Chris,
<<It was the Roman Catholic Church under the direction of the Jesuits who instituted the inquisition.>>
Are you saying that Roman Catholics are not Christians? You are presumably aware that until Martin Luther came along the Roman Catholic Church WAS Christianity. Or wasn't it? If it wasn't, what was?
<<Salvation is open to all men freely and you will have to prove where I said otherwise. I did say that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and that nobody gets to the Father without going through Him.>>
You are presumably aware that many people live their entire lives in other religious traditions, with little or no exposure to Christianity. If nobody gets to the Father except through Jesus, aren't these people preemptively excluded? It is an important question to me because it reaches the crux of my personal objection to Christianity. I do not believe, no matter how many scriptures anyone cites, that God excludes non-Christians. It flies in the face of my entire belief of what God is. I simply cannot believe that he would be so vindictive.
<<The scriptures are not clear on this issue>>
The scriptures are, alas, all too clear, you have cited them repeatedly. If we believe those scriptures, we must believe that God has condemned those children to eternal damnation. I do not and will not believe this.
<<your just looking for leverage.>>
All I'm looking for is an admission from you that you might, perhaps, be wrong, and that heaven is not solely for Christians. That will suffice.
Steve |
