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[captaincaustic]

I would love to try to answer questions that anyone might have about anything. I will take the question into consideration and answer with my insight (whatever that's worth).

[myth-one.com]

So Catholics believe that Jesus can be taken out of the equation. That is very interesting. Wonder why Jesus ever come to earth in the first place, since He is unnecessary for salvation? Also, He's going to be upset when He learns that His crucifixion was unnecessary. Wait a minute, He knows already since He is all knowing. No wonder we have earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, and disease. He's angry. This is the same principle as the age of accountability. If a child dies in his innocent years, he goes immediately to heaven. Same principle as someone who never heard of Jesus. Works for the severely retarded also.

I've heard another one that is just as comical from someone in a theological seminary. Has it ever occurred to anyone but me that based on mainstream Christian theology no one who died before Jesus was crucified could ever enter the Kingdom of God? All had sinned, and Jesus had not as yet lived a sinless life and died in their stead, therefore when they died, there was no scapegoat, so they went straight to hell? Some of these were fairly nice individuals. Moses, Samuel, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Noah, Soloman, Job, Daniel, and David among others. Anyway, this well-educated individual's solution was that they somehow looked into the future and accepted Jesus as their Savior pre crucifixion. He should branch off into standup comedy.

There's an answer for this problem, but these ain't it.

[captaincaustic]

So Catholics believe that Jesus can be taken out of the equation. That is very interesting. Wonder why Jesus ever come to earth in the first place, since He is unnecessary for salvation?

We do not belive that his suffering and death was in vain, in fact it is the reason for our faith. I was merely saying that since God is omniscient and ultimately just, someone can't be blamed for ignorance if they didn't have the ability to do anything about it.

No wonder we have earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, and disease. He's angry.

We also do not believe that God punishes the earth with natural disasters. It is true that they say God does this in the Bible, but we must not take that literally. They attributed it to God because they did not have any other explanations.

Has it ever occurred to anyone but me that based on mainstream Christian theology no one who died before Jesus was crucified could ever enter the Kingdom of God? All had sinned, and Jesus had not as yet lived a sinless life and died in their stead, therefore when they died, there was no scapegoat, so they went straight to hell? Some of these were fairly nice individuals. Moses, Samuel, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Noah, Soloman, Job, Daniel, and David among others.

Yes I think everyone of any intelligence has considered this, and the belief is, whether you agree with it or not, that they were sent to a section of Hell that was rather neutral called Limbo to wait for the coming of Christ when they could be saved.

Anyway, this well-educated individual's solution was that they somehow looked into the future and accepted Jesus as their Savior pre crucifixion. He should branch off into standup comedy.

This idea seems utterly ridiculous to me as well, but we must not turn such ideas into a joke. He was only trying to rationalize something that isn't completely rational, as we both are now, and you can't (or at least shouldn't) laugh at him for trying.

There's an answer for this problem, but these ain't it.

Very, very possibly you are right on the money with this statement, but as far as I'm concerned, one must still look at all theories and consider them instead of just laughing at and ignoring them.

[myth-one.com]

The "Catholic idea of Baptism by Desire" definitely takes Jesus out of the equation, and cannot be valid according to the following scriptures:

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

We should only look at theologies which can be proved through the scriptures. Other "theories" are distractions which only hinder Christianity -- and most of them are comical. God warns us against making our own private interpretations:

Knowing this first, that no prophesy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

The Yates children, all who never even heard the name Jesus, the retarded and incompetent, those who died before Jesus, et cetera, must make their own personal choice about accepting or rejecting Jesus Christ as their Savior. Neither their mothers nor the Catholic Church can make this decision for them. It is all about making choices. I have written about this and will point you to the article entitled Today is the Day of Salvation. This proof is supported by scripture references and common sense, and is too lengthy for this venue:

www.myth-one.com/chapter_25.htm

Note: My original question was: Can the following two statements both be true?

1) God, who created everything, created a system whereby the majority of humanity will suffer in hell eternally.

-- and --

2) God is love.

This is such an easy question! The correct answer is absolutely not! These are mutually exclusive statements. If God did design such a system, then God is not love. If God is love, then He did not design such a system. Only one of these two statements can be true. This can be proved through the scriptures also.

[captaincaustic]

If you're so sure you know the right answer, then why did you ask the question to begin with?

[myth-one.com]

The answers come from the scriptures, not from me. Also, I believe it is better when people can discover the absurdity and contradictions in their false beliefs personally. The Southern Baptist minister who stated to me that both of the statements were true, had to defend company policy. He had too much of an investment in the burning eternally in hell theology. They apparently need this element of fear. Most Christians will defend this wonderful concept of eternal corporal punishment blindly because it is what they have always been taught. I sadly admit, and apologize for the fact that I did for many years! If it causes depressed mothers to murder their innocent children, then so be it.

Every Christian should have known that statement one was false since it contradicted the one scripture verse which every Christian can quote forwards and backwards:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

This verse states that believers shall not perish. There are two groups regarding believing in Jesus, believers and nonbelievers. If the believers shall not perish, the other group shall perish. Suffering in hell eternally is not perishing! Therefore, statement one is false.

The Bible actually has a plot or story line. Under the Old Testament, the only way to gain eternal life was to never sin. The wages of sin was death. But no one could gain eternal life because all sinned. What to do?

What if someone else could serve the penalty that resulted from your sin? For that to happen, that person could not already be guilty of the same crime. If you are already under a death sentence, you cannot substitute your life for a friend who is also on death row. Under that circumstance, your life is already forfeited and is no longer yours. You cannot be guilty of the same offense as the person for whom you are substituting. In addition, you must serve out his full sentence. You cannot agree to serve only a portion of a friend's sentence, and expect him to be set free. Under the New Testament, Jesus suffered our sentence of death so that we would not have to die (we would live forever).

But if nonbelievers are to be tortured eternally in the fires of hell, then you have changed the punishment! According to that belief, Jesus Christ should presently be burning in hell and should remain there eternally because this is now the punishment you ascribe to mankind. Other theologians now "interpret" perish in John 3:16 to mean "eternal separation from God." But once again, if man's punishment is eternal separation from God, then Jesus did not serve out man's punishment. He is one third of the Trinity of God, so He is not separated eternally from God!

There are some topics in the Bible which are difficult to understand. This is not one of them! Jesus lived a sinless life as a human, then paid the price for our sinning. What did He do? He died! He died! He died! So the true punishment for man's sin is the second death, which is eternal. You never live again after suffering the second death. It is the death which is eternal, not the act and torture of dying by fire!

When Christianity teaches that all humans are born with eternal life it causes fear, worry, chases people away from the church, belittles the crucifixion of Jesus, gererates antisemitism, wars, and causes the death of innocent children. This list surely omitted some of the results of this belief. Can you think of any good benefit from this false belief? I cannot. Possibly population control.