Bible. I'm good at interpreting words. Lots of Christians disagree with you on this.

So what -- Christianity is not a popularity contest.

So you should stop pretending this is what all Christians believe.

They are standard Christian beliefs and it's pretty obvious from this thread that not all Christians believe them. Some people make up their own beliefs.

It's not what we were taught in our "standard" Episcopal church.

Some churches make up their own beliefs too. You mean that the church you went to didn't teach that Jesus came to save us as long as we believed in him?

So the Episcopalians just made it up because your way is the only way. We were taught that Jesus came to save us, but not that no believers go to hell just for not believing.

Who does go to hell in your Church, or have they decided against hell all together, and just teach heaven?

They teach that people who do bad stuff and don't repent go to hell. Not that good people who don't believe go to hell. Duh.

There are a lot of "good people" who don't believe in heaven or hell -- what happens to them -- do they end up in heaven anyhow because they were "good?" If so, why have any religious teachings at all -- why not just be good and go to heaven?

Yes. The guy who saves wounded civilians in war zones but worships the "wrong" God gets to go to heaven. I'm okay with that. Much better than him going to Hell. Or worse, the unbelieving hold going to hell. I can't conceive of a God who would be so arbitrarily cruel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL no it doesn't work that way

It most certainly does. God knows his people are sinners and he forgives them as long as they are sorry and continue to believe in Jesus as their savior. If they are sorry, or stop committing so many sins but no longer believe in Jesus, then he does not forgive them. Those people don't care, because they no longer believe in salvation, but God is still keeping track of them and will punish them after they die for their lack of belief, no matter how good they were compared to faithful Christians.

My God is not that petty.

You decided that christian beliefs are petty and invented your own god

No, I decided your version of Christianity is petty and wrong.

It's not anyone's "version" these are standard Christian beliefs that anyone knows. even denominations that disagree on some things, agree about this. DOn't believe them if you don't want to. God didn't make us robots. We all have free will and you've used yours to think that basic christianity is petty.

What you think of a "basic Christianity" is a largely American novelty. Read up on Catholic theology to discover what the vast majority of the World's Christians believe. Whether you agree or not, you have to admit it is a lot more logically coherent than this "sola fidei" stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. God forgives. It's time for you to forgive yourself.

+ a million

[Anonymous]

I don't believe in Hell, though I'm a Christian. On the topic of whether God forgives abortion, I honestly am not sure. I'm not God and His ways aren't my ways. I do know that everyone does things sometimes that they view as morally wrong, and this may include abortion is you believe that abortion equals taking a life. It's complicated, but I definitely think God's love is greater than His/Her judgment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yes. The guy who saves wounded civilians in war zones but worships the "wrong" God gets to go to heaven. I'm okay with that. Much better than him going to Hell. Or worse, the unbelieving hold going to hell. I can't conceive of a God who would be so arbitrarily cruel.

Just because you can't conceive of such a god doesn't mean he doesn't exist. really, have you read the Bible lately? God can be really mean to people who displease him. Maybe your god has nothing to do with the bible or any religious denomination -- but is just an amalgamation of things that appeal to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL no it doesn't work that way

It most certainly does. God knows his people are sinners and he forgives them as long as they are sorry and continue to believe in Jesus as their savior. If they are sorry, or stop committing so many sins but no longer believe in Jesus, then he does not forgive them. Those people don't care, because they no longer believe in salvation, but God is still keeping track of them and will punish them after they die for their lack of belief, no matter how good they were compared to faithful Christians.

My God is not that petty.

You decided that christian beliefs are petty and invented your own god

No, I decided your version of Christianity is petty and wrong.

It's not anyone's "version" these are standard Christian beliefs that anyone knows. even denominations that disagree on some things, agree about this. DOn't believe them if you don't want to. God didn't make us robots. We all have free will and you've used yours to think that basic christianity is petty.

What you think of a "basic Christianity" is a largely American novelty. Read up on Catholic theology to discover what the vast majority of the World's Christians believe. Whether you agree or not, you have to admit it is a lot more logically coherent than this "sola fidei" stuff.

Catholics definitely believe in heaven and hell, it's right there in the Apostles Creed: "...he descended into hell. On the third day he rose again;he ascended into heaven,...."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yes. The guy who saves wounded civilians in war zones but worships the "wrong" God gets to go to heaven. I'm okay with that. Much better than him going to Hell. Or worse, the unbelieving hold going to hell. I can't conceive of a God who would be so arbitrarily cruel.

Just because you can't conceive of such a god doesn't mean he doesn't exist. really, have you read the Bible lately? God can be really mean to people who displease him. Maybe your god has nothing to do with the bible or any religious denomination -- but is just an amalgamation of things that appeal to you.

Yes I've read the Bible. I think it's an account of God written by fallible humans and many things in it are symbolic. And I think the interpretation of PP is jus what appeals to him as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL no it doesn't work that way

It most certainly does. God knows his people are sinners and he forgives them as long as they are sorry and continue to believe in Jesus as their savior. If they are sorry, or stop committing so many sins but no longer believe in Jesus, then he does not forgive them. Those people don't care, because they no longer believe in salvation, but God is still keeping track of them and will punish them after they die for their lack of belief, no matter how good they were compared to faithful Christians.

My God is not that petty.

You decided that christian beliefs are petty and invented your own god

No, I decided your version of Christianity is petty and wrong.

Well, again that's nice, but "what you decided" has no basis in fact or reality.

Sure it does, just as much as yours does. I've read the Bible. I'm good at interpreting words. Lots of Christians disagree with you on this.

So what -- Christianity is not a popularity contest.

So you should stop pretending this is what all Christians believe.

They are standard Christian beliefs and it's pretty obvious from this thread that not all Christians believe them. Some people make up their own beliefs.

They're not standard for my Protestant church. Are you one of those born again types?

You mean the "type" that follows God's word?

So your version of Christianity is the only right way. You dismiss many mainstream Christian churches. You're Shiite Christian.

uh-oh -calling Christians who believe in salvation "Shites"

Nope. Just those who think their way of Christianity is the only acceptable way.

how to decide what is acceptable? - from the Bible, from Church doctrine, or inside people's heads by just deciding what seems right for themselves. Maybe individuals can come up with something as good or even better than what's in the Bible or church doctrine, but they should at least acknowledge that they are making it up on their own and that they don't represent the word of god.