Quote from: organofcorti on February 01, 2016, 12:42:24 AM

Quote from: Moloch on February 01, 2016, 12:37:23 AM

Quote from: organofcorti on January 31, 2016, 10:57:25 PM

Weren't they meant to indicate your agreement that questioning doctrine was a sin?

I don't believe it says anywhere in the bible that questioning doctrine is a sin

Only a fool believes things without questioning them...

Though, religion does seem to be a gullibility test of sorts

Thanks for the input, Christian doctrine is not something I know a lot about.

It's a shame BitNow didn't feel up to sharing his opinion on the matter, I'd really like to know his / her POV on the matter.

In general, Christian doctrine has ONE main theme. This theme is that Jesus Christ, God's Son, gave up His life on the cross, to effect salvation for all people who believe in Him for salvation.

Since this life is only temporary, and since we are so weak that we can imagine doing way more than we can ever do, the second theme of Christian doctrine is peaceful "negotiations" with people to get them to be saved. This includes peaceful living among people, because violence is not something that helps to "negotiate" them into having faith in Jesus.

The third theme of Christian doctrine is, for those people who want to do it, that they go out and do the "negotiating" with others, formally, to help them find their faith in Jesus, so that they can be saved.

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Jesus is God along with His Father and the Holy Spirit. Being God, why didn't They simply save people without all the death-on-the-cross-stuff?

The death on the cross for Jesus was necessary. It shows us how greatly God loves us, that He would place us, one time, on a pedestal that made us equal in spirit and identity with Himself. The sacrifice shows this.

Now that we have been placed high in the Heavens with God like this, we have God-strength to make choices. The BIGGEST choice we make is whether or not we will remain in God-strength. There is one way to remain in God-strength. It is to accept the truth, that our strength comes from God, through Jesus and His work on the cross. God is truthful. If we don't accept this truth, we die.

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What is God-strength regarding life and death?

Life in Heaven with God will be forever. Thus, death will be forever for those who die. Since people have been given God-strength regarding this because of Jesus and the cross, and since it is the people who make the choice themselves by using the God-strength that they have, they only way that they can kill themselves (because they are like the eternal God regarding their soul and spirit), is that their death/dying will last forever.

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As painful as everlasting death/dying might be, the greater pain for those who destroy themselves will be missing out on God and Heaven for eternity.

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Why did God do this for us... give His Son to save us? Because He loved us.

Also, it is for His glory, which is for our glory, which is for His glory, which is for our glory... on and on and on, in Heaven, forever.