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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: one_less who wrote (153909)	2/4/2009 11:27:34 PM
From: Steve Dietrich	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 173976

Christian fundamentalism is very popular in the U.S. Their views on salvation are pretty clear: religioustolerance.org One long-term result of "the fall" was that all of their descendants were born in a state of "original sin". One consequence of original sin is that every person's normal destination at death is Hell, where they will be eternally punished without any hope of mercy or relief. Another result had been an unbridgeable chasm between God and humanity; reconciliation and avoidance of Hell can only be achieved through the individual becoming "saved." Salvation is based on the concept of substitutionary atonement, first developed by St. Augustine early in the 5th century CE. Augustine believed that God the Father required Jesus to die on the cross in order to pay for the past and future sins of humanity. The death of a totally innocent god-man was the only method by which the present gulf between God and man, created in Eden, could be bridged. A major tenet of Protestant Fundamentalist belief is that if a person hears the Gospel, acknowledges their sinful nature, is genuinely repentant, believes in the divinity of Christ, and trusts him as Lord and Savior, then they will be "saved". Two items -- belief in Christ's divinity and personal repentance -- are controversial; some conservative Christians hold that they are not necessary for salvation, because they represent human works. Once saved, God will forgive -- and actually forget -- an individual's past sins. In a process called sanctification, the Holy Spirit will continually improve their behavior and spirituality while they remain alive on earth. Millions upon millions of American Christians teach and believe this... SD